CC Minutes - 04/19/10 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Kappy Eaton, Covey Lane, Eugene, speaking on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Lane County, said the league supported the proposed amendments to the downtown urban renewal plan and favored increasing the spending limit and expanding the boundary. She said the four projects included in the amendment would contribute to the plan goals of strengthening economic conditions in the plan area, as well as enhancing downtown's role as a center for public and private development and investment. She said tax increment, financing was a reasonable method to raise revenue for such activities, which would support other activities planned or underway downtown. She spoke to the benefits of each of the four projects and urged the council to support the plan amendment. She said the league was not advocating for a referral of the plan amendment to voters, it would not be inappropriate given the expansion of maximum indebtedness and geographic boundary of the district. Phil Farrington, East 11 t ` Avenue, Eugene, ward 1, representing PeaceHealth as its director of land use planning and development, said that PeaceHealth had been actively working with the VA to bring a new outpatient clinic of approximately 120,000 square feet into the area. He said the project would bring hundreds of family -wage jobs and provide services to thousands of veterans in the community and surrounding areas. He said the Willamette Street site was a strong candidate for the facility based on a number of factors and the City's ability to exercise its available tools to assist redevelopment on the site increased its viability. He said that while the VA had not yet made a decision, the financing tool gave the downtown site an advantage that could prove decisive. He urged the council to support the proposal. Joy Marshall, Eugene, ward 2, spoke in favor of the proposal for use of urban renewal funds, particularly the LCC project. She had been a strong advocate for school funding for the past decade and was distressed with use of the school funding argument to oppose the urban renewal plan amendment. She agreed there was a small amount of property tax funds diverted from the school district by urban renewal, but the State compensated for most of that loss. She noted that property tax funds were also used for many City functions such as fire, police and administration. She said the real question was whether the proposal was a reasonable, moderate and carefully designed proposal that was important to the community, and she felt it was. She urged people not to use a misguided argument against the urban renewal plan amendment because it would provide far more benefit to the community than harm. She said waiting for a better funding mechanism could result in loss of opportunity and public trust. She urged the council to support the amendment. Zachary Vishanoff, Eugene, Ward 3, commented that the public had trust problems with urban renewal and LCC could inherit those problems if it used urban renewal funds. He recommended separating LCC from the urban renewal proposal package, which was trying to accomplish too many things at once. He assumed that the public hearing was also about relocating the police station outside of downtown because the plan amendment included a public safety component that would deflect outrage over that move. He felt the public would refer the plan to the ballot because of the lack of detail. He also questioned what organizations would be meeting in the space LCC would be providing and wondered if LCC students had been allowed to vote on that decision. Misha Seymour, Lincoln Street, Eugene, opposed the downtown urban renewal plan. He said the stated intent to make downtown more welcoming for everyone was not true. He saw mean-spiritedness that was psychologically damaging the poor on a daily basis. He said that people were not allowed to gather on the sidewalk outside of the library. He said an urban renewal plan amendment should be used to provide low- - income housing. He said chairs and tables had been removed from Ken Kesey Square and people were not allowed to sleep in the library. He said the community should be for everyone and that was not currently happening. He said the plan amendment should be placed on the ballot for a public vote. MINUTES Eugene City Council April 19, 2010 Page 5 Public Hearing