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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/15/1988 Meeting e M I NUT E S Eugene City Council Eugene Public Library June 15, 1988 11:30 a.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Ruth Bascom, Rob Bennett, Debra Ehrman, Jeff Miller, Emily Schue, Freeman Holmer, Cynthia Wooten. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Roger Rutan. The adjourned meeting of June 13, 1988, of the Eugene City Council was called to order by Mayor Brian Obie. I. ITEMS FROM THE COUNCIL, MAYOR, AND CITY MANAGER A. Organically Grown in Oregon Week , Ms. Wooten introduced David Ambrose and John Graham, members of an organization commemorating organically grown produce in Oregon. Mr. Graham e said the Governor declared June 13 through June 19 Organically Grown in Oregon Week. He presented a basket of locally grown produce to the Mayor and Ci ty Council. Mayor Obie thanked Mr. Graham and Mr. Ambrose and noted that organically grown produce is a new and important industry for the area. B. Civic Emergency Funds for AIDS Support Services Ms. Wooten circulated copies of a proposal to allocate $5,000 of civic emergency funds to Shanti, an organization that provides practical and emotional support services to people with AIDS and to their families and friends. She introduced Scott Meisner, executive director of Shanti in Oregon. Mr. Meisner added that the support services provided by Shanti help AIDS patients live at home, rather than in a hospital. He said Shanti applied for $12,000 from the Joint Social Services Fund, but did not receive this money; therefore, the group has revised its planned budget from $77,000 to $59,000. Ms. Wooten said Shanti is the only group in the community that provides support services such as these to AIDS patients. She said State and Federal funds are not available, but are expected by the first of the year. She said an allocation from the City would serve as an important financial bridge to Shanti. -- MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 15, 1988 Page 1 e Ms. Ehrman moved to contribute $3,000 from FY88's civic emergency fund and $2,000 from FY89's fund to the Joint Social Services Fund, with the strong suggestion that this money be used to help Shanti provide support services to AIDS patients. Mr. Bennett seconded the motion. Mayor Obie supported the motion, saying this is an area that the community will have to address in the future. He added that the Joint Social Services Fund Committee should take this as an indication of the City Council's concern about this issue, and he hoped that the committee's future priorities would reflect this concern. Ms. Schue supported the motion, but added that the allocation should be thought of as a financial bridge. Mr. Holmer said he would like more time to study the proposal and to learn why the Joint Social Services Fund Committee did not grant Shanti's request for $12,000. He said AIDS is a serious community problem that must be addressed, but he did not think that the council needed to act at this meeting. Ms. Bascom expressed some concern about the council, through this motion, trying to direct the deliberations of the Joint Social Services Fund Committee. She also emphasized that the City's budget will not be sufficient to address the problems associated with AIDS; other resources will be required. e The motion passed 6:0:1, with Mr. Holmer abstaining. C. Exemption to the Solar Access Regulations Mr. Holmer said the council considered two exemptions to the solar access regulations at its June 8 meeting. The council directed staff to prepare a proposal for the first exemption, which deals with infill development. The other exemption would allow a property owner to waive his or her solar access rights under certain conditions. Mr. Holmer said the council should direct staff to prepare a proposal for this exemption. Ms. Ehrman and others said the council decided to postpone consideration of the second exemption until the annual review of the Solar Access Ordinance, and until more is known about the impact of Portland's solar access regulations. Mr. Holmer said he cast the deciding vote for the stronger version of the Solar Access Ordinance; however, he did this with the assurance that certain amendments, including the second exemption, would be considered by the City Council within a few months. He said the council's decision not to consider the exemption at this time was a concern to him. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 15, 1988 Page 2 e Ms. Ehrman said she did not recall this about Mr. Holmer's vote; however, if it was true, she said she would be willing to reconsider the decision made by the council on June 8. Mr. Holmer said he would be willing to wait until the annual review of the ordinance. D. Lincoln School Ms. Ehrman said she received a call from a woman concerned about the deterioration of the Lincoln School property and the behavior problems occurring on the site. City Manager Mike Gleason said that with the City Council's approval, staff could finalize the agreement for the City to acquire the property. After the property is acquired, maintenance of the site can begin. The council directed staff to acquire the property. Ms. Wooten requested that the council's discussion of forming a task force to consider uses for the Lincoln School building be postponed from June 22 to July 20. She said the Friends of Lincoln School asked her to make this request. Mr. Bennett did not see a need for/the delay. The council decided not to delay the discussion. e E. Comments on Various Meetings Ms. Ehrman said she attended a recent meeting of the Commission on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She reported that she was pleased with the conduct of \he meeting. Ms. Schue said meetings are being held in various neighborhoods for citizens to comment on the Parks Master Plan update. She also said the League of Oregon Cities will hold a meeting in Eugene. Ms. Schue said the Joint Parks Committee met today and discussed a proposed new park facility for persons with disabilities. She said the preferred site for this is now north of Amazon Pool, not Lincoln School. Ms. Bascom said the Joint Parks Committee also discussed the issue of conflicts between pedestrians and mountain bike riders in Hendricks Park and along the Ridgeline Trail. F. FY89 Budget Mr. Miller said that after the June 13 council meeting he was not sure that he could support the FY89 budget. Referring to the $141,000 of budget items added back to the budget in the Budget Committee's recommendation, Mr. Miller e MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 15, 1988 Page 3 e asked that a note be attached to the budget document directing staff to fund these budget items through permanent reductions in City expenditures, if possible. The council asked Mr. Miller to prepare such a note for the council's consideration at an upcoming hearing. G. Trip to Irkutsk Mayor Obie said his upcoming trip to Irkutsk, Eugene's sister city in the Soviet Union, would be paid for by the City. He said he pays the costs of mayoral trips more often than not; however, he felt the City should pay for this trip's plane fare, which will cost about $1,200. He asked if councilors had any objections to this. Ms. Schue said this issue of funding for mayoral trips needs to be discussed in general. She did not think a requirement of being the mayor should be an ability to pay for expensive trips. Ms. Ehrman agreed that this should not be a requirement of being mayor. She supported the expenditure of City funds for the Mayor's trip to Irkutsk. Ms. Wooten said she was proud that Eugene would be represented by the Mayor in the Soviet Union. She said this would be a legitimate City expense, especially since Eugene's mayor is unpaid. e Mr. Holmer supported the expenditure of City funds; however, he noted that there has been a noticeable expansion of Eugene's sister city activities. He said this expansion needs to be discussed before it proceeds further. II. DOWNTOWN COMMISSION VACANCIES The council balloted to determine who would be interviewed to fill the vacancy on the Downtown Commission. Keith Nastiuk and Sue Prichard received five votes each; Charles Fletcher and Brad Perkins received three votes each. The council decided to interview these four people on June 21. III. RESOLUTION REDESIGNATING THE WEST EUGENE ENTERPRISE ZONE Lee Beyer, Development staff, said a change in State legislation allows cities more flexibility in defining enterprise lones. This means that the boundary of the West Eugene Enterprise Zone can be expanded from the current 10.5 square miles to the maximum area allowed by State law, 12 square miles. Mr. Beyer referred to a map indicating the two areas to be added to the West Eugene Enterprise Zone. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 15, 1988 Page 4 e Res. No. 4086--A resolution authorizing the City Manager to make application to the State of Oregon to terminate the existing West Eugene Enterprise Zone and apply for redesignation of a new West Eugene Enterprise Zone; conditionally repealing Resolution No. 4001; and repealing Resolution No. 4061. Mr. Holmer moved to adopt the resolution. Ms. Bascom seconded and the motion passed 7:0. IV. FUTURE LIBRARY PROJECT: DECISIONS ON LIBRARY SCOPE Pat Decker, Planning staff, said the council would receive information on projected costs for developing a new library on various sites. Jim Robertson, Robertson Sherwood Architects, described the various development schemes for which cost estimates were prepared. The cost estimate for the half-block on 8th between Willamette and Olive envisioned a two-story library, a level of underground parking, and a pedestrian skybridge linking the Parcade to the library. If the Parcade were devoted to the library, there would be more than enough parking spaces to meet its needs; current Parcade users, however, wo~ld have to be displaced to the EPAC garage. e Mr. Bennett asked if it would be structurally possible to build elevated pedestrian walkways connecting the EPAC garage to the Parcade and the Parcade to the library. Mr. Robertson said this would be possible. He did mention, however, that there might be some difficulty obtaining permission to build a skybridge o~er 7th Avenue, which is a State highway. Mr. Bennett mentioned two negative aspects of constructing such walkways: high cost and potential security problems. Ms. Ehrman raised the possibility of constructing two levels of underground parking below the library. She asked staff to provide cost estimates for this. Mr. Robertson said the council asked about the potential of using the Bon building for a library. He said the building has enough square footage; however, the structure would have to be reinforced in order to hold library stacks. Also, the Bon building, because of its configuration, would require the existence of an additional service desk, which would cost about $85,000 per year. Parking could be provided on the quarter-block at 8th and Charnel ton (one level underground and one level above ground), as well as on existing surface parking lots across Charnelton. Mr. Robertson said that an expansion of the existing library would have the same negative aspect as using the Bon bUilding--namely, higher operational costs because of the existing building's configuration. To meet parking needs for this site, property across Olive Street would have to be acquired. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 15, 1988 Page 5 e Mr. Robertson distributed cost estimates for five library developments: 8th and Willamette site, $15.2 million; conversion of Bon building, $16.5 million; Bon site, $16.6 million; Broadway/Charnelton site, $19.1 million; expansion of existing library: $13.5 million. Mr. Robertson said these cost estimates were in 1990 dollars and included a 10 percent contingency. He specifically noted that conversion of the Bon building would be almost as expensive as acquiring the Bon site, demolishing the existing structure, and building a new library. Ms. Decker said staff would like the council to limit the list of library development schemes as much as possible before directing the council committee on library financing to begin its work. Mr. Bennett asked about the possibility of the Public Safety Department using the existing library building as a training facility. Ms. Decker said this would be a possibility. Due to the late hour and to the absence of Councilors Wooten and Rutan, the council decide to postpone a decision on which sites should be considered by the committee on library financing. Mr. Holmer suggested that councilors express any preliminary thoughts that they had on the issue. He said he was inclined to favor the 8th and Willamette site, the Bon site (i.e., demolition of the existing Bon building e and construction of a new library), and the existing library site. Ms. Ehrman was not prepared to eliminate any of the sites from consideration. Mr. Bennett said he did not support using the existing library site. He did not think it would be wise to force a new library into the existing building configuration. Ms. Bascom agreed. She also said it would be better to construct a new library on the Bon site than to convert the Bon building, because the minimal savings that would be realized by converting the existing building would be lost through higher operational costs. Mr. Miller said he tended to favor the 8th and Willamette site and the Bon site. He did not support the Broadway/Charnelton site. Ms. Schue noted that councilors did not seem to be favoring the Broadway/Charnelton site. She said the council should receive some more public input before it decides to oppose the recommendation of the Future of Our Library Committee, which recommended the Broadway/Charnelton site. Mayor Obie said Ms. Schue's point was well taken. At 1:22 p.m., Mayor Obie adjourned the meeting to June 22, 1988. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 15, 1988 Page 6 e Respectfully submitted, ....- - ~Il"~ ~~..., "S"~ Micheal Gleason, City Manager (Recorded by Leslie Scales and Monty Hindman) MNCC 061588 I e . e MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 15, 1988 Page 7