CC Minutes - 09/14/09 Regular Meeting

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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Regular Meeting Council Chamber—Eugene City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon September 14, 2009 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Chris Pryor, George Brown, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Mike Clark, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Alan Zelenka. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. stth Jim Wilcox , 205 West 31 Avenue, wished to speak about the development site located at 10 Avenue and Olive Street. He related that in 2008 he had collaborated with Plug in America to come up with a plan and they had developed a housing/transit station idea in which residents could receive credits for having no car and that included amenities such as electric car charging stations, among others. He had submitted the plan in response to the City’s request for proposals, but WG Development had been awarded the project. He had worked on the design criteria and tried to talk to the City further as the project appeared to be faltering after six months, but the City was not interested in looking at other proposals. He believed that in the interim the Obama stimulus grants had come through for a possible $20 million for a “unique transportation development” and he could have accessed that money, but the City still had not been interested. He observed that WG Development had bowed out and now it seemed Lane Community College hoped to build on that site. He said it had been 18 months and he wanted to provide copies of the plan to the council. He encouraged the council to consider the design criteria and the plan. He averred that it would help lead toward a more sustainable Eugene. th Eugene Drix , 307 ½ 14 Avenue, declared his love for Eugene. He welcomed the council back after the summer break. He said new was only new until it was known. He related that he had gone to the Eugene Celebration and as he had walked by the Lane Community College (LCC) downtown center three women were working to get the door closed and locked. He had offered to help them to move “into one of the holes” and one of them had said they had the money and just needed a place to move to. He commented that he was passing that message along to the council. He stated that branding was important; Eugene was a beautiful community. He suggested that Eugene could be the “city of thought.” He thought the City could have a new expression: “How are You-gene?” Howard Kopp , 2175 Polk Street, Executive Director of Nearby Nature and affiliated with the Network Charter School (NCS), explained that NCS was a collaboration of a number of non-profits and alternative schools, including Nearby Nature, MECCA, Peace Village, Le Petit Gourmet and Eugene Glass School. He stated that they were a provider of community-based education with teachers who provided expertise in community issues. He said NCS was a collection of campuses where “kids get involved” in hands-on learning in small-group settings. He believed that the NCS was a haven for “innovative creative kids” who would be lost in larger public school class rooms. He said NCS had an interest in remaining downtown and was interested in occupying the building at 858 Pearl Street. He thought it would provide a use for a vacant City-owned building and they intended to attract other non-profits as occupants in the building, such as the Saturday Market. He noted that the Market was interested in forming a MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 14, 2009 Page 1 Regular Meeting