CC Minutes - 09/28/09 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilor Taylor said the students illustrated the importance of the Sister City program and its contribution to world peace by bringing cultures together. She did not think that time limits should be set on comments from the ECLA advisory committee. Councilor Pryor echoed councilors’ comments about the students who visited Korea. He said visiting a Sister City was the experience of a lifetime. He agreed with the need to address problems downtown and would support a request for a work session. He said he did not expect sacrifices of people he was not willing to make and had cut his own salary because of budget problems in his organization in order to make ends meet. Mayor Piercy was pleased that students used the public forum to discuss the value of the Sister City forum. She expressed on behalf of the council, appreciation for the work of City employees and recognized how difficult it was when hard financial decisions had to be made. She assured the community that work was being done about problems with the downtown area and those efforts would continue to make it a safe place for everyone. 2. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Approval of City Council Minutes of July 27, 2009, Work Session; August 10, 2009, Work Session; August 10, 2009, City Council Meeting; September 14, 2009, City Council Meet- ing. B. Approval of Tentative Working Agenda C. Approval of Funding for Housing Project Affordable to Low-Income Persons D. Call for Public Hearing on Amendment to EC 4.035 – Citation Authority of University of Oregon Department of Public Safety Officers Councilor Zelenka, seconded by Councilor Clark, moved to approve the items on the Consent Calendar with the exception of Item C. The motion passed; 8:0. Councilor Clark asked if the fact that his business partner served on the Housing Policy Board (HPB) posed a conflict for him with respect to a decision on Item C. City Attorney Emily Jerome said there was no conflict with respect to his decision. Councilor Clark commented that the HPB had worked very hard on selection of a project for the Willakenzie site. He said the issue of historic significance was recently raised and asked if a decision on the project was time sensitive or could be postponed for two weeks. Stephanie Jennings, Community Development Division, replied that staff had already responded to the individual who had raised questions regarding the site. She said staff was seeking to align the project with the application process for State resources and that the timeline was imminent and every moment was needed to assist the developer. Councilor Pryor said he served on the HPB, along with the design review committee that made recommenda- tions to the HPB and agreed that it was a difficult decision as both proposals were very good. He said the service to people with disabilities eventually tilted the decision toward the Metropolitan Affordable Housing project because that population was under served. He said the decision could be delayed, but thought the HPB had done an excellent job of reviewing the proposals and making a selection and was comfortable moving forward with the project. He doubted that a delay would change the outcome. Councilor Poling asked how the number of units per acre could be increased in R-1 zoning. Ms. Jennings replied that the City’s land use zoning contained a provision called the “controlled rent and density bonus” that allowed affordable housing developments to be increased by up to 50 percent over the base zoning. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 28, 2009 Page 4