CC Minutes - 06/27/05 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Continuing, Mr. Spencer supported making the River Road area a target for an "urban village nodal-type zone." He felt the River Road area needed a neighborhood place. Regarding oil production, Mr. Spencer noted the recent interest on the part of a Chinese company to purchase Unocal Oil Company. He averred this was symptomatic of the "global energy scene." He quoted a letter written by two Republican representatives from California to the President that emphasized the critical importance of controlling energy resources. He remarked that the representatives were behind the curve. He observed that if one looked at United States military deployments all over the world, it would look like "bees coming to honey," as the deployments largely focused on areas of oil production. Mr. Spencer opined that everyone agreed more densification was needed in the downtown area. He felt anything developed downtown should be multi-story and there should be detailed traffic impact studies with the understanding that energy would cost more in the not-too-distant future. Ken Silverman, 2744 Harris Street, remarked that building a one-story grocery in the downtown area would not fulfill density goals. He thought it would be unfair to take public money and use it to foster private business. He recalled that in kindergarten he learned that if one brought gum to school, one had to bring enough for the whole class. Given that, he averred he should be supplied with a covered bicycle garage in front of his small business if a parking structure would be built for the Whole Foods Grocery. He said there was never enough parking in front of the Sundance Natural Foods and asked why it should not be provided with a parking structure. He asked that public money be used for public good. He commented that the City frequently demolished and rebuilt in the downtown area and every time it did so people made money from it. He asserted that this was the only city he had ever lived in that did not preserve most of the downtown buildings. He said the cities of Baker and Cottage Grove had "cute little downtowns" but downtown Eugene looked like a bulldozer had been over it. Mayor Piercy closed the Public Forum and called for questions and comments from the council. Councilor Kelly thanked everyone for their testimony. He commented that whether Whole Foods would improve, make worse, or have little effect on the local stores was a worthwhile discussion. He noted that someone mentioned city planning and he wished to point out that locating a full-service supermarket in downtown had been a key element of planning for years. He indicated that Whole Foods had been the first to step forward to provide a full-service grocery store in the downtown area. He said in an ideal world the public could dictate what kind of store it wanted in the downtown area, but the reality was such that unless someone from the private sector wished to build one, it would not happen. He stated that he would oppose any financial incentives. He underscored that there were proposals, but they were verbal, and it was his understanding that if Whole Foods wanted parking in a parking structure, it would pay for it just like anyone would. Additionally, he wished to point out that Whole Foods could build "tomorrow" on any land zoned C- 2 or C-3 Commercial by filing a building permit. He averred that dissuading them from the downtown location would not mean that the store would not locate in the city of Eugene. He noted that Whole Foods had been cited for being anti-union and commented that Sundance Natural Foods, Kiva, and the other locally-owned natural foods stores were not union stores. He pointed out that Safeway and the Fred Meyer stores were union employers. Regarding land swap proposals, Councilor Kelly stressed that such proposals almost always came from landowners, which made it difficult to plan "up front" for them. MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 27, 2005 Page 5 Regular Session