Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/09/1988 Meeting . e - M I NUT E S Eugene City Council McNutt Room--City Hall March 9, 1988 11:45 a.m. PRESENT: Freeman Holmer, Ruth Bascom, Robert Bennett, Debra Ehrman, Jeff Miller, Roger Rutan, Emily Schue, Cynthia Wooten. The adjourned meeting of March 7, 1988, of the City Council of the City of Eugene was called to order by His Honor Mayor Brian B. Obie. I. ITEMS FROM CITY COUNCIL, MAYOR, AND CITY MANAGER A. Project Safe Times Mr. Rutan said he has been following up on his proposal, Project Safe Times, a volunteer effort to improve the safety for joggers, bicyclists, and pedestrians along the bike paths. He said he is working with Roscoe Devine and Lynn Cole to organize other interested volunteer groups around the project. So far, the project has received support from Police Services, the Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department, and the Lane County Parks Department. Mr. Rutan said Mr. Devine is acting as chair for the core committee. He said the project will supplement existing safety programs and will not require hiring additional police personnel. Ms. Schue said Mr. Rutan should also be aware of efforts to install more lighting along the Amazon running trail. Mayor Obie added that Mr. Rutan has been selected to participate with four other people in a marathon sponsored by Kakegawa, Eugene's sister city in Japan. B. Downtown Mall Security Mr. Bennett said he recently attended a meeting concerning security problems at the west end of the Broadway corridor. He said the problem originates with Bally's, a video arcade heavily frequented by young people. Patrons congregate on the mall outside the arcade and intimidate passersby. He said other retailers in the area are concerned about the effect those people are having on their businesses. Mr. Bennett said he learned at the meeting this morning that the City is MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 9, 1988 Page 1 - e , about to start the focus patrol program authorized by the council. He said retailers at the meeting hope the presence of uniformed police officers will help to alleviate the problem. He said the contracted security officers apparently do not have the type of influence needed to solve the problem. Mr. Bennett said a partial solution to the downtown security problem is an increase in commercial and cultural activity that would generate greater visibility of the downtown area. Mayor Obie said the council should remind business owners of their own responsibility to police clientele. Mr. Bennett said Bally's is evidently able to police patrons inside the business, but is having trouble when they leave the arcade. Mr. Bennett said he spoke with Bob Bauman with the Portland real estate brokerage firm Coldwell Banker. Mr. Bauman is a general partner in charge of the property which houses other businesses in addition to the arcade. He said Mr. Bauman is willing to look at different tenants that would maintain a different type of operation. Mayor Obie said he was recently at a similar business owned by Mr. Bauman in Clackamas Mall in Portland that did not have any problems. C. 5th and Pearl Alley Ms. Ehrman said there is an alley between 5th Avenue and Pearl that, because it is closed, presents a problem to the current business owner. The business owner does not own the alley, which apparently does not serve any purpose as it exists now. Property along the alley is owned by Lane County, which is willing to spend a certain amount of money reopening it, and Mr. Hickman, who is not interested in participating in the project. Ms. Ehrman said she is asking the council if it supports having staff prepare a report. She added she feels that particular area of town would benefit from opening the alley. Mr. Holmer said the case seems to be one where the alley may need to be put in. He said he is not sure if that should be done at the expense of the City or the property owner. Mayor Obie asked about the City's ability to order improvements for other properties. Mr. Gleason said the council can override any remonstrance it wants. He said the City does have an alley allocation. The City can form a district or use some of its own capital improvement funds to construct an alley. Mr. Miller said the issue is whether an alley would be good for the city. Mr. Holmer requested that staff bring more information about costs and MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 9, 1988 Page 2 e options. Ms. Ehrman said she will discuss the issue with staff and try to get it on the agenda. In response to a question from Ms. Bascom, Mr. Gleason said the alley is not in the proposed urban renewal district boundary. Ms. Wooten said she supports Mr. Holmer1s suggestion to obtain more information from staff. D. Fire Division Hiring Ms. Ehrman said she received a call about a woman who was turned down for a position with Fire Services. Ms. Ehrman said she was told the woman was not given a reason for her rejection, and that the woman felt she was not hired because of her gender. Ms. Ehrman said she would like a report about the number of women who apply to Fire Services and what tests they are given. She said she would also like to know the reason the woman was not hired. E. Solar Access Ordinance e Mr. Holmer reminded councilors that last year they asked for the opportunity to revisit the Solar Access Ordinance with the purpose of addressing some of its problems. He pointed out the ordinance is not on the council.s upcoming work plan, and said he would like it included on the next edition of the work plan. F. EWEB Meeting Ms. Bascom said the EWEB board will take its first look at the design for the 4th Avenue Plaza. G. Misdemeanor Driving Violations Ms. Wooten said it was brought to her attention that Municipal Court does not allow community service as an option for misdemeanor driving violations. She said low-income residents who commit felonies have the option for performing community service if they cannot pay fines. She said the council should investigate the community service option for low-income people who commit misdemeanors. H. Cruising Ms. Wooten said she has been bombarded with complaints about crulslng along south Willamette since Mr. Miller raised the issue at the March 7 process session. She said the council should ask staff to explore possible amendments to the proposed ordinance that alter the hours the law is in effect, the number of times a vehicle can pass through the zone, and the impounding of vehicles. e Ms. Wooten said she would like the Commission on the Rights of Youth to MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 9, 1988 Page 3 e continue meeting with car clubs in an effort to instill leadership and supervision among cruisers. She also suggested Police Services consult the commission about moving the gut to West 11th Avenue. She said one option is to designate a specific parking lot for cruising activities to minimize harassment and littering. . Ms. Schue said she agrees with Ms. Wooten that the issue needs to be revisited. She said she has also received several telephone calls from people complaining about property damage and vandalism. Ms. Schue said the problem of the gut must come to an end. She said she understands the community's youth need a place to socialize. However, she said the community has rights as well. Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Miller, to reconsider the ordinance. Ms. Wooten asked if the motion eliminates the possibility of staff amendments. Ms. Schue said that is not the intent of her motion. Roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously, 8:0. I. Metro Partnership Standards e Mayor Obie reminded the council of his announcement at the process session that the Metro Partnership has set as a minimum performance standard for 1988 the recruitment of 100 jobs and two business announcements. He said it costs the community $17,000 a year to support one unemployed person. In addition, it costs $5,400 to retrain people for new jobs. He said Spectra Physics, which started with 150 employees, now has 700. Aster Publishing began with 20 employees and now has 150. He said the $500,000 it costs to fund the Metro Partnership is not unreasonable when compared to the costs of supporting and retraining unemployed workers. Mr. Bennett asked if the Metro Partnership has other important objectives other than goal-setting. Mr. Holmer said circulating the community's name is one of the objectives the partnership has set toward strengthening the local economy. He said there needs to be additional measurements of activity other than new jobs and businesses. However, he said he hopes the partnership maintains its focus on the creation of new jobs and the expansion of existing job opportunities. Mayor Obie pointed out there are five objectives outlined by the partnership's review committee. Ms. Wooten asked if the self-monitoring goal includes an audit by an outside agency. Mayor Obie replied that it does not because of a potential for abusing the audit. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 9, 1988 Page 4 e J. Washington DC Trip Mayor Obie said he hopes councilors traveling to Washington DC have a productive visit. K. Kakegawa Trip Mayor Obie said the contingent of 11 local people visiting Kakegawa is enthusiastic about the upcoming trip. II. SPECIAL HEAVY INDUSTRIAL METROPOLITAN PLAN AMENDMENTS (AWBREY/MEADOWVIEW) (MA 87-6) Ms. Bishow, Planning Department, presented the staff report. She said the action before the council is to approve, approve with modifications, or deny the Special Heavy Industrial Plan amendments. If the council approves the amendments, she said staff is recommending that the council also forward a recommendation to the Lane County Board of Commissioners to adopt an exception to Goal 3, Agricultural Land, to allow for the rail spur to the Awbrey/Meadowview site. If the council approves the amendments, Ms. Bishow said staff will forward council's comments and decision to the Springfield City Council and Lane County Board of Commissioners for their action. e Ms. Bishow reminded the council of their instructions that staff provide different language addressing allowed uses in special heavy industrial areas. She said staff has amended the general description of special heavy industrial. She said the language no longer specifies the kinds of industrial firms other than those requiring large parcels or large parcels with rail. Ms. Wooten affirmed that there are no standards for the type of industries that may site in the Awbrey/Meadowview area with the exception that they have to have a campus-like setting and be rail dependent. Ms. Bishow responded that is correct. Ms. Wooten asked if a light industrial firm would be able to locate outside of the existing urban growth boundary on the Awbrey/Meadowview site. Ms. Bishow said the council is potentially allowing more competition with the existing inventory because the language encompasses a broader range of uses. Ms. Bishow said potential businesses would have to require large parcels of land and rail dependency to locate on the Awbrey/Meadowview site. Ms. Wooten asked how rail dependency is defined. Ms. Bishow said staff does not have a specific definition. She said staff has an understanding that rail dependency means a business that needs railroads for either transportation or a competitive economic advantage. e Mr. Holmer asked who and by what criteria someone will determine rail MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 9, 1988 Page 5 e dependency. If the amendments are approved, Ms. Bishow said the City would need to amend the Zoning Ordinance to define rail dependency and performance standards. She said the council would be able to review such an amendment before it is adopted. Ms. Wooten asked if staff examined with the Planning Commission the prospect of defining rail dependency and the Special Heavy Industrial Zoning District first. Ms. Bishow said the Planning Commission discussed the concept of rail dependency and concluded it is something that requires later review. She said one reason the Planning Commission forwarded the issue to council is because of the emphasis at this stage in evaluating the larger issue of whether the community wants to provide additional special heavy industrial land. Ms. Brody said staff operated under the original definition of special heavy industrial zoning until the issue came before the council. Ms. Bascom noted council asked staff to broaden the definition of special heavy industrial to allow more flexibility for the type of firm that could locate at the sites. e Ms. Wooten affirmed that businesses are capable of subdividing the 40- acre parcels and allowing other industrial uses to site on the property. Ms. Bishow said lot sizes are limited to 40 acres. She said industries most likely to move to those lots are those that either need all the land or plan to expand. She said the proposed plan text does not prohibit a business from leasing a building to another firm. She said that issue could be addressed in the Zoning Ordinance. Ms. Bishow said council also asked staff to report on the cost/revenue scenario. She reviewed the assumptions made by staff for the Awbrey/Meadowview site. She said the City's tax base would increase approximately $75,000 if the property is valued for industrial use at the time of annexation. The tax base adjustment for property under farm tax deferral would range from $200 to $600. Ms. Bishow said following annexation, the increased improvements on the property will be added to the City's total assessed valuation. The City's tax rate will decrease with the owner of a $60,000 home having his or her taxes decreased by $4.80. Terry Smith, Public Works, said staff made assumptions about the kinds of developments that would locate on the site. He said those assumptions reflect what currently exists on similar properties in Eugene. Those assumptions include 10 to 15 employees per acre for estimating the sewer flow, and typical trip generation rates for a significant development on 200 acres. He said those assumptions do not allow for highly automated companies that would have lower sewer usage and trip rates. e Mr. Smith said the capital improvements needed for the projected developments are similar to existing developments within the urban growth boundary (UGB). He said the only distinction is the cost of widening Awbrey Lane from Highway 99 to Prairie Road. Approximately 40 to 45 MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 9, 1988 Page 6 e percent of the property north of Awbrey Lane will remain outside the UGB and is inaccessible. This means that some of the street widening costs would have to be borne by the City. Mr. Bennett asked if a future developer would pay a pro-rated share for the street widening. Mr. Smith said a developer would pay a share if the current policies are still in place. Mr. Smith said the revenue mechanisms used to generate the estimates contained in the council packet were never intended to recover the costs of serving individual parcels. Mr. Holmer asked if it is possible to adopt additional ordinances that require developments to fund their own capital improvements. Mr. Smith said the City could implement an increase in the systems development charges or a development exaction process that affects all similar properties equally. Mr. Holmer asked if that issue was considered by the Planning Commission. Ms. Brody said it has not been addressed, although it can be. e Mayor Obie asked about the revenue stream once it is developed. Mr. Smith said there is no additional revenue generated to support the capital improvements. In response to a question, Ms. Bishow reiterated that there will be a $4.80 annual decrease in property taxes for a $60,000 home based on an estimated improvement value at build-out of about $21 million. Ms. Wooten asked how staff obtained the estimated improvement value at build-out. Ms. Bishow said staff selected a sample area in Eugene that contained 200 acres of developed industrial land and assumed the assessed value at build-out would be relatively close. However, she said new, highly automated firms with a substantial amount of capital infrastructure affect the assessed value differently. Mr. Miller asked if there is a way to delay annexation to the city until after development to have a greater increased value and bigger effect on the tax base. Ms. Bishow said the council could allow development to occur prior to annexation. One of the implications, however, is that the City would not be able to obtain a systems development charge. She also said the City can annex a strip of land around the periphery of the property to help insure that full annexation occurs following development. Ms. Bishow reviewed the public safety costs attributed to the site. Annual public safety costs range from $70,000 to $122,500. She said those costs would occur as the property is developed. e Ms. Wooten asked what justification was used to change "are" to "have been" under amendment finding nine. She also asked what sources staff used. Ms. Bishow said staff's initial source was testimony from the Metro Partnership. She said staff later discovered other literature that MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 9, 1988 Page 7 e e e supported the partnership.s testimony that heavy manufacturing industries are becoming more concerned with the aesthetics of their plants and are changing in the nature of their external impacts. Mr. Smith said a key change has occurred in the primary metals industry whereby new aluminum smelters now have more stringent emmission standards than existing smelters. Ms. Wooten asked why finding ten is a finding of fact. Ms. Bishow said findings ten through fifteen do not need to be text amendments to the Metro Plan. In response to a question from Ms. Wooten, Ms. Bishow said finding eleven is an attempt to show some justification for a need to expand the UGB. Ms. Wooten asked if finding twelve would be judged heresay in a court because of a lack of validation. Ms. Bishow said the Metro Partnership provided a list of who the firms are. She said the partnership in some cases used code names for confidentiality. Mr. Holmer moved, seconded by Ms. Bascom, to tentatively adopt the Metropolitan Plan amendments as shown in Exhibit A and to refer the amendments to the Springfield City Council and the Lane County Board of Commissioners. Mr. Rutan said the council needs to make a policy decision on the issue. He said there has been enough technical analysis to make such a decision. He said the issue is essentially four areas of concern: 1) the council is not doing anything out of the ordinary from what it has done in the past; 2) the council has enough of a description of potential firms and allowable uses to approve the amendments; 3) the council has enough substantiation that approving the amendments is consistent with City, metropolitan, and State policy; and 4) putting the decision off further will not generate new information. Mr. Rutan said the issue is clearly a growth versus no growth concern. Ms. Wooten disagreed that the UGB expansion is consistent with local and State policy. She said City policy is to promote compact urban growth, which means the City should not go beyond its urban growth boundary without demonstrating need. In approving the amendments, Ms. Wooten said the City is asking Lane County to make an exception to Statewide Goal 3 of the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC). Ms. Wooten said there is adequate information from the director of LCDC that the need for UGB expansion has not been demonstrated. She said she objects to the findings of the Federal Reserve Bank notes being included in the plan. She said the council has no idea of the true costs of expanding the UGB and annexing the property. The council should consider whether or not the exception to the agricultural goal will withstand an appeal to the Land Use Board of Appeals. Mr. Miller said the issue is essentially whether the City has the type of MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 9, 1988 Page 8 e land that will produce the kinds of jobs the community needs. He said the City needs every avenue at its disposal to help in the economic transition from wood products to other industries. Ms. Ehrman said she is concerned about expenditures that would likely be made in the expanded UGB. She said she does not support the amendments because of the money that would be taken away from other services. Ms. Schue said she is unhappy with the growth/no growth label. She said the question of if and when the land is developed depends on who one talks to. She pointed out a discrepancy between Springfield and Eugene staff notes that Awbrey/Meadowview would compete with the southeast Springfield site referred to as the Natron site. She said the council needs an overview of the entire heavy industrial picture before making a decision. Ms. Bascom said the process thus far has been fair. She said the community does not make itself attractive enough to keep its youth in the area. She said she is concerned about the costs of the annexation to the City, although she said the long-term benefits would outweigh those costs. e Mr. Bennett asked if it is true that once the agricultural land is used for rail access, it cannot be utilized again for agricultural purposes. Ms. Bishow said the land physically devoted to the rail spur cannot be used for agriculture. She said the acreage south of the rail spur alignment will still be available for farming, although it is uncertain whether that is economically feasible. Mr. Bennett said he is in favor of the motion. He said Awbrey/Meadowview is a unique site that has more of a competitive edge than other industrial sites in the area. He said the site provides the potential to create jobs that the community would want to have. He said the City has to take risks and project what types of firms would be interested in coming to the area. Mr. Bennett said he is also concerned about the amount of public money that might be spent. He disagreed that approving the amendments is abandoning the City's commitment to compact urban growth because of the flexibility that exists within the constraints of the UGB. Mr. Holmer commended staff and the Planning Commission for their work in assembling the data on the issue. He noted the Metropolitan Partnership, in addition to the Planning Commission, has endorsed the amendments. He pointed out the motion will undergo further review before the City of Springfield and the Lane County Board of Commissioners before the council considers in more detail the infrastructure questions. He said he also disagreed that approving the amendments is a violation of the compact urban growth philosophy. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 9, 1988 Page 9 e Roll call vote; the motion carried, 5:3, with councilors Holmer, Bascom, Miller, Bennett, and Rutan voting aye, and councilors Wooten, Schue, and Ehrman voting nay. Mr. Holmer moved, seconded by Ms. Bascom, to recommend to the Lane County Board of Commissioners adoption of an exception to Statewide Goal 3, Agricultural Land, to allow the development of a rail spur from Southern Pacific to serve the proposed new industrial park. Ms. Ehrman said she supports the motion because it is the key issue to the property's uniqueness. Roll call vote; the motion carried, 7:1, with councilors Holmer, Bascom, Miller, Rutan, Bennett, Ehrman, and Schue voting aye, and councilor Wooten voting nay. Mayor Obie recommended, and the council agreed, to postpone discussing the Urban Renewal Plan Update until April 11. Ms. Wooten said she has received a request to delay the decision on Lincoln School until April 11 so that neighborhood associations will have a chance to form recommendations. Cathy Freedman said the issue is not scheduled to come before the council until April 20. ~ The meeting was adjourned at 1:12 p.m. ~e~.~.~~.\~~.Ul_\~~~~~.~f} t",~.~. "/t.:'" t'''' ..>,.,- , .,. C~~:~~ - Mic eal Glea~on " City Manager (Recorded by Todd Nissen) mncc030988 e MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 9, 1988 Page 10