CC Minutes - 01/12/98 Work Session

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II. WORK SESSION: MEASURE 50 SERVICE REDUCTIONS--PROPOSAL TO REPEAL THE CONDOMINIUM AND MANUFACTURED DWELLING PARK CONVERSION ORDINANCE FROM THE EUGENE CODE Linda Dawson, Planning and Development Department, presented the item. She said that the proposal before the council was to repeal the Condominium Conversion and Manufactured Dwelling Park Closure ordinances. She provided background on the ordinance, which was adopted in the early 1980s in response to many instances where rental housing was converted to condominium use and to several manufactured home park closures. The ordinances were designed to address the council's concerns about the impact of those conversions and closures on special category tenants, the elderly, Iow-income persons, and persons with disabilities. Ms. Dawson said that there had been virtually no park closures or condominium conversions in recent years, with the exception of the manufactured home park closure on Coburg Road at the base of the Ferry Street Bridge. Due to a lack of funds to administer the ordinances, Ms. Dawson said, staff recommended they be repealed, and such situations be covered by State law. As a result of the repeal, special benefits such as housing counseling services and relocation benefits would no longer be available. An alternative would be to significantly raise the fees associated with the ordinances to supplant lost General Fund dollars. She noted that the costs associated with the special benefits associated with the ordinances were paid by the involved property owner. Ms. Dawson noted that a public hearing was scheduled for January 26. Mr. Tollenaar said that the issue had first brought him into contact with the City's Planning Commission. A manufactured home park closure in his neighborhood had resulted in a great deal of distress to residents. Private neighborhood fund-raising had assisted many of those tenants. As a result, the neighborhood proposed the ordinance to the Planning Commission, which subsequently recommended its adoption to the City Council. Mr. Tollenaar pointed out that the property owner was responsible for the special benefits costs of the ordinance, and questioned what administrative costs were involved if the City had experienced only one park closure since 1989. He did not see what it cost to leave the ordinance in place. In response, Ms. Dawson said that the administrative costs begin to build when the City receives an application, which was an unpredictable event. She agreed that when there was no activity, there were no administrative costs associated with the ordinances. Mr. Tollenaar believed that there continued to be a need for the ordinances, particularly the ordinance related to manufactured home park closures, as those facilities tended to be nonconforming uses in their current zones, were difficult to relocate, and often housed many of the community's most needy residents. He suggested there were alternative ways to handle the administrative costs, such as through a Contingency Fund request. Mr. Meisner concurred. He was concerned about the loss of both ordinances. Mr. Meisner pointed out that if the ordinances were repealed, staff would no longer be monitoring such situations in the community. If a need arose again for the protections included in the ordinances, they would be gone. He did not think that last year's park closure would be Eugene's last such closure. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 12, 1998 Page 2 5:30 p.m.