Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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th Ms. Laurence shared slides of 8 Avenue, reminding the council it was a designated “Great Street” where people would want to be. The City was implementing the Downtown Plan on a project-by-project basis. She said the Whole Foods project was consistent with the vision and policies outlined in the Downtown Plan. Ms. Laurence noted the action requested of the council, which was to direct the City Manager to negotiate a land transaction agreement, a development agreement and related legal documents, and to bring all the aforementioned documents to the council for final approval. Mayor Piercy called for council questions and comments. Mr. Kelly thought the project was exciting and wanted it to happen. He thought a parking garage would benefit The Shedd’s continued growth as well. He said the store could be built as an outright use on the site in question; the question before the council today was the degree of City participation in the project. Mr. Kelly suggested another work session be scheduled, given the complexity of the topic. Mr. Kelly suggested the City needed to get out in front of the issue of downtown green space. He overviewed a proposal for a “green ribbon” connecting the Park Blocks downtown to the river. That proposal would require subgrade parking on the site. Ms. Laurence said staff discussed an enhanced th sidewalk along 8 Avenue using existing right-of-way to create a green walk. Mr. Kelly wanted more council discussion of the subject. Ms. Ortiz was glad that Mr. Kelly raised the point that the business in question was an outright use. She was concerned about the City providing staff assistance to a particular business when there were other smaller businesses that could also use City help. She had reservations about the City helping some, but not all, businesses. Ms. Bettman did not think the council had adequate time for discussion and agreed that a second work session was needed. She wanted to see a range of options rather than a single option. She was not convinced the proposal was the best investment for the money. Ms. Bettman commended Whole Foods for including embedded parking within its infrastructure. Ms. Bettman concurred with the remarks of Ms. Ortiz, saying that the business in question could go through the normal development process without City assistance. Ms. Bettman said there were several things she would like to see before she could support the project. The first was financial participation from the County and the General Services Administration (GSA) for the project. She did not want to use any City funds outside the district. She believed there were higher priorities for the money; for example, the City could still purchase the riparian area if EWEB decided to move, and the Library Debt Service Fund could be used to offset the library levy. Ms. Bettman wanted to see the parking consolidated and that there be no publicly funded commercial spaces provided. She suggested that the remainder of the City-owned property at the site be sold and the money used to fund the parking structure. Ms. Bettman said the City should share the cost of the utility upgrade with the developer as being commensurate with the benefit offered to the developer. Ms. Bettman believed that if a public parking structure that met a public need was proposed, there should be a competitive bidding process. MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 8, 2006 Page 5 Work Session