Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Mr. Ruiz, responding to a question from Ms. Taylor, noted that the City of Eugene currently rented <br />approximately 50,000 square feet of office space, in a variety of locations. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor expressed that she was in favor of moving City offices into the Beam Development site once it <br />was completed, that the City should continue its investigation of the use of the federal building at 211 East <br />th <br />7 Avenue and that the City should also utilize the space previously occupied by the Eugene Fire/EMS <br />department. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor noted that in addition to her previous comments, the current City Hall facility should be <br />retrofitted to life safety standards as soon as possible. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor reminded the council that the public had voted against expansions of the City’s urban renewal <br />district boundaries and warned against any further discussions in that regard. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor felt that the work performed by staff regarding the use of the facility reserves had not followed <br />the council’s direction. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor opposed any efforts to purchase an option on the Country Club Road building and felt that the <br />City had wasted a lot of money in previous years on similar strategies in the downtown area. <br /> <br />Mr. Ruiz noted that staff would continue its negotiations with the Beam Development Corporation <br />regarding the City’s use of their development project. <br /> <br />Mr. Brown appreciated the reasons given in support of the use of the Country Club Road building but felt <br />that in doing so the City would exhaust the entirety of the facility reserves. He believed that the EPD <br />should continue to be based within the Eugene City Hall and that it was important to maintain a close <br />symbolic association between City Hall and the EPD. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling stated that he would approve of expanding the urban renewal district boundaries for the <br />purposes of including the VA clinic previously mentioned by Mr. Ruiz and felt that the public at-large <br />might do so as well. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling agreed with Ms. Taylor’s estimation that the City did not have a good history of purchasing <br />options on available properties and was wary of any such strategies that might be applied to the Country <br />Club Road building. <br /> <br />Mr. Penwell, responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka, noted that to retrofit the current City Hall facility <br />beyond life safety standards to essential services standards would cost at least 20% more. Mr. Penwell <br />further noted that the added costs to improve the facility to essential services standards also did not take <br />into account costs for the utility connections that would be required with such an upgrade. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka maintained that, in the absence of any plans to demolish the building, the current City Hall <br />facility should be retrofitted to life safety standards regardless of the City’s future plans for the building. <br />Mr. Zelenka felt that a downtown police patrol substation facility would essentially be an empty police <br />garage and did not support such a strategy. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka commented that re-using an existing building such as the Country Club Road building was a <br />good course of action. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 22, 2009 Page 5 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />