CC Minutes - 10/29/03 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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to move ahead with more specific plans and financing proposals for a new police services building, noting that a November 2004 election date gave the council plenty of time to act. Assistant City Manager Jim Carlson said the primary reason the agenda item had been scheduled was the series of discussions the council would soon have about the six-year financial forecast, election sequencing, and the likely ballot measures other jurisdictions may propose over the next few years. He said that some additional space planning had been done by the Eugene Police Department, which had proposed a smaller facility than City staff had originally proposed when the council discussed the issue in 2001. Staff continued to look at ways to contain costs; he noted that the proposal before the council included the cost of underground parking, which was not a part of the project in 2001. Mr. Carlson emphasized the preliminary nature of the project estimates. Mr. Pap~ solicited a first round of council questions and comments. Referring to Attachment B, Mr. Meisner questioned whether the document, entitled Summary of the Downtown Space Plan, Funded Projects Updated October 20, 2003, was accurate given that it included information about facilities the City no longer occupied. Mr. Svendsen clarified that the information to which Mr. Meisner referred was original to the 2001 document adopted by the council, and had not been revised. Mr. Meisner noted that there were other references to those facilities in other places in the text. Noting the staff recommendation to fund the proposed building partly through Urban Renewal Agency (URA) funds realized from the sale of the former Sears building, Mr. Meisner recalled that the council had severely discounted the building's sale price. He asked what funds would be used to make up the difference between the estimated sale price and actual price, and if the proposal would diminish the money for projects and loans in the district. Ms. Cutsogeorge said that was a policy choice for the council. Staff was recommending that the URA make up the difference. Mr. Carlson added that originally, the City intended to sell the Sears Building as a URA asset. The URA would retain responsibility for payments for the library. Mr. Meisner concluded that the result would be fewer projects and loans in the URA, which was confirmed by Ms. Cutsogeorge. Mr. Meisner noted the mention of a possible parking garage to be located east of High Street to provide primary parking for the courthouse district, and noted that until the council took action to include the area in the district, it was not part of the district. He asked if those plans were still viable. Mr. Carlson clarified that the potential of a parking facility was merely an idea at this time. He said that such a facility had been discussed for several years as a logical location to replace the parking now located in Lot 15. He confirmed that the location was in private ownership. Ms. Solomon arrived at the meeting. Mr. Meisner indicated that he understood development was proposed for the area and suggested that staff might not want to count on such a facility. Mr. Carlson said that staff was anticipating any such facility would be a public-private partnership, and that had been discussed with potential buyers of the site. Responding to a question from Ms. Bettman, Mr. Carlson confirmed that the proposed police services building would be three stories. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 29, 2003 Page 2 Work Session