CC Minutes - 01/23/06 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Williams’ Bakery site was a research facility. He felt the Fairmount Neighbors had a right to know what was being researched, as it could be a facility for Department of Defense research. Lisa Warnes , 5020 Nectar Way, asserted that the council and staff were “throwing around ideas” about shutting down viable businesses in the downtown area and called this wrong. She noted that those businesses had made it “through the worst times.” She felt the condemnation process was for the enrichment of private interests only. She observed that Connor and Woolley contributed to the decline in the downtown area by buying buildings and leaving them vacant and being responsible for “that big, giant dangerous hole next to the Atrium building.” She opined that it would be wrong to give these developers the opportunity to use eminent domain, and especially wrong in the face of the City’s unwillingness to take eminent domain action on the Amazon Headwaters site. She reiterated the benefits the Amazon Headwaters provided the community. Mayor Piercy closed the Public Forum and called for questions and comments from the council. Councilor Papé requested a report from the Information Services Division on the City’s Web site. City Manager Taylor acknowledged that staff received frequent complaints. He said the Web site provided a rich amount of information but was slower than before. He underscored that the intent was to make more information available faster. He felt it was something staff needed to spend some time on. Councilor Papé thanked Mr. Dotson for his testimony. He stressed that the River Road/Santa Clara Task Force did want to hear from citizens. He said there would be outreach at the public meeting scheduled for February 4 at the Madison Middle School. Councilor Kelly wanted to emphasize that if the City were to provide any assistance in the Connor and Woolley development in the form of parking, there would be a development agreement requiring housing, among other items. He said he would like to hear more from Ms. Kleban as to what sorts of incentives she would recommend to aid the location of small businesses in the downtown area. Councilor Kelly commented that Ms. Wilson’s voice “joined a chorus of constituents.” He said he received a number of complaints on the Web site. He thought it would take significant effort to improve it. In response to Mr. Keim’s comments, Councilor Kelly averred that the best solution and the one most likely to bring the City to an end that would enrich the entire downtown for the broad public would be for the City to take a role in facilitating discussions between the Connor and Woolley team and current business owners. Councilor Bettman thanked everyone for testifying. She commented that it was a good suggestion to create incentives to assist small businesses but she questioned the wisdom of moving somewhere in the face of the potential threat of condemnation. She did not support the idea of the City taking a role as facilitator in negotiations between private property owners. She asserted that the mere presence of the City insinuated that the businesses would have to sell “or else.” She felt the odds did not favor small businesses when pitted against the City and a large developer. She thought people who conducted business in the downtown area and were loyal to that area for many years should have the right to continue to be business owners in that area and should not be pressured to sell. She advocated for the City pulling back from the negotiations and for letting the negotiations play out in the free market. MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 23, 2006 Page 3 Regular Session