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the private sector. That could be the impetus for the formation of a tax increment financing district <br />or local improvement district. <br /> <br />Mr. Rayor asked if all the parking envisioned through the Central Area Transportation Study <br />(CATS) had been provided. He questioned if the study was obsolete. Mr. Farmer believed the <br />plan should be updated. Scott Luell of Planning and Development Department clarified that CATS <br />identified a need for 1,200 spaces; the City built just under 1,000 spaces for a net gain of about <br />420 because of the loss of surface parking to development, leaving some parking still to be built. <br /> <br />Mr. Rayor said the cost of maintenance continued to rise while parking rates held steady, and <br />there were no reserves in the Parking Fund. That was a concern to him. Mr. Bowers clarified that <br />rates had been increased twice in recent years, the City did have Parking Fund reserves, and the <br />fund was covering its operating costs and the costs of maintenance. He said that the City did not <br />have sufficient reserves, for example, to fund a seismic retrofit for a parking structure. He <br />confirmed, in response to a follow-up question from Mr. Rayor, that the City did not have sufficient <br />reserves to build a new structure. <br /> <br />Mr. Moore said the issue of parking downtown was a difficult one. He believed that the City would <br />have to continue to make parking investments of some form or another in downtown to foster the <br />density of development needed to make the downtown succeed. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey said that the private sector was going to follow the approach that made sense for it. <br />If the council wanted to increase the cost of doing business downtown, the private sector had <br />choices, and development would intensify north of Eugene on Highway 99 North toward Junction <br />City. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey hoped the council would be consistent about its approach to incentives. He cited <br />Symantec as an example, which placed an emphasis on the need for Iow-cost parking as an <br />incentive for remaining downtown. He believed that any future tenant of the building would need a <br />similar incentive, and that PeaceHealth would also request parking incentives as a condition for <br />remaining downtown. Mayor Torrey said the economics of downtown development were <br />dependent on proximity to Iow-cost parking. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey asked Mr. Farmer to discuss free parking. Mr. Farmer said that there is no such <br />thing as free parking. There is always a cost for parking. He said that there were other reasons <br />to charge for parking, including parking turnover to accommodate new customers. Mr. Farmer <br />said that outside the downtown, parking was also being paid for, but was offered free to the <br />customer because the lack of parking represented a barrier to patronage. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 30, 2001 Page 5 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />