Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 05/28/08 Work SessionM I N U T E S Eugene City Council McNutt Room—City Hall—777 Pearl Street Eugene, Oregon May 28, 2008 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, George Poling, Andrea Ortiz, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order. A. EXECUTIVE SESSION Pursuant to Oregon Revised Statute 192.660(2)(e), Mayor Piercy called the Eugene City Council into executive session to discuss real property transactions. Mayor Piercy adjourned the work session and moved the council into public session. B. WORK SESSION Potential Hospital Siting City Manager Jon Ruiz introduced the item, requesting more council direction on potential hospital sites. The council was also joined for the item by Planning and Development Department Executive Director, Susan Muir, and City Attorney Glenn Klein. Ms. Ortiz declared a possible conflict of interest due to her employment with PeaceHealth. Ms. Muir referred the council to the letter she sent to McKenzie-Willamette Hospital about the potential of th using the downtown site at 13 Avenue and Willamette Street as a site for its new hospital. She shared a map of the area and indicated that staff was not recommending the inclusion of the Olive Plaza or Florence Apartments due to the expense of relocating the residents of those developments and the time and complexity it would add to the process. Ms. Muir reviewed the acts the City was willing to commit to in regard to assisting the hospital to relocate to the site in question, which included financial assistance, the provision of parking, and connection to other medical services. She envisioned the City would construct a public parking garage and provide bulk rate permit parking in the existing parking structures downtown. She said there were also park and ride options to consider. Ms. Muir said the site would require a conditional use permit (CUP), some code variances, and a transportation impact analysis (TIA). She believed the necessary regulatory processes could be run concurrently. She noted it was possible the footprint available for the hospital could be expanded by the vacation of alleys. Ms. Muir reminded the council of the adjacent downtown urban renewal district and raised the potential of expanding it to include the hospital site. She called attention to the staff-prepared motion expressing support for the site. MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 28, 2008 Page 1 Work Session Mayor Piercy thanked McKenzie-Willamette Hospital for its interest in the site and expressed appreciation to staff for its creative work. She acknowledged the challenges that lay ahead but thought the site, if selected by the hospital, would be a great community asset. Referring to the apartment buildings in the area, Mr. Clark asked why the City was willing to relocate businesses but not residents. Ms. Muir said that the situation involved multiple tenants with multiple issues, which would increase the time and complexity of the processes, adding uncertainty to the deal, and certainty was very important to the hospital. She noted that there were fewer affected businesses than affected residents. Mr. Clark understood that the hospital had a list of preferred sites, which did not include this site. He asked Ms. Muir to characterize the hospital’s response to the site. Ms. Muir said the City’s offer had gotten the attention of the hospital representatives, who expressed interest in the site. She added she did not have a list of the hospital’s priority sites but rather had provided the hospital with the City’s suggestions. Mr. Clark recalled the council had last directed staff to pursue the Riverfront Research Park site. City Manager Ruiz concurred with that recollection, but pointed out he had also heard from councilors of the importance of a site on the south side of the river. The City attempted to work out a deal with the University of Oregon but when it did not appear to be feasible, he looked to the council’s other direction. Mr. Clark said he made a motion that the City should do what it could to help site the hospital to the degree possible and he appreciated the leadership shown by staff in finding a site. He hoped the City kept all options and all potential sites in mind to ensure that the hospital was sited in Eugene. City Manager Ruiz did not think the hospital had taken any sites off the table and neither had staff. City Attorney Klein confirmed the hospital had not taken sites off the table, but its representatives had indicated to the City that, with respect to Eugene sites, the site in question was of higher interest than any other Eugene site. The hospital was cautiously interested in the site and found it more interesting than other sites in north Eugene. Mr. Poling recalled that the council had discussed two priority sites in addition to the research park site. He reminded the council of the motion he had offered that if the research park fell through, staff would work with the hospital on the other two sites. However, he continued to believe that the hospital would decide where to build its new facility, and that was why he thought the City needed a Plan B. He thought the City needed to establish a threshold number with the hospital for either for the number of properties or property owners. Once that threshold was reached, the site would be dropped. Mr. Poling anticipated that if the City decided to get into the real estate business it would pay inflated prices for the properties in question. Mr. Poling suggested that staff prepare information about expanding the downtown renewal district boundaries and the revenue return that would result. Ms. Taylor thought the site in question a great site and she believed the community supported it. People she knew thought PeaceHealth should have moved there rather than to Springfield. She did not generally favor expanding urban renewal but in this case felt a compelling reason such as this might be justification. She MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 28, 2008 Page 2 Work Session agreed that the hospital would decide where to go but pointed out the City could decide the level of assistance it wanted to provide. Mr. Zelenka acknowledged staff’s hard work and creativity in developing the proposal, which he supported. He supported expanding the district. He acknowledged much work remained to be done but he thought a hospital in downtown would be a great thing for downtown and a great thing for Eugene. Ms. Bettman agreed the hospital would decide where to locate. She thanked staff for taking a proactive approach by identifying a site and making a proposal to the hospital. It did not mean the hospital would choose it, but it was a site supported by the community and would provide services south of the river. The council would not be prejudicing the outcome of any process by declaring its support for the site, and she did support it. Ms. Bettman believed that the use of district dollars were best leveraged for a large public benefit and she thought the hospital satisfied that goal and the use of urban renewal dollars dedicated to a hospital use justifiable. Ms. Ortiz also supported the site and noted it was used as a small community hospital in the past and that the hospital’s loss had been mourned. She thought it would be good to return the site to its original roots. Mayor Piercy also supported the proposal. While she thought there were still “sizable mountains” for the community to climb, she thought it worthwhile to move forward. Mr. Pryor, seconded by Ms. Bettman, moved to support the proposal for McKenzie- Willamette Hospital as described in Attachment B of this report, and to locate a full-serve th hospital in Eugene at the 13 Avenue and Willamette Street redevelopment site. Mr. Clark was willing to support the motion to see a hospital sited within Eugene. He had some concerns about the impact of the proposal on adjacent businesses, and businesses within the footprint, but with those reservations would support the motion. Mr. Poling also supported the motion due to the interest shown by the hospital and because there were other sites upon which the City could fall back. He was also concerned about the impact of the proposal on well- established businesses in the community and reiterated an interest in establishing a threshold number. Ms. Bettman expressed enthusiastic support for the motion. She pointed out that every site had challenges; some were complex and could not be overcome. This site had challenges, but she thought the council could move through those and meet the timeline as provided by staff. She thought compared to other options, the site compared favorably. Mayor Piercy supported meeting with affected businesses as soon as possible. Mr. Clark said there were other properties that could be moved forward on a quick timeline. He noted that one of the businesses involved was the oldest in Lane County, and he hoped the City dealt with it appropri- ately. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 28, 2008 Page 3 Work Session Mr. Zelenka said the Mayor’s Amazon Headwaters Acquisition Committee was in the process of completing its work and he expected a draft report soon. He said the committee passed a motion that requested that the Mayor and council review the Green and Beverly appraisals to ensure they were Yellow Book-compliant. Mr. Zelenka, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved that the City Council do a review of the Green and Beverly property appraisals to ensure that they were Yellow Book-compliant and they include a Desk and Field Review of the properties. City Attorney Klein recommended that the City Council direct the City Manager to undertake the review. Mr. Zelenka and Ms. Taylor accepted that as a friendly amendment. Mr. Clark said he supported the motion as a committee member but expressed dismay that the item was coming up at this time without notice to the council. Ms. Bettman asked the time involved. Mr. Zelenka estimated six to eight weeks. Ms. Bettman wanted to seek multiple appraisals on the properties to collaborate the initial appraisal. Mr. Poling found the introduction of the topic offensive without any notice and particularly in light of the delay of the originally scheduled item. He was unsure if he would support the motion and suggested it was typical of the way the issue had been addressed from the start. He asked that agendas be set and maintained. Mr. Pryor agreed on the need to have actual appraisals for the properties. If the motion moved the City down the road toward that, he was fine. He asked if the committee had asked Mr. Zelenka to offer the motion. Mr. Zelenka said yes. He noted that Mr. Clark was at the meeting where the item was discussed. He did not think it was the first time the issue had been mentioned as the Mayor had raised it during items. In addition, three councilors were on the committee. Mr. Pryor suggested the council, in process session, discuss how to handle such motions as he believed there should be a process for vetting motions so councilors were not surprised at meetings, and so they had time to get background information and get their questions answered as well as provide notice to the public. Mr. Clark did not recall the committee recommending that the item go forward in advance of the final recommendations it intended to forward. When he offered the body a motion on May 12 he had sent out notice in advance of the motion to provide for discussion. He thought the motion had implications the council needed to consider and considered it premature. Mr. Clark, seconded by Mr. Poling, moved to table the motion. The motion failed, 5:3; Ms. Solomon, Mr. Poling, and Mr. Clark voting no. City Manager Ruiz indicated the council would have to approve another appraisal. The result of the motion would be an appraiser’s assessment of the existing appraisals. Ms. Bettman noted that she would have offered a motion to table Item C due to some potential action the Board of County Commissioners might take in regard to an appeal from Junction City. Ms. Bettman said that councilors had the ability to bring up a motion when ever they wished. She did not think the motion represented a breech in process but rather the process to which all had agreed. Ms. Taylor concurred. MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 28, 2008 Page 4 Work Session Mr. Zelenka apologized, saying he had intended to bring up the item earlier but ran out of time. He agreed with Mr. Pryor that a better process could be in place and protocol established. He believed the motion was time sensitive. Mr. Pryor said just because someone had the right to do something did not make that action appropriate. To bring something up without any notice was not appropriate. One could bring something up at the eleventh hour intending to short-circuit the process, rather than facilitate it. If asked to vote on the motion, he needed to give it thought and a lack of time did not help that. He was elected to give such items thoughtful consideration. Dropping motions on the table at the last minute was antithesis to that. He could not act thoughtfully if given something on such short notice. He suggested the council was bound by propriety rather than law. Ms. Ortiz agreed with Mr. Pryor. However, she would support the motion although she wished there was time to expand knowledge about the issue. Mr. Zelenka, seconded by Mr. Pryor, moved to table the motion to June 4, 2008. The mo- tion passed, 7:1; Ms. Taylor voting no. C. WORK SESSION Coordinated Population Projections This item was postponed due to a lack of time. . Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting at 1:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jon Ruiz City Manager (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 28, 2008 Page 5 Work Session