CC Minutes - 02/13/06 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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approved in 1988. Later in 1988, a site review agreement was filed and approved. In November the same year, there was an expedited request for a community water system. The expectation was that services would be extended at the cost of the land owner. Ms. Segal believed the irrevocable petition was still valid and said she “hoped this could be addressed.” Zach Vishanoff , a resident of Patterson Street, suggested the President of the University of Oregon, as a member of the board of directors of Umqua Bank, serving with a member of the Guistina family, which proposed the Whole Foods development, would have more influence over the development than the council. He said the site in question already contained housing and a 24-hour business. There were people living and working in downtown, but they were not the type of people the City Council wanted downtown. He said that homeless people used the 24-hour restaurant at night because it was the only place that was open. He suggested that the mayor hold her monthly one-on-one at the restaurant. He asserted that the homeless who patronized the restaurant were out of work because of the no-bid contract for the garage. Mr. Vishanoff opposed a no-bid contract and wanted an open bid process. Ali Emami , 2321 Augusta Street, thanked the mayor, council, and staff for taking the time to work on the downtown development issue. He noted the location of his properties and said he had been doing business in downtown for the last 20 years. His businesses were vandalized daily. He believed the proposed East Broadway development was important to downtown and such an opportunity did not come around every day. He called the proposal a “ray of light” for Eugene downtown development. He thought it would be more constructive if Opus 5, the developers, and the City provided detailed information about the plan to the public and property owners to reveal the importance of the plan to Eugene and its residents. Charles Biggs , 540 Antelope Way, asked the City to extend the public comment time for the Walnut Station mixed-use development public forum and notify the public that comment was being requested. Mr. Biggs complained that the City repealed a plan that contained land use policies and substituted another plan with few or no policies, which took away the rights of citizens. Mr. Biggs then spoke to the issue of the River Ridge annexation. He said that he had done some research and discovered an annexation agreement between the City and the property owner (#AA 88-2). The agreement included a condition stating that if the property was rezoned for commercial or industrial uses, the property or area to be annexed must be contiguous to the central incorporated area of the city of Eugene at the time of the proposed annexation. He interpreted that as meaning that the area to be annexed could not merely be contiguous to the portion of the city surrounded by unincorporated territory. Kevin Matthews , PO Box 1588, Eugene, representing the Friends of Eugene, expressed appreciation for the council’s acquisition of a parks and open space bond measure on the November 2006 ballot. It gave citizens the opportunity to vote on whether it wished to make that commitment. He was grateful to have the chance to vote in favor of the measure. Mayor Piercy closed the Public Forum. She thanked the representatives of LEAD and the representatives of the University of Oregon design studio for their comments, suggesting that they were doing the kind of work the council desired from citizens. Councilor Kelly thanked those who spoke. He addressed the remarks of Mr. Etter regarding the Atrium’s closure to the amateur music groups. He said that information provided by staff indicated that it would cost too much money to open the building. He thought the music group represented a community asset and asked City Manager Dennis Taylor to prepare a memorandum with a proposal for how the building could be MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 13, 2006 Page 7 Regular Meeting