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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 09/19/07 Work Session M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Work Session Council Chamber—Eugene City Hall September 19, 2007 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: Andrea Ortiz, Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Bonny Bettman, George Poling, Jennifer Solomon, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene Urban Renewal District Agency to order. A. WORK SESSION: West Broadway Advisory Committee Recommendations Mayor Piercy thanked the West Broadway Advisory Committee (WBAC) for its work. She commended the co-chairs, Greg McLauchlan and Harriet Cherry, for facilitating the committee. City Manager Pro Tem Angel Jones commended the community members who had participated in the process, and thanked the staff of the Planning and Development Department (PDD) for their “tremendous effort.” She considered it to be a great example of teamwork. She stated that the action to be taken at the meeting was to receive the committee’s report. She said there would be another public information opportunity from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. later in the day at which comments on the process and recommen- dations could be given. Mr. McLauchlan thanked everyone for their participation and, in particular, Ms. Cherry. He also thanked Mr. Zelenka and Mayor Piercy for their input. He echoed Ms. Jones in thanking the PDD staff, calling their work “extraordinary.” He stated that staff provided support, research, and assistance in a timely way sometimes working weekends and evenings to do so. He wished to commend Nan Laurence, Associate Planner, in particular for her work. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 19, 2007 Page 1 Work Session Mr. McLauchlan provided an overview of the process and the committee’s report. He underscored that the recommendations had been supported by 70 to 90 percent of the people who provided input, depending on the recommendation. He said the community had largely not been supportive of building a large Cineplex in the downtown area, preferring instead a smaller one-to-four screen theater. He noted that a larger cinema would require large amounts of parking. He related that community sentiments also ran in opposition of a larger 50,000 square foot store; the committee had passed along a recommendation to include a grocery that was 25,000 square feet or smaller. He stressed that this was a cap and not a mid-range estimate. He reported that the committee supported the development of a dense, energetic, multiple- use neighborhood that was active 24 hours a day and wished to emphasize pedestrian, transit, and bicycle access. He thought there may be a need for 500 more parking spaces, noting the committee’s recommendation that parking be built on non-level floors for possible future conversion. Regarding open space, Mr. McLauchlan related that the committee overwhelming preferred a smaller plaza. He underscored that many considered large, deep sidewalks to be a form of open space. Mr. McLauchlan stated that the committee wanted high-quality sustainable buildings to be built that were esthetically attractive and that represented the historic buildings that were there when possible. He said the committee wanted development to achieve the highest level of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification possible. Continuing, Mr. McLauchlan indicated that the committee had developed a proposal for the business transition plan that went beyond statutory requirements. He averred that some businesses would be able to relocate to new development and others could move to other areas of the downtown. He hoped businesses would prosper as a result of the project. Ms. Ortiz thanked the committee for their work. She had been impressed by the amount of energy that went into some of the public sessions. She looked forward to advancing the project. Mr. Poling noted his skepticism when the WBAC first convened. He said he now felt very pleased by the end product. He commented that he had never seen anything like the level of public involvement that had gone into the report. He thanked everyone for participating, both the committee members and the citizens. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 19, 2007 Page 2 Work Session Ms. Bettman felt there were good recommendations in the report in terms of “rearticulating the new urbanist concepts.” She hoped the City could utilize the recommendations as a basis for a Request for Proposals (RFP) to redevelop vacant property “after the ballot measure fails.” She questioned why the council was having the discussion. She believed that if the recommendations were “tweaked” by the council and “sent off to the developer” there would be “obvious financial implications.” She predicted that developers would return to the council with a much higher project cost. She asked if the City would then bring back another spending increase for the Urban Renewal District and whether this would happen regardless of whether the ballot measure passed. Mayor Piercy underscored that the council was trying to respond to the specific recommendations from the committee. She said she had discussed with City Attorney Glenn Klein prior to the meeting what elements of the conversation should not be brought up given the pending election and the legal parameters that governed it. Mr. Klein said the council was not, in the opinion of the City Attorneys, at risk of violating elections law. He underscored that between the attorneys they had over 30 years of experience in advising state agencies and they had a great deal of familiarity with this. In regard to the specific question from Ms. Bettman he stated that if the developers returned in March with a need for $35 million more it would be an issue that the City Council or Urban Renewal Agency would have to deal with. He stressed that this would not be a staff decision and also that it was unrelated to the ballot measure. Ms. Bettman averred that the ballot measure was “inexorably” tied to the recommendations because all of them would cost money. She felt the recommendations had not been factored into its financial implications. Mr. Clark thanked the committee for its “hard work” and also expressed appreciation for the high integrity of the work. He recalled that 70 to 80 percent of the people who participated in the first public forum indicated they wanted the council to act and move forward on downtown revitalization. He said he originally had been skeptical of Mr. Zelenka’s motion to bring in more public input. He felt that sometimes too much public process slowed a larger process down. He had come to understand that the community placed a high value on participation; if there was going to be a public investment in a project the public would have to weigh in on it. He underscored that without public investment there would not be the opportunity for the project. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 19, 2007 Page 3 Work Session Mr. Pryor was pleased with the process. He said he was always interested in ways to better interact with the public. He averred that if the council was going to create a body and assign it “this much work and this much research and go through this much of a process” it was imperative that the council listen to what they had to say. He appreciated all of the work and believed that the recommendations were sound. Ms. Taylor opined that it was inappropriate to discuss this at this time as the project depended on the increase in the debt limit of the Urban Renewal District. She said the election on November 6 will indicate whether the public supported the project. She asserted that people who did not approve of the project had not “bothered to go” to the public workshops. Ms. Solomon thanked the committee for “giving up [their] summer.” She had also been thankful for the level of public participation that the committee had brought to the process. She felt there had been “squeaky wheels” that had attempted to derail the process and she commended the committee for remaining focused on its assigned task. She said the report represented a “strong and thoughtful set of recommendations.” Mr. Zelenka said he had attended all of the meetings. He thanked the BDAC, Mr. McLauchlan, and Ms. Cherry for the work they had done in a “short period of time.” He called the community input “tremen- dous.” He thought urban renewal financing was interesting as it allowed development to be financed by the property taxes developers would pay. He believed the measure would pass on November 6 and the result would revitalize the downtown without raising taxes. He thanked the BDAC for being respectful of both the City Council and the developers and for not being too prescriptive. He indicated that he would bring back verbiage to the next meeting that would make the language stronger and clearer. Mayor Piercy related that she had also attended all but one of the BDAC meetings. She had observed “very strong” participation from people with different points of view. Ms. Ortiz thanked staff for the work that had gone into the committee process and report. She commended Ms. Laurence for being a hard worker. Ms. Bettman remarked that the “ultimate public input” would be the vote in November. She averred that the project would also receive low-income housing money, Multiple Unit Property Tax Exemption (MUPTE) MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 19, 2007 Page 4 Work Session “money,” general fund money, “GRLP” money, and HOME funds, for a total of $29 million. She called this money “additional subsidies and incentives.” She opined that the discussion created the “illusion” that the recommendations would influence the final product. She declared it to be a “lot of public relations or… even propaganda.” She believed that if the ballot measure failed very different projects would move forward and if it did pass the money on the ballot would not be enough. She postulated that the Mayor and the “proponents on this council” would take a passed ballot measure as a “thumbs up for subsidies for private development” and would return and ask for a further increase in the debt limit. She was certain that if the proponents could interpret the passage of the ballot measure as support for the project it would be “no holds barred.” Ms. Ortiz, seconded by Mr. Pryor, moved to extend the discussion by five minutes. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Ms. Solomon observed that there seemed to be some assumptions at the table that the developers could “care less” about the report. She understood that the developers had attended every meeting and asked Mr. McLauchlan to speak to this. Mr. McLauchlan confirmed that the developers involved were supportive of the process and wanted to know what the City thought in regard to their proposals. He noted that representatives and principals of the two developers had attended many of the BDAC meetings and had spoken to the committee, indicating that they were impressed with the recommendations and perceived it as Eugene’s challenge to them to do the very best development they were capable of. He felt the committee had gained an appreciation for the development side as much as the developers had gained an appreciation for the public input side. Ms. Solomon said this was consistent with her understanding of the process. She felt optimistic about the process. She felt the developers wanted to be in Eugene and wanted to make a difference in the community. She trusted they would work within a budget. Mr. Zelenka believed that good ideas had come out of the BDAC, such as a smaller grocery store and smaller movie theater. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 19, 2007 Page 5 Work Session In response to a question from Mr. Zelenka, Mr. Klein stated that ultimately financing would be the council’s call. He said if the spending limit passed the council would decide how much of it to spend on the downtown project and the council had the option of spending it on other projects. He stressed that no one’s taxes would be raised simply because of this project; in order to raise taxes the council would be required to place a measure on the ballot, such as a levy. He added that money could be used from the General Fund but it would not increase taxes. Mr. Zelenka declared his intention to “stick to that amount of money.” He felt that no downtown projects would go forward without subsidies. He remarked that there was “no magic dust to sprinkle on downtown to have redevelopment happen within the City without city investment.” He said redevelopment had not happened on its own in 20 years and he was mystified by people who thought it would. Ms. Taylor did not agree that the developer would pay for the project through property taxes. She opined that the council did not know whether the development would succeed. She thought services might have to be reduced or property taxes would have to be increased. She averred that if money was diverted from other places it may indirectly raise taxes. She added that no one had discussed compression, which she believed to be a possibility. Ms. Taylor, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to extend the discussion by two minutes. The vote was a tie, 4:4; Mr. Zelenka, Ms. Bettman, Ms. Ortiz, and Ms. Taylor voting in favor and Mr. Pryor, Ms. Solomon, Mr. Poling, and Ms. Clark voting in opposition. Mayor Piercy voted for the motion and the motion passed. In response to a question from Ms. Bettman, Senior Development Analyst for PDD, Denny Braud stated that any information on whether property taxes would increase would have to come from finance division staff. Ms. Bettman thought the council had received a memorandum that indicated that raising the urban renewal debt limit could in some cases raise taxes. Mr. Klein stated that the council had received a number of memoranda from Financial Analysis Manager, Sue Cutsogeorge, and he was uncertain which one contained the information Ms. Bettman was seeking. He MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 19, 2007 Page 6 Work Session said one could not answer a question about how urban renewal affects taxes or overlapping tax districts in “ten seconds.” He averred that the memoranda spoke “for themselves” and if Ms. Bettman needed another copy of them he would arrange for Ms. Cutsogeorge to reissue them to her. Ms. Bettman asserted that there was a memorandum that said there were instances in which the urban renewal would increase taxes. She added that she hoped the City Attorney’s office would release its confidential memorandum to the council out to the public so that the attorneys could justify why it was “okay” to have the present discussion but not allowable to have a discussion regarding transportation funding. She believed the council was at a point where it would be deliberating and taking action but could not ask questions of the attorneys except by making a public records request. She averred that the councilors could only make those requests for “what the [attorneys] deemed permissible information.” Ms. Ortiz, seconded by Mr. Pryor, moved to receive the report and direct the Agency Direc- tor to gather comments at the Mayor’s September 19 Community Forum and to distribute those comments to the Urban Renewal Agency for review; and to further direct the Agency Director to return to the Urban Renewal Agency on September 24, 2007, with options, rec- ommendations, and a proposed motion. The motion passed, 6:2; Ms. Bettman and Ms. Taylor voting in opposition. Mayor Piercy stated that the whole community had interest in revitalizing the downtown and she had a great interest in “getting to a win-win for all of us.” Mayor Piercy closed the meeting of the Eugene Urban Renewal Agency at 12:55 p.m. and convened the meeting of the Eugene City Council. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 19, 2007 Page 7 Work Session B. WORK SESSION: Street Design Standards for the Crest Drive Neighborhood Ms. Jones asked Executive Director for the Public Works Department, Kurt Corey, to introduce the item. Mr. Corey commended the efforts of all of the people in the Crest Drive neighborhood and the staff members who had worked on the street design standards. He underscored that the team had agreed on almost all of the street design standards. He stated that the purpose of the present meeting was to give the council information to assist in its decision to move ahead in a public hearing process. He introduced Lisa Gardner, Planning Director for the Planning and Development Department. Ms. Gardner introduced the Crest Drive Community Team members that were present and they were received with a round of applause. She explained that the council had directed the group to move forward with the context sensitive solution process in a collaborative manner. She also recognized the contributions of David Roth, Transportation Engineering Technician, Emily Proudfoot, Landscape Architect, and Jenifer Willer, Civil Engineer. She said they had attended all of the meetings. She underscored that the target of the collaborative process was to gain agreement among most of the people participating on most of the elements of the design. Ms. Gardner provided an overview of the context sensitive solutions process with power points. She reported that the issue of street width was as yet unresolved. She related that staff had not been able to resolve it administratively; it would have to be resolved legislatively. Mr. Corey explained that Transplan Goal #2 delineated transportation systems characteristics. He said the challenge was to find the best fit that would balance the needs of the neighborhood and the needs of the transportation system. He related that the concept of “skinny streets” had a minimum recommended street width standard of 20 feet. He noted that the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) also upheld that standard for street design. Mr. Corey stated that a low volume street typically had an average of 400 vehicles or less traveling on it in a day. He said the range of volume values ran from a low of 860 vehicles on the southern part of Storey Boulevard to over 3,600 vehicles per day on Crest Drive by Morse Ranch. He noted that there was some disagreement as to the origin and destination of the vehicles. He believed that the traffic data resulted in an initial recommendation for something more than 20 feet of width. He added that a wider street was indicated when a diversity of travel modes exist, such as bicyclists, pedestrians, and a variety of vehicles. He reviewed the criteria for exceptions to the street width criterion. He stated that the Crest Drive Community Team was seeking to be relieved from having to adhere to that criterion. Fred Lorish, representing the Crest Drive Community Team, reiterated that the issue was street width. He declared an 18-foot width to be the best option for what the neighborhood was trying to accomplish. He believed it was a quality decision as the neighborhood wished to maintain certain qualities that currently existed there. He recalled that when the City let the neighborhood know that the streets were slated to be rebuilt the neighborhood had been informed that the main streets would be classified as neighborhood collectors. He related that residents remained convinced that the majority of people were cutting through the neighborhood. Mr. Lorish conveyed the neighborhood’s belief that a 20 foot road would not fit because it included more than just the street, such as sidewalks. He related that the neighborhood thought a thin road was safer MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 19, 2007 Page 8 Work Session because it slowed traffic. He pointed out that the neighborhood had steep topography and averred that the streets were narrow “for a reason.” He acknowledged that street standards were necessary but reiterated the neighborhood’s feeling that a wider street would not fit. He averred that not every street needed to look alike. Mayor Piercy asked the council to consider a motion to extend the time for the meeting or a motion to table the item for further discussion. Ms. Bettman advocated for extending the time for discussion. Ms. Ortiz, seconded by Ms. Solomon, moved to table the item to allow for a full discussion given the time. The motion passed, 5:3; Ms. Bettman, Ms. Taylor, and Mr. Zelenka voting in opposition. Ms. Taylor thanked Mr. Lorish for speaking on behalf of the Crest Drive Community Team. The meeting adjourned at 1:31 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Angel Jones City Manager pro tem (Recorded by Ruth Atcherson) MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 19, 2007 Page 9 Work Session