CC Minutes - 07/22/02 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Charlotte Bim, 731 Poltava Street, Springfield, said she was happy that the City was considering a fair market rate for parking on the park lands. David Sonicson, 2435 Skyline Boulevard, hoped the ordinance would channel more money into the park. He expressed appreciation for Parks staff's work in the park area to monitor the impact of football fans traveling through the park. He noted that the University of Oregon only remunerated $300 per football game for 425 spaces across the street from the new entrance to the stadium while it charged more than double the rates than City staff were proposing for its parking. He urged the council to ask for more remuneration for those spaces, and opined that the University was not in a position to deny a request of that nature. There being no other requests to speak, Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing. Councilor Kelly said he was opposed to the proposed ordinance because it did not make a distinction between market rate parking for spots on City property during football games and other types of parking uses. He said a blanket lifting of parking maximums would raise Hult parking and generate a great deal of public ill will for very little revenue gain. Councilor Bettman also opposed the ordinance. She said she was opposed to not charging market rates for parking for non-city events. She said the ordinance was "piecemeal" and did not provide specifics as to who would be charged and who would not. She added that it created an uneven playing field in terms of the WISTEC lot, the Lane Transit District bus lot, Leo Harris Parkway, and the BMX facility. She said the City would be bestowing a financial benefit on certain entities that other organizations had no ability to access. She opined that this would be a tax subsidy to those entities. Councilor Bettman said she was also against the proposed ordinance because the revenue gained from parking would go to the Parks and Open Space Division. She said she would rather see the money go to the Parking Fund. She raised concern that giving parking revenue to the division would create an incentive for staff to create more parking lots on park land. City Manager Carlson pointed out that nothing in the ordinance said where the money would go. He said action by the council would have to be taken either through the budget or supplemental budget process to decide where the revenue would go. Councilor Taylor said the City should charge more for parking on City park land. She added her opinion that the Cuthbert Amphitheater, Hult Center, and Eugene Celebration events should be exempt from the ordinance. She raised concern over making it more difficult for citizens to participate in cultural events. Councilor Rayor raised concern that the ordinance specified amounts and where the revenue would go. Councilor Pap8 said the City should charge market rate for parking wherever it is located. He said, at times when the City was strapped for money, the City should be getting market rate for all of its parking. Councilor Bettman agreed with Councilor PapS's comments but stressed that the ordinance before the council would not achieve what he wanted. MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 22, 2002 Page 10 Regular Meeting