CC Minutes - 12/10/01 Work Session

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Ms. Nathanson suggested the City Manager give thought to how the City could use the Budget Committee to proactively structure discussion about the state of City finances in the public realm. C. Work Session: Beltline/I-5 Interchange Project Traffic Engineer David Reinhard joined the council for the item. Bob Pirrie, Jim McRae, and Karl Wieseke of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) were also present for the item, as was Planning Director Jan Childs. Mr. McRae provided an overview of the project. He discussed the various alternatives being considered by ODOT, the most notable environmental impacts, and next steps in the process. Mr. McRae invited questions. Councilors asked questions clarifying the details of the three alternatives. Mr. Rayor raised the issue of land owned by Springfield originally intended to be a parks facility, and the proposed change in use, which could have a very different impact on the transportation system than the use initially envisioned. He said ODOT should consider that fact as it was not land inside the urban growth boundary but was land brought into the community under false pretenses. Mayor Torrey clarified Mr. Rayor was seeking to know the additional traffic impact from the proposed use if the land in question was rezoned. Mr. McRae said that ODOT based its traffic analysis on the current zoning of the property to generate the traffic figures. Ms. Nathanson noted that part of the plan to reconfigure traffic near the federal courthouse was predicated on traffic volumes. If the full interchange at Franklin Boulevard to provide access from the east was built, to what extent would it reduce the traffic impacts on the Ferry Street Bridge and the federal courthouse neighborhood? Mr. Reinhard said the modeling done for the Ferry Street corridor indicated a five- to ten-percent reduction in traffic in the corridor because traffic would use a Franklin ramp instead. He did not look for much relief from that approach. Ms. Nathanson said that her point in asking was her hope the City was not making plans for a major change to a downtown neighborhood if it knew in advance another improvement would occur that mitigated the need. Mr. Kelly said that there were safety and capacity needs at the interchange, and he supported the project. Much study had occurred about different alternatives. The Beltline Decision Team, of which he was a member, did not support all three alternatives, but wanted them to have public input. He highlighted some concerns all three elected officials shared regarding the alternatives. Business displacement was a serious concern on the part of the officials. Some of the alternatives displace so many business that the reason for the improvements went away. Mr. Kelly said that issue needed to be looked at carefully. He thought that Mr. Rayor's points about the sports center were well-taken, and noted the proposed Arlie-PeaceHealth complex, which was not included in any of the modeling that had been done. He was dismayed that the Environmental Assessment was to be released given the officials' request for more data about the impact of that development. If there were an additional 2,500 trips that would be generated, there would be serious problems, and the elected officials would challenge the EA. Mr. McRae said that PeaceHealth was a proposal, not an approved use, and the agency had considered future uses within the designations for the properties in question. MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 10, 2001 Page 9 Work Session