CC Minutes - 09/12/05 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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"possibly one of the ugliest buildings in the City," but nonetheless it was one of the few surviving examples of this architectural style. He felt it should be protected. He wished for the building to be retained as much as possible. He suggested that the north side of the building be razed and replaced by a multi-story building and that the perimeter be maintained. He cited, as an example, a building built in San Francisco that was an exact replica of a temporary structure that the public wished to retain. He thought the City Hall could be copied. In closing, he felt another option would be to sell the building to the hospital. William Ivanoff, 1810 Harris Street, #328, asked that the City Hall be kept or rebuilt on the current site. He supported leaving the City Hall close to the County, State, and federal buildings. He said any new construction should be built according to earthquake standards and that while the construction was underway a partnership should be formed with the firm of Conner and Woolley so that the City could utilize space in buildings the partnership owned that were largely empty. He recommended that a new City Hall should include the CMO, that Planning and Development Department (PDD), the Finance Division, Municipal Court, the City Council and Mayor, and possibly the EPD. Charles Biggs, 540 Antelope Way, opposed the construction of a new city hall. He observed that the police facility had been voted down three times and the city was yet unsure of whether the centralized model or the decentralized model, i.e. precincts, was the most prudent distribution of public safety services. He asked why the City of Eugene would want to build more office space given the abundance of empty office space in the downtown core. He questioned the sustainability of this. He maintained there were higher priorities such as road repair or the need for more police officers that the $29 million the project was estimated to cost could be used for. He read his written testimony into the record and submitted it to the council. He felt it had been difficult to find information on the master planning process. He expressed concerns that consolidation of City offices into one location would vacate large portions of the downtown and have a negative impact on the downtown economy. Kevin Matthews, PO Box 1588, Eugene, 97440, stated that he was president of the Friends of Eugene, president of the Southeast Neighbors, and editor-in-chief of Architecture Week Magazine. Additionally, he declared he had a Masters Degree in architecture from Berkeley and had much disaster review experience. He agreed with comments on the cultural significance of the building and opined that comments on the real estate issues were worthy of consideration. He felt the City was working hard to improve its public process. He asserted that in order to include the promise that the public could influence the final decision on the potential City Hall the first two phases of the process should be readjusted. He thought the first phase, six months for policy input, included "minimal" public input and this phase could include the decision on whether to retain the current building. He urged the councilors to give up some of their "flat legal ability to call the shots." He thought the result would be a city hall that everyone believed in and would vote for. Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing and called for comments from the City Council. Councilor Kelly noted that the City Council would be adjourning to an executive session. He said he would not comment at this time given that there was a work session scheduled on this topic in the near future. Councilor Taylor commended the comments. She felt another public hearing was warranted. She liked Mr. Rayor's comment that the questions needed to be asked correctly. She encouraged everyone to attend the City Club presentation on this topic. MINUTES-Eugene City Council Regular Session September 12, 2005 Page 9