Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Mary Leighton , 4046 Normandy Way, said she was there to ask for help in Network Charter School’s (NCS) quest for a new home downtown. She explained that NCS was a public charter school with 120 students, grades 7 through 12. She stated that the program was taught by five community organizations, each of which had a broader mission. She said they delivered a standards-based education that led to a diploma. She related that the current site was substandard for a school, but they had managed to eke out one more year. They had looked all over for another building, but needed to be located in the downtown area. She underscored that the school was a good neighbor and accountable for the behavior of its student body. She said the school had cordial relations with the neighboring businesses. She cited several examples of how the building exterior was cared for promptly when defaced with graffiti or otherwise vandalized and stressed that the school did not want to look unkempt. She recalled that the school had a “deal” with the City and had to back out of it because the cost was much higher than they had originally intended to spend. She asked them to reconsider the CDBG application so that the NCS would have a little more money to help buy the building. She urged them to help the school find a building, whatever they ultimately decided. Teresa Bishow , 2911 Tennyson Avenue, Suite 400, Planning Director with Arlie & Company, requested the council to grant emergency relief on behalf of Western Steel. She related that the relief was being requested for new large developments that would create jobs and increase city revenues for tourism and the arts. She said the specific request was for a deferral of system development charges (SDCs). She explained that SDCs were required to be paid at the time the building permit was issued. She said in 2006, Western Steel had submitted planning applications for a new three-story 115-room hotel on Crescent Avenue in northeast Eugene. She stated that the challenge they faced was a $472,000 SDC fee that they needed to include as part of their construction loan in order to begin building the hotel. She averred that if there was a way for the City to grant a deferral until the hotel was complete, they could include these fees as part of the permanent financing that would be available at that time. She asserted that in this case deferral of the SDC fees to final occupancy would not impact the City’s infrastructure as the impacts would not occur until the building was open. She asked that the council consider deferring SDCs for large projects and hotels given their unique ongoing revenue source for the City, and the other public benefits they provided. She submitted a letter to staff from Western Steel. She said the company looked forward to hearing from the council. th Molly Stafford , 437 East 11 Avenue, spoke in support of providing CDBG funding to help the NCS purchase the building at 858 Pearl Street. She explained that she was an interested citizen who lived near the downtown area. She believed the NCS students were an asset to the city center. She related that the school had forged alliances to many downtown businesses that provided internship opportunities. She asked the council to encourage City staff to help the school stay in downtown Eugene. She did not want to see the school become homeless. Dave Hallock , 564 Mary Lane, Ward 2, had founded the Disciples of Dirt mountain bike club in 1987. He wished to call attention to the Ribbon Trail, which had recently been opened in Eugene for pedestrians only. He stated that the Ribbon Trail was an extension to the Ridgeline Trail system, the majority of which was closed to mountain bikes. He was disappointed that the City would open another stretch of the trail but would not allow mountain bikes to use it. He said the club he represented had about 400 members and the members performed hundreds of man-hours every year opening up trails to the public. He explained that there was a lot of “snow-down and blow-down” and the club helped to clear it. He asked, on behalf of the club, that the Ribbon Trail be opened to mountain bikers. He underscored the club’s willingness to be involved in the upkeep of the trail. Tyler Barrett , 720 Brookside Drive, said he was a junior at South Eugene High School and a member of the Disciples of Dirt. He related that he had gotten involved with the club because he had been too young to drive a car to the mountain bike trails and had needed to find others to ride with. He learned from his participation that the way to earn true respect in the club was to show up and do trail work. He said he had several friends who wanted to mountain bike with him, but the fact that they had to find a car to transport them to mountain bike trails was daunting. He acknowledged that the Headwaters Trail was available, but it was only two miles long. He invited the councilors to come mountain biking with the club so they could understand how enjoyable it was. He also acknowledged that Eugene had been listed as one of the top cities for bicycling by Bicycling Magazine because of the MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 26, 2010 Page 2 Regular Meeting