Item 5: Ordinance Levying Assessments for West University Alleys

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out that the property is dedicated to small offices for dentists and other health professionals. Mr. Burri felt that the size and volume of the traffic generated by his use of the property was slight. Mr. Burri also questioned the need for the improvements. He explained that the alley had been paved with asphalt and had not had any problems. He did not feel it was appropriate to make the changes. Mr. Burri felt that it was improper to assess his property so much when the apartment complex across the alley used the alley much more, but was assessed less. Mr. Klope responded to Mr. Burri's concerns about the different assessment methods by making reference to the Council policy on the weighting factors, which determined that commercial properties would be given a weighting factor larger than for residential properties. Mr. Bill Olson, who owns several properties in the West University Neighborhood, touching several alleys, was the next to speak. He explained that he found the assessment methodology very confusing. He did not understand why the assessment should be different for properties on different alleys. He also felt that it was double taxation to charge people for both the front footage and the area of a property. Another property owner in the audience stated that he did not feel it was right that the city should collect more than the cost of the assessment by using weighting factors. Mr. Klope acknowledged that the process of weighting and assessing half for area and half for front footage was difficult to understand. He assured the attendees that the weighting procedures did not result in the City collecting more than the cost of the project. He explained the process in some detail. The Eugene Code requires that each alley is assessed separately because of the different mix of properties and uses along each alley. The weighting process does not result in the total charges being more than the cost of the project. The weighting only determines how the actual costs are divided among the properties along the alley. Mr. Klope used a white board to illustrate a hypothetical alley assessment, showing how the total amount to be assessed was divided in half. One half was assessed to properties based on their front footage, with weighting assigned according to current use. The total front footage is determined by multiplying each property's front footage by the appropriate weighting factor. Then each property's portion is determined by dividing the total by the property's weighted front footage. A similar process is used to divide the other half of the assessable costs among the properties according to area and the weighted values assigned based on the permissible use, as established by the property's zoning designation. There were several questions of Mr. Klope based on the methodology. Mr. Klope repeated portions of the process to answer the detailed questions. In response to a question about why the Council had chosen such a complex method instead of simpler methods, City Engineer Mark Schoening indicated that it came after rather extensive Council consideration. The weighting method had originally been established in the Eugene Code decades ago. During the Council's consideration of alley assessment processes in 2003 and 2004, the Council had considered other options. Eventually the Council returned to the established method because they could not find a method that did a better job of spreading the costs among owners that reflected differences in use and potential use of the properties. Several additional questions were asked, including how Alley Assessment Minutes Page 4