4.8.2019 City Council Meeting Minutes

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Council Discussion: • Councilor Pryor - spoke in support of the original consensus -based solution proposed. • Mayor Vinis - asked a question of the City Attorney regarding process. • Councilor Pryor - accepted the City Attorney's clarification of the motion; acknowledged the collaborative process in determining the City Manager's original recommendation and emphasized his desire to keep as many partners as possible on board for future housing work • Councilor Syrett - acknowledged the work of the coalition of people who worked together; viewed the City Manager's recommendation as a policy designed to ease the building community into the idea of a CET; preferred to pass a one percent CET and evaluate its impact in the future rather than compromise too much. • Councilor Taylor - asked for clarification about whether the ordinance brings in new money; thought the ordinance was deceptive and opposed the $1 million limit as well as the MUPTE exemption. • Councilor Zelenka - expressed doubt that either proposal would show impact or success in a couple of years; noted that most Oregon communities have adopted a one -percent CET. • Councilor Clark- argued that the market has worked perfectly and that the central issue was the cost of land and the need for an Urban Growth Boundary expansion. • Councilor Semple -preferred to postpone the discussion; listed her concerns about both the upper and lower limits and the proposed MUPTE exemption; said the proposed CET simply moves money around rather than generating new funds; supported setting a.5 percent CET reevaluating after two years. • Councilor Evans - emphasized that the proposal was community -generated through a coalition of people with differing views; would like to support their hard work, preferred to evaluate whether to move to a one percent CET at the end of the first two years. • Councilor Yeh - expressed support for the motion as a good compromise for all involved. • Councilor Semple - said she would support the motion with amendments because there were so many people in the community who supported it; made a motion to amend to start with a fixed .5 percent rate and remove the $1 million upper limit (motion to amend was not seconded); • Councilor Clark- asked staff why the $1 million cap was important. • Councilor Syrett - supported the removal of the cap and asked staff whether other cities had upper limits in their ordinances. MOTION TO AMEND: Councilor Semple, seconded by Councilor Syrett, moved to amend to delete 3.732 (3) and renumber accordingly. PASSED 5:3, councilors Evans, Pryor, and Clark opposed. • Councilor Taylor - stated she would vote for one percent, but would like to remove the MUPTE exception. • Councilor Semple - did not think paying the CET was an insurmountable amount of money for developers receiving a MUPTE. • Councilor Clark- thought the reason both tax exemptions made sense was because there was a need to provide more incentives for building housing. • Councilor Syrett - agreed with Councilor Clark that the MUPTE was a prescribed program to help with certain types of housing and imposing a tax on those properties would disincentivize the building of multi -family housing. • Councilor Clark- said a CET disincentivizes building homes. MOTION TO AMEND: Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Semple, moved to amend to delete the MUPTE exception. FAILED 3:5, councilors Evans, Pryor, Syrett, Yeh and Clark opposed. MINUTES - Eugene City Council April 8, 2019 Page 3 Meeting