Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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8. PUBLIC HEARING: Resolution 4862 Granting an Exemption from Competitive Selection Requirements for a Personal Services Contract Relating to Developer Services and Developer’s Selection of General Contrac- tor for Construction of a Public Parking Facility; and Approving Findings Relating Thereto City Manager Taylor asked Associate Planner for PDD, Nan Laurence, to describe the scope of the East Broadway development project and the nature of the hearings that were before the council at this meeting. He noted that he had conferred with the Mayor regarding how to best facilitate the hearing so that everyone would have the opportunity to speak, once it had come to light that many people wished to testify on the item. He said he had also conferred with the City Attorney and determined that the procedure by which the council had chosen to conduct the three hearings was, in fact, legal. He felt the hearing would be more user- friendly. Ms. Laurence described the two components of the East Broadway proposal: the Whole Foods Grocery, which would occupy approximately 52,000 square feet on the southern half of the block; and the parking th garage, located on the northern half of the block and which would face 8 Avenue. She explained that the three items that were subject to public hearing were: 1) the supplemental budget for the East Broadway public parking garage and the City Hall Phase 2 development plan; 2) the supplemental budget for the Urban Renewal Agency also related to the parking garage; and 3) exempting the public parking from the competitive selection process. She wished to emphasize three points: 1. This project sought to implement the vision for downtown based on council direction in the Down- town Plan. 2. This project would be pro-active as the proposed public parking garage would act as an incentive for further redevelopment and satisfy the demand for parking in the east end of the downtown area. She stressed that these spaces were separate from and in addition to the 240 parking spaces that were planned to be built above the Whole Foods Grocery structure. The need for parking was documented in the Parking Study and the data in that study was based on a physical inventory con- ducted by staff. 3. The project would be strategic and would capitalize on a development opportunity. In closing, Ms. Laurence stressed that staff compared garage costs and was confident that the public parking garage, as proposed, would result in construction cost efficiencies and an attractive, high-quality design. Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing. Councilor Papé declared a conflict of interest and recused himself from the proceeding. He left the dais at 8:50 p.m. Mayor Piercy stated that 97 people signed up to speak and imposed a limit of two minutes per person. She noted that it would take a council motion to extend the meeting time beyond 10 p.m. John Barofski , 2010 Hubbard Lane, stated that he was co-chair for the Fairmount Neighborhood Association (FNA) and a citizen member of the Budget Committee. He reported that the FNA passed a resolution in opposition to the above-ground parking structure and also suggested that below-ground parking be built with park space above it. He submitted a copy of the resolution into the record. MINUTES—Eugene City Council -- March 13, 2006 Page 10 City Council Meeting