Laserfiche WebLink
Mr. Kelly reiterated a long-time concern of his, that downtown parking was not easy to find if one <br />was not a veteran of downtown. He called for an approach modeled on Portland's Smart Park <br />Program. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson recollected that she advocated for a pocket park in downtown in an earlier <br />planning process. She thought it worth keeping the concept in mind and being active so that <br />opportunities were not lost. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson requested information on why the downtown had the types of private parking that <br />it did, and why some was under grounded and some under buildings. She asked if more under <br />ground parking could be encouraged. Mr. Farmer said that surface parking was the cheapest to <br />construct, leading to more surface lots; a structure on stilts was the next least expensive, and was <br />sometimes done because otherwise the building could not be tenanted. Structured parking above <br />ground was the next most expensive type to build, followed by structured parking underground. <br />Mr. Farmer termed structures on stilts one of the worst building types imaginable because of the <br />impact on the street. Ms. Nathanson asked staff to consider how the City could encourage the <br />more desirable parking developments. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor observed that some people had a fear of parking structures. She noted that some <br />cities had automatic parking elevators that could be accessed by punch card, and more cars could <br />be accommodated in such structures. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor said that if the City had enough downtown events, there would be people who wanted <br />to sell things to those who came downtown. If that could be combined with Iow-cost rents, it <br />might get used to people coming downtown to shop. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor advocated for a youth center downtown. She said it would bring people downtown and <br />help to overcome people's perception of downtown as unsafe. She said that the youth on <br />downtown would go somewhere; if they were driven off Broadway, where would they go next? <br />They had to go somewhere, and in her discussions with students she learned they would go to a <br />youth center if one was available, and they were not disturbed by the appearance of the people <br />downtown or the presence of youth from other schools. <br /> <br />Capitalizing on Development Opportunities <br /> <br />Mr. Farmer shared a graph with the council regarding the impact of downtown development on <br />automobile, transit, and alternative modes use. The graph indicated that downtown development <br />fostered the use of alternative modes and transit. <br /> <br />Mr. Farmer noted some pending development opportunities in downtown. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly found this theme to be much more vague and general than the other themes. He <br />questioned the use of the word "encourage" without further definition of what that meant. <br />Regarding the potential use of incentives, he wanted any downtown incentives to be developed in <br />a citywide context. He noted citizen comments regarding the risk that simultaneous developments <br />could depopulate the core and thought those points well-taken. He also endorsed a citizen <br />comment recommending the City focus its great streets efforts on one small area at a time with <br />the cooperation of property owners, and cited a loan program in an eastern community that <br />funded the installation of awnings as a connecting theme in downtown. <br /> <br /> MINUTE--Eugene City Council February 28, 2001 Page 5 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />