10.15.2018 City Council Work Session Minutes

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MINUTES Eugene City Council Harris Hall, 125 East 8�h Avenue Eugene, Oregon 97401 October 15, 2018 5:30 p.m. Councilors Present: Emily Semple, Betty Taylor, Alan Zelenka, Jennifer Yeh, Mike Clark, Greg Evans, Claire Syrett, Chris Pyror Mayor Vinis opened the October 15, 2018, Work Session of the Eugene City Council. WORK SESSION: Modifications to the Transportation System Development Charge Methodology Public Works Director Sarah Medary and City Engineer Mark Schoening provided background on systems development charges including legislative history, public hearing comments and an overview of the proposed amendments to the TSDC methodology. Council Discussion • Clarification requested about the proposed annual caps for non -Accessory Dwelling Units and how they would be applied each year. • Support expressed for the staff recommendations because they are a rational response to a complex challenge. • Interest expressed in reducing the cost of building and removing barriers as a way to provide more housing. • Consider moving forward with the staff recommendations and see what it does to the building landscape, then review and discuss further. • Question asked about whether there was a timeline that council is locked into to make this decision. • Interest shared in waiting on making the TSDC decision until after there is more information about how they will affect the affordable housing conversation. • Concern expressed that the caps would be too low to make a difference in ADU numbers and would be applied indiscriminately if they were first-come, first -serve. • Interested in seeing what this looks like in context of making housing more affordable in the community. • More inclined to start with no cap and then revisit in a few years. • Concerned about any increase in SDCs; don't want to negatively affect builders until other potential impacts are identified and understood. • There is a widely shared opinion that it should be easier to build an accessory dwelling unit. • The purpose of SDCs is to cover the cost of growth. • This proposal sends the message that it's going to be more expensive to build in this area now. • Request made for a list of building projects that would not move forward if changes are made. • The risk of removing the cap is fairly small in terms of council's ability to regroup. • Even after proposed increase, the local rates are substantially lower than most cities in Oregon. • The imposition of a cap is a good idea because it creates certainty for budgeting issues. • If this is a big concern for developers, consider other ways to incentivize or offset SDC costs. • The first and second motions move the City forward and in the right direction. • By taking this action, the council is increasing the cost of building homes. MINUTES — Eugene City Council October 15, 2018 Page 1 Work Session