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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 06/25/07 City Council Meeting M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Regular Meeting Council Chamber—Eugene City Hall June 25, 2007 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Jennifer Solomon, Andrea Ortiz, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka, Chris Pryor, George Poling, Bonny Bettman, Betty Taylor. Mayor Kitty Piercy called the regular meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. She announced that the agenda item on eminent domain would be postponed for further study. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the public forum. John Brown , 101 East Broadway, Ward 5, thanked the councilors for their community service. He also thanked City Manager Dennis Taylor for his work and for being a “member of the community.” He stated that another river clean-up occurred over the weekend and it was attended by over 100 people. He was uncertain how many tons of garbage participants had pulled out of the water and from the riparian area. He asked the council to make a concerted effort and commitment to assist in monitoring the Willamette River, a community asset. He said he had taken a member of City staff on a tour of campsites on city property and there had been over a dozen of them. He asked how, in the grander scheme of things, the City could consider the further acquisition of lands if it could not take care of what was already there. He related that many people camp at the Bertelsen Slough and cause “irreparable” damage to the sensitive wetlands area. He felt the government did not want to take responsibility for the illegal activity that was occurring on the land. He heard from different agencies that there was not enough money or capacity to take action. He asked the council to help in any way it could. Joe Collins , 2233 Hawkins Lane, PO Box 24411, reiterated his allegations of drug use at the condominium complex he resided at. He felt he was not being responded to. th Drix , 307½ 14 Avenue, thanked the council for the opportunity to speak. He believed that new ideas were a “good thing.” He encouraged the community to be open to new ideas and new ways to look at problems. He said the City Hall was a meeting place that was special to the community. He thought where the new city hall wound up was not of great consequence. He suggested that Ya Po Ah Terrace could be a potential location for a new city hall. Regarding the two “holes” in downtown Eugene, he suggested the community could help to clean them up and volunteered to help. Peg Morton , 510 Van Buren Street, stated that she liked to walk as she was getting older. She related that she had discovered the Amazon Headwaters Forest. She thought it was beautiful and went there nearly every week. She did not think it should be in competition with other parks for money. She averred that those spaces were needed for everyone who lived here. MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 1 Regular Meeting Michael Smith , 1630 Arthur Place, volunteer for the Human Rights Party of Oregon, wished to voice his support for the acquisition of the Amazon Headwaters Forest. He felt this was only one land use issue that the City would face this year. He said there was also the possibility of the Fairgrounds property coming available, the potential construction of a hospital, and an issue just arising with the proposed installation of a th franchised building products store on West 11 Avenue. He stated that he had attended the Neighborhood Summit and the top issues that were agreed upon were citizen participation and infill. He wondered if the level of citizen participation in the Amazon Headwater issue was something the council should take into consideration. He thought the best thing the council could do would be to offer the developers a fair amount of money. He asserted that the City risked losing its integrity by “always taking the side of the developers.” Zachary Vishanoff , Patterson Street, passed out four more copies of a book on nanotechnology for the councilors. He asserted that there was a bill in the legislature that would require there to be six people with weapons on all of the campuses. He did not think that was the right response to recent events. He suggested that making tuition cheaper and addressing the maintenance backlog would be a better improvement to safety. He urged the council to take a stand opposing the bill through its Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs. Mr. Vishanoff expressed concern that “tasers would end up on campus.” Mr. Vishanoff commented that Senator Ron Wyden did not seem to know enough about the dangers of nanotechnology. He asserted that Senator Wyden had been a principal sponsor of a bill that would allocate $3.7 million for research on nanotechnology. David Monk , 3720 Emerald Street, president of the Citizens for Public Accountability (CPA), said he thought utilizing a public process in the Broadway redevelopment was the best way to undertake the project. He related that CPA had hosted a “Pit to Pit Walk” in the downtown area and heard good input from a variety of viewpoints. He had assumed that the West Broadway Advisory Committee would select a facilitator for the process but found this was not the case. He expressed concern that the committee charged with the selection of a facilitator included “at least six staff people.” He asserted that if the City wanted an engaged advisory committee with true “buy in” the committee should be allowed to select its facilitator. He felt the public process had been circumvented. Teressa O’Cäer , 5210 Canyon Drive, stated that her property was bordered on two sides by the Beverlys’ property. She had joined with neighbors to hold “at bay” the property owners who could potentially develop the site. She invited the councilors to come walk the trail through the woods there. She felt the councilors needed to see “this beautiful piece of property.” She believed it was a treasure for the “entire County” and that once it was gone it would be gone forever. Joy Gall , 4810 Mahalo Drive, stated that she had walked the trails through the Amazon headwaters area many times. She said the struggle to preserve the land had been going on for “dozens of years.” She opined that development in that area was tantamount to disaster. She averred that preservation in that area equaled “a little touch of perfection.” She thought there were many issues at hand, including economic conflict between people who wished to preserve the property and the people who had purchased it with the intent to develop the property and the impact of any increases in traffic. She asserted that it would take major changes in the street design to address traffic issues. She believed that given that tourism was important to the state, preservation of parks was very important. She called the area a “gem in the whole region.” MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 2 Regular Meeting Robert Olsen , 32810 Sisters Loop, called it a “no brainer” to preserve the Beverly/Green properties. He believed the properties to be unique. He averred that 94 percent of the South Hills was covered with housing with only “a little scrap in the corner” left. He felt that given that people had to fight to preserve it Eugene no longer deserved its reputation for being environmentally friendly. He called the issue regarding park land “disingenuous.” He felt that removing the golf course and the Ridgeline Trail from the roster would demonstrate that South Eugene had very little park land. Tom Halferty , 4510 Manzanita Street, thought it was a good idea to take another month to consider taking eminent domain of the two South Hills properties. He felt the value of the land had been inflated based on the number of houses that could allegedly be constructed on it. He disagreed with it. He showed a Lidar picture of the land which he asserted indicated the instability of the hillside. He provided the council with the Lidar image and other pictures. David Thor Johnson , 4986 Hunters Glen Drive, asked the councilors to walk the Beverly/Green properties with him. He thanked the councilors who supported using eminent domain to acquire the properties. He believed it was a courageous stand to take. He opined that houses built on the properties would not last. He also wished to thank City Manager Dennis Taylor for his service. Alice Pueschner , 1512 Barber Drive, said she was “not quite a NIMBY” but she did hike on the Bevery and Green properties. She commented that she would hate to think of the properties “going to developers.” She believed they were an essential part of the city of Eugene. She acknowledged that some people thought the south hills had too much park land and countered that the south hills was “the loveliest part of Eugene.” She declared that people who did not think they had enough park land in their neighborhoods should agitate for more. She said the neighborhood had worked hard to save the Beverly/Green properties. Ted Leadguard , 5205 Cold Springs Way, said he had just purchased property in Eugene. He related that he used to live in Virginia, 50 miles from Washington, DC. He said the area had been developed rapidly and described the ensuing detrimental effects mostly due to the contamination of an aquifer by uphill develop- ment. He asked that the council please see the importance of the watershed to Eugene. th Majeska Seese-Green , Van Buren Street and 5 Avenue, thanked the Mayor and the councilors who “worked to protect the headwaters for the whole city.” She noted her disagreement with an article in the paper written by former Eugene Mayor Jeff Miller that opined that the current mayor was not the “Mayor for all Eugene.” She asserted that there would be plenty of the bond money for parks if the “developers would do the right thing” and not try to gain the highest dollar value from the land. She declared that Mr. Green should be an Eugenean for all Eugene and not an Eugenean for “[his] own pocketbook.” Rob Handy , 455-½ River Road, said he was delighted to serve on the West Broadway Advisory Commit- tee. He commented that his partner was a first grade teacher, in part because she liked to be able to influence children at an age where they have to start figuring out how to have relationships and discipline in their lives. He thought the City was starting to understand the value of transparent public participation. He expressed concern that staff members were attempting to “take a narrow view of the motion” that directed the formation of the committee. He noted that the council motion directed that the consultant hired would perform a market analysis and economic feasibility studies in order to inform the committee deliberations. He felt the committee was getting “some push back” from staff members regarding the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 3 Regular Meeting Lotte Streisinger , 2075 Harris Street, supported saving the Amazon Headwaters. She said it was not a neighborhood issue for her as she did not live near it. She thanked the people who had worked hard to preserve it. She agreed that once the land was gone, it was gone forever. She reminded those present that Spencer’s Butte was intended to be logged in the 1930s but the City had managed to purchase that area. She felt thankful for this action. She averred that what they were trying to do was to preserve the land for the future. Lisa Warnes , 5020 Nectar Way, asserted that the analysis of park land in the South Hills area that indicated that the area had 21 percent of the population but 44 percent of the park land was not accurate because most of the parks were “regional facilities.” She opined that removing the “regional parks” from that inventory would indicate that actually the south hills had “hardly any” parks. She also disagreed with the assertion that the City would not be able to afford to maintain more park land. Susie Cousar , 2919 Crocker Road, supported preservation of the Amazon Headwaters. She related that she was a college teacher with a focus on ecology and human health. She was concerned about what was happening in the world, but she thought Eugene was touted as the sustainable city. She said it was very important that they not be “a status quo USA. anywhere.” She averred that in order to continue to maintain the sustainable community it was important to make the decision to preserve the Beverly/Green properties. She encouraged anyone who did not support doing so to “read up” about human health, ecology, and eco- systems. She added that the City could never have too many parks. She wished to stress that she was from Santa Clara and favored having parks all over the City. She declared that the real issue lay in saving the land. Donna O’Neil , 3525 High Street, said she walked the Amazon trail often. She commented that it was the one place she could go to hear something “besides crows.” She opined that walking in the woodland was spectacular. She shared her favorite bird call. She related that she had seen three pileated woodpeckers and it had “made” her week. She felt the developers were “stealing” the land from Eugeneans to build large homes on it. She averred that it would be a “tragedy” to let this happen. Mayor Piercy closed the public forum. She said she had been engaged in the formation and initial meeting of the West Broadway Advisory Committee. She hoped they could get everyone engaged in order to get the process going. She invited comments from the councilors. Councilor Bettman thanked everyone who testified. She wished to specifically thank those people who came out in support of the preservation of the Amazon Headwaters. Councilor Bettman commented that she kept hearing that a facilitator would be hired for the West Broadway Advisory Committee. She did not believe that the council motion had directed that a facilitator be hired. She recalled that it had directed the hiring of an urban planner and that the City should secure the services of a qualified consultant to provide the market analysis and financial feasibility studies. She believed that there were two different positions and neither of them was to serve as a facilitator. She did not think this precluded the committee from making a choice of facilitators. She asked if a legal opinion had been obtained in order to counter the idea that the West Broadway Advisory Committee should have a choice about the facilitator. City Manager Taylor explained that staff discussed the hiring with the City’s purchasing division and the City Attorney and based on oral conversations there was no legal opinion having to do with how service contracts were purchased. MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 4 Regular Meeting Councilor Bettman was concerned that the City would not be able to require conditions recommended by the community without them being articulated in the MOU. She said unless the committee had input into the MOU, they did not have “any influence” over the process. Councilor Zelenka thanked everyone for coming to testify. He believed that the West Broadway Advisory Committee process needed to be careful, thoughtful, and collaborative. He noted that his motion had directed the City Manager to select the facilitator/urban planner for the process. He hoped that the City Manager would take input from the committee prior to hiring. Councilor Taylor thanked everyone for their continued work to save the Amazon Headwaters. She felt there was wide support for the preservation of the area. 2. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Approval of City Council Minutes - April 25, 2007, Work Session - May 9, 2007, Work Session - May 16, 2007, Work Session B. Approval of Tentative Working Agenda C. Adoption of Resolution 4913 Approving a Multiple-Unit Property Tax Exemption forRe- th sidential property Located at 693 East 16 Avenue, Eugene, Oregon (Corey Development, LLC) D. Adoption of Neighborhood Association Charter Revisions Councilor Ortiz, seconded by Councilor Pryor, moved to approve the items on the Consent Calendar. Councilor Bettman noted she had submitted a correction to the minutes and pulled Item C for discussion Mayor Piercy deemed the corrections, without objection, approved. Roll call vote; the motion to approve the Consent Calendar with the exception of Item C passed unanimously, 8:0. Councilor Bettman observed that the Multiple-Unit Property Tax Exemption (MUPTE) that was on the docket was within the University of Oregon area. She asserted the proposed development was not for family-sized housing; rather, it was for students. She noted that a vintage house was being torn down at the site and that rents for the new development would ultimately be $925 per month. She thought the housing development would be built regardless of whether it received the MUPTE. She averred that the new development would generate additional burdens on city services and that granting the MUPTE would remove resources from the public services required to serve the development. She could not see a tax exemption being used to “subsidize building student housing.” Mayor Piercy pointed out that the West University Neighbors (WUN) submitted a letter in support of granting the MUPTE to this development. MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 5 Regular Meeting Councilor Zelenka said it seemed like a nice project. He related that he had taken a driving tour of the WUN earlier in the day and had observed substantial development. He asserted that there were four projects under construction and eight projects that had just been constructed. He believed the point of MUPTE was intended to be an incentive to get projects built where they would not otherwise be built. He did not believe there was any need for such an incentive in the University of Oregon area. He indicated he would oppose the exemption. Councilor Taylor opposed the exemption for the reasons already stated. She averred it was “obviously student housing” and it was “obviously being built for profit.” She thought anyone could say they could not afford to build a project without a tax break. Councilor Bettman commented that while she appreciated that the WUN residents had weighed in, she felt they only looked at a “narrow range of issues” and they were not in a position to “weigh the pros and cons.” She said the neighborhood group had not participated in the budget process and had not had to “horse trade” to fund things such as human services which “may be a higher priority than to provide a developer with a profit.” Councilor Clark pointed out that with the closing of the Westmoreland Student Housing there was a distinct need for student housing in the University of Oregon area. He intended to support the MUPTE because he believed additional student housing created less of a drain on low-income housing and this created more opportunity for it to be available in the city. He noted that he had once resided in housing adjacent to the existing house on the property and considered it “high time” the property was redeveloped. Councilor Solomon supported the addition of good quality student housing. She observed that the MUPTE would provide a total exemption of $150,710 over ten years and reminded the council that in one budget cycle, the council will have spent that amount of money or more to build council offices. She said this was notable when talking about spending taxpayers’ dollars. Roll call vote; the vote was a tie, 4:4; councilors Pryor, Poling, Solomon, and Clark voting in favor and councilors Ortiz, Bettman, Taylor, and Zelenka voting in opposition. Mayor Piercy voted in opposition of granting the Multiple-Unit Property Tax Exemption to the project and the motion failed. Mayor Piercy commented that she had been persuaded by Councilor Zelenka’s “look around” and his sense that the MUPTE was not really needed for development in that area. 3. PUBLIC HEARING: An Ordinance Concerning Manufactured Dwelling Park Closures; and Amending Sections 2.1060 and 2.1086 of the Eugene Code, 1971 City Manager Taylor invited Richie Weinman, Urban Services Manager for the Planning and Development Department, to the podium to provide a short overview of the ordinance. Mr. Weinman explained that the City of Eugene was the first of four cities in recent history to pass protections for owners of manufactured homes and manufactured dwelling parks. He said those protections had become less effective over time as inflation had eroded “the lay of the land.” He related that all parks were currently not covered and only special category tenants, those who were over 70 years old, those who MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 6 Regular Meeting were disabled, and low-income tenants, were protected. He stated that there were 34 parks representing over 3,000 spaces in Eugene. He stated that the Housing Policy Board (HPB) subcommittee had spent a lot of time reviewing the current ordinance and developing a recommendation for changes to it. Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing. Tom Mitchell , 3355 North Delta Highway, #45, submitted his testimony in writing. He related that he had lived in a manufactured home park for nine years. He said residents feel threatened by the proposed hospital development. He surmised that if a commercial development was approved for construction across the street from the manufactured home park, the out-of-town landlord could decide to sell the land on which the park was located. He supported the proposed City of Eugene ordinance. He believed it would provide protec- tions to them in the event the park their home was located in was closed or converted. He thought provisions for relocation costs in the ordinance were fair. He noted that if owners had the money to pay actual moving costs they would be reimbursed by the park owner within 10 days of receiving the receipt for the amount of costs incurred or they could choose to receive a lesser amount up front. He said most important was the provision that directed that if a home could not be moved the park owner would pay the homeowner the real market value of the home. He noted that a survey of vacant spaces in mobile and manufactured home parks had identified only 80 spaces in the City of Eugene. He predicted that if the park he resided in closed, the 192 double and triple wide homes would have no place to be relocated. He felt that a park closure could mean they would lose their home entirely. He urged the council to pass the ordinance and protect the vulnerable citizens that reside in the manufactured home parks. Barbara Mitchell , 3355 North Delta Highway, #45, submitted her testimony in writing. She echoed Mr. Mitchell’s testimony. She offered five points suggested to be added to make the ordinance stronger: ? Operate with State law so that provisions could not be construed as to conflict with it; ? Owner relief with writ of review – adding something such as the Wilsonville language could make the ordinance appear more comprehensive and balanced; ? Private right of action should be provided to residents and park owners for legal remedies; ? Severability – if any portion of the ordinance should be held invalid it should not affect the validity of the remaining portions; ? An emergency clause which would make the ordinance effective on the date of passage. Ms. Mitchell noted that the City of Eugene would have 180 days to add to its ordinance after the end of the legislative session. She urged the council to make the City of Eugene ordinance as “bullet proof as possible.” Troy Brost , owner of a local manufactured home park, 4055 Royal Avenue, noted that he had served as the “Lone Ranger no vote” on the HPB subcommittee on manufactured home parks. He provided copies of his testimony in writing. He called the ordinance “ill policy” for the manufactured housing industry. He had promoted a four-legged stool concept regarding park closure, with the four legs representing the homeowner, the land owner, state government, and local government. He believed that affordable housing was a societal issue that should not be subsidized by any one industry or entity. He thought it was a responsibility of each of the stakeholders. Mr. Brost pointed out that homeowners signed an agreement upon moving into a manufactured home park indicating they understood the rental agreement could be terminated. He also pointed out that the new Marriott Residence Inn was on the site of a former trailer park and the property tax revenue from the site had increased by 250 percent. He suggested that the solution lay in exacting $5,000, $7,000, or $9,000 from the landlord based on the size of the home, giving a $10,000 tax credit to the homeowner from the state, and granting the land owner a five-year exemption from the property tax MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 7 Regular Meeting increase. He believed his suggestion was a more fair distribution of the burden among the “four legs of the stool.” Chuck Carpenter , Portland, Executive Director of Manufacture Housing Communities of Oregon, stated that his organization represented 500 manufactured housing communities across the State of Oregon out of approximately 1,200. He noted that only five percent of those closed in the last five years. He wished to reiterate that residents of manufactured communities were informed of their rights and responsibilities before they sign a rental agreement. He believed that there were many reasons why people choose to live in manufactured home communities. He said rents were typically reasonable and did not reflect the land value. He thought the ordinance would make the discrepancy between the value of the land and the rents even larger. He felt the ordinance would make the landlord the victim. He averred that the landlord had done his or her part to provide a housing alternative and would, with the ordinance, be denied fair compensation for the land. He foresaw a steep increase in rents in order to pay the increase in exit costs, and a deterioration of properties. Zachary Vishanoff , a resident living on Patterson Street, related that his grandparents had lived in a “trailer park” in Santa Barbara, California. He said the ordinance would affect people like them in the Eugene community. He averred that the City should go to “great lengths” to mitigate the situation so that a Project Homeless Connect type event three years from now did not include “a bunch of people who used to live in these parks.” He believed that the owners of the parks were not the most vulnerable. He thought a lot of the parks were in scenic spots and were therefore more susceptible to redevelopment. He encouraged the City to conduct an audit of its low-income housing in order to determine what was out there and how quickly it was disappearing. Peter Ferris , P.O. Box 263, Bayview Mobile Home Park, Waldport, commented that the City Council had to be “Solomon” as it was a “daunting and difficult issue.” He said he had been a lobbyist for Oregon Manufactured Homeowners United over the past legislative session. He averred that they were trying to fashion a “win-win” situation. He believed the ordinance to be good public policy. He acknowledged the owners concerns about costs but pointed out that the homeowners “lose everything.” He said they lose “their homes, their affordable housing, their independence and their communities.” He asserted that people who lose their places end up being sent to nursing homes or dying or filing for bankruptcy. He urged the council to take a good look at the ordinance and take its time deliberating on it. Jerry A. Harden , 1400 Candlelight Drive, #224, Briarwood Mobile Home Park, proposed some changes to the ordinance including giving 100 percent coverage to all residents of mobile home parks regardless of zoning. He said people at the lowest income levels were limited to 50 percent coverage because of the location of the parks. He asked that a provision be added that would prohibit mobile home park owners from discriminating against single-wide or older homes. He thought park owners could “cherry pick revenue” by picking newer or larger homes. He also suggested that a park owner appeal provision be applied, such as stating provisions in the ordinance could be appealed to the City Council by park owners in the event unforeseen circumstances warranted exemption. He averred that many other cities were likely to use the Eugene ordinance as a model for their own ordinances. Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing. She noted that she had been tracking this issue carefully. She called for councilor questions and comments. Councilor Zelenka thanked Councilor Solomon for serving on the HPB and for helping to craft the compromise the ordinance represented. He said it was important to protect low income housing. MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 8 Regular Meeting Councilor Bettman had heard lobbyists state that this type of ordinance would eliminate manufactured housing as an affordable housing due to the fact that it would not be profitable anymore. She asked for information on whether the statement could be substantiated. City Manager Taylor responded that it would be possible to ask PDD staff their opinion on it but it would be difficult to speculate what would happen in the future. Councilor Bettman remarked that inclusion of an amendment to prevent the exclusion of single-wide mobile homes if the park already contained single-wide homes and older homes seemed fair and requested language to that end. Councilor Zelenka noted that Mr. Harden had suggested protections of mobile home owners regardless of the zoning of the park they reside in. He asked if the number of people who were affected was known. City Manager Taylor replied that Mr. Weinman could obtain that number for the council. 4. ACTION: Ratification of Intergovernmental Relations Committee Actions of May 8, 2007, May 22, 2007, May 29, 2007, and June 6, 2007 Councilor Ortiz, seconded by Councilor Pryor, moved to ratify the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations actions as set forth in the minutes of the May 8, May 22, May 29, and June 6, 2007 meetings. In response to a question from Councilor Bettman as to whether the bill (House Bill 5036) had been “gutted and stuffed” because it did not mention Lane Transit District’s (LTD) request for $10 million, Intergovern- mental Relations Manager Brenda Wilson explained that HB 5036 was a budgeting bill providing specific lottery backed funding for specific projects. She stated that the City’s original interest in the bill was because Lane Transit District (LTD) had requested support of their request for $10 million in lottery backed bonds, but had not been able to get its request included in the bill, adding that the bill had passed earlier in the day by a 42:7 vote in the House. Councilor Bettman said this left the City “with a different issue,” that is, the use of lottery bonds to fund capital construction projects. Ms. Wilson replied that there were a couple of issues with the bill. She stated that the bill, in its current form, increased the lottery bond issuance from $227 million to $248.7 million and it included the issuance of lottery bonds to fund projects for providing assistance to those persons at risk of homelessness, a parking facility in the City of Hillsboro, money for the Coos Bay channel, for Oregon Public Broadcasting to build digital transmission facilities to be in compliance with federal transmission requirements in 2009, money for a southeast extension project for light rail, and $20 million to provide grants to municipalities to purchase and maintain streetcars with the requirement that the streetcars had to be manufactured in Oregon by Oregon-owned businesses. Councilor Bettman asked if the City could apply for funding from the streetcar allocation. Ms. Wilson responded that it could. Councilor Bettman opined that there were good things and bad things in the bill. She stated that bonding on future lottery revenue in order to fund capital projects only perpetuated our reliance on the lottery, and she opposed bonding on future lottery revenue. MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 9 Regular Meeting In response to a question from Councilor Bettman, Ms. Wilson stated that it had a good chance of passing in the Senate, with only the Hillsboro parking facility being at issue. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to amend the position from a Pri- ority 3 Oppose to a Priority 3 Support. There was some discussion on being neutral on the bill. Councilor Bettman responded that it probably would not be a good idea to take a neutral position on the bill and then later ask for some of the streetcar funding. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Roll call vote; the main motion, as amended, passed unanimously, 7:0; Councilor Solomon had temporarily left the dais. Councilor Bettman asked if the City could apply for funding for a study for streetcars. She requested a memorandum outlining the eligibility requirements and the timelines for applying for such funding. Councilor Bettman asked why the City of Eugene was paying the majority of the match for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant. Emergency Program Manager Joe Rizzi responded that funding for the first 2005 COPS grant totaled $4,387,000 of which $3 million was grant funding from the federal government and $1 million was a local match. He said at the time the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) contributed $1.1 million; the City of Eugene contributed $95,000 as did the City of Springfield and Lane County. He noted that the City of Eugene had utilized telecommunications fund money for its portion of the match. He stated that the project would be completed in February 2008. He explained the increase in capacity the project would provide when completed with the aid of a map. He said it would increase public safety “tremendously” because a police officer in a medium density building would now be able to communicate with dispatch without having to go outside of the building. In response to a follow-up question from Councilor Bettman, Mr. Rizzi explained that the City of Eugene and its partners had been invited to apply again for the same COPS grant. He said they had been pleased to have another opportunity and that they would seek to add the Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to the system. He stated that they would be able to communicate with each other and also would be able to communicate from the interior of buildings. He reported that the partners for the second phase were the City of Eugene Police and Fire & EMS Departments, Central Lane 911 Communications, the City of Springfield, Springfield Fire and Life Safety Department, Lane County Sheriff’s Office, EWEB, Lane Rural Fire Rescue, Lane County Fire District 1, Santa Clara Fire District, and the Lane Council of Governments (LCOG). He related that they had broken down the amount of the backbone of the system so that each organization would pay a proportionate amount and the amount each paid for radios was solely based on the number of radios they were purchasing. He stressed that the reason the City of Eugene was paying the largest portion was because it was purchasing more radio units than any other jurisdiction. Councilor Bettman said she had thought the grant given in 2005 had covered all aspects of public safety for the City of Eugene. Mr. Rizzi responded that the 2005 grant had been specifically for law enforcement; the present grant opened it up for fire safety personnel as well. He said they hoped to overlay the fire department on top of the same system that had been built so that the same backbone would be used but the channels would be increased. He noted that the Fire Department had a system dating to the 1970s that had been designed for 3,000 calls per year whereas the department currently received 20,000 calls per year. He MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 10 Regular Meeting averred that whether the City pursued the COPS grant or not the fire communication system would have to be overhauled in the near future. Councilor Bettman asked if the infrastructure had been installed with the 2005 grant money. Mr. Rizzi affirmed that it was. Councilor Bettman asked why the current amount of money, ostensibly for radios only, was greater than the amount of money in the 2005 grant. Mr. Rizzi replied that there was more to it. He explained that at present the Fire Department utilized Very High Frequency (VHF) and the new system was Ultra-High Frequency (UHF), which provided the capacity to communicate from inside of buildings. He stated that the whole department was now utilizing VHF and the grant sought to switch them over to UHF. He added that the VHF system for the Fire Department was overloaded and could not be extended. Councilor Bettman asked if the money that the City of Eugene had contributed had only been allocated to the cost of the system upgrades to Eugene within its city limits. Mr. Rizzi responded that it had not been limited by the City’s boundaries. Councilor Bettman asserted that the City of Eugene was subsidizing other jurisdictions. Mr. Rizzi replied that he considered the amount of money the City of Eugene was contributing to be the “best deal in the whole system.” He explained that by extending out past the city limits it gave the City of Eugene interoperability between additional agencies, both police and fire, in surrounding communi- ties. Councilor Bettman said she was not talking about the match being proportional to the entire grant; rather she was talking about the City’s share of the match being proportional to the other jurisdictions’ shares of the match. Mr. Rizzi believed it was proportional. He reiterated that each agency contributed a certain amount of for the basic system and then the additional amount was for the actual subscriber units. He explained that the City of Springfield had about half of the number of units the City of Eugene had and was paying about half of the amount Eugene was paying. Councilor Bettman asked if when the grant was done the area would be completely interoperable. Mr. Rizzi replied that the interoperability would be vastly improved. He noted that they were also putting in additional towers. Councilor Bettman asked what other cities were benefiting from it. Mr. Rizzi replied that they were the same as the partners he had already listed. Councilor Bettman averred that she did not see any other cities listed aside from Springfield. Randy Groves, Fire Chief, elaborated, explaining that the fire districts that the City of Eugene was partnering with covered other cities and sometimes more than one. He reminded the Mayor and Council that the City of Eugene operated an Ambulance Service Area (ASA) that was larger than the City of Eugene and was also the regional state hazardous materials team responsible to all of Lane County, for which they did receive some state money. He noted that they provided regional search and rescue services as well. He underscored that the communication system for the Fire Department was aging. He said for every dollar they spent, they received three back in grant funding. He added that another leveraging point was that the department would be able to connect with the existing system and this would benefit the City. Councilor Bettman said she intended to support the grant. Councilor Pryor expressed appreciation for staff’s diligence for identifying a source of funding and leveraging partners. He thought the grant was a “great thing” and that the City would receive a lot for its investment. MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 11 Regular Meeting Councilor Pryor, seconded by Councilor Ortiz, moved to authorize the City of Eugene to apply for grant funding from the Community Oriented Policing Services Technology Pro- gram for funds to improve data and voice interoperability and that it matched the require- ments as listed in the Agenda Item Summary. Roll call vote; the motion passed unani- mously, 8:0. MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 12 Regular Meeting 5. ACTION: An Ordinance Authorizing the Institution of Proceedings in Eminent Domain for the Acquisition by Condemnation of Property for Park and Open Space Land Near the Amazon Creek Headwa- ters in South Eugene; and Declaring an Immediate Effective Date This item was postponed to July 9, 2007. The meeting adjourned at 9:38 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dennis M. Taylor City Manager Angel Jones City Manager Pro Tem (Recorded by Ruth Atcherson) MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 13 Regular Meeting