CC Minutes - 07/30/08 Work Session

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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council McNutt Room—City Hall—777 Pearl Street Eugene, Oregon July 30, 2008 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, George Poling, Andrea Ortiz, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order. She adjourned the meeting of the Eugene City Council and convened a meeting of the Eugene Urban Renewal Agency (URA). A. WORK SESSION: th Selection of Development Proposal for 10 and Charnelton Site City Manager Jon Ruiz stated that both development proposals were strong. He emphasized that staff would continue to work with whichever proposal was not selected by the council to determine if there were other opportunities. Mr. Clark, in the interests of full disclosure, declared that he had known Wally Graff of WG Development for over 20 years and while they had on occasion discussed the possibility of a joint business venture, there were no contracts or agreements in place. He wanted to clarify that in the event he had a future business relationship with Mr. Graff. Nan Laurence, Planning and Development Department, used a PowerPoint presentation to illustrate features and compare the proposals under consideration from WG Development and Opus NWR Development. She reviewed details of each proposal in terms of urban design and active uses and project feasibility and public benefit. In conclusion, she said that both proposals added value and activity to downtown and contributed to a quality urban environment. She said both projects were supported by the Downtown Plan and were financially feasible, although the Opus proposal was stronger financially, and both supported the goal of a revitalized downtown. She said the recommendation was to direct the agency director to enter into an exclusive negotiation period not to exceed 90 days with either WG Development or Opus NWR Develop- th ment for the sale and development of the 10 and Charnelton site and return to the URA with terms of the sale and development for approval. Ms. Bettman indicated she preferred the more urban-scale Opus design and had concerns with the design of th the WG project on 18 Avenue. She questioned whether there would be more design improvements given economic projections. Ms. Laurence said design refinements would occur when a project had moved from conceptual to schematic design. She felt both proposals presented preliminary designs and assumed that further design refinements would be forthcoming, although that did not mean that additional funds would be put into higher quality materials. MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 30, 2008 Page 1 Work Session