Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/11/1988 Meeting (2) e M I NUT E S Eugene City Council Council Chamber--City Hall July 11, 1988 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Ruth Bascom, Rob Bennett, Debra Ehrman, Jeff Miller, Emily Schue, Freeman Holmer, Cynthia Wooten, Roger Rutan. The regular meeting of the Eugene City Council was called to order by Mayor Brian Obie. I. PUBLIC FORUM No members of the public wished to speak. , II. PUBLIC HEARING: 19TH AND AGATE SPECIAL AREA STUDY e Pat Decker, Planning staff, said a citizen task force worked with staff to develop the special area study. The study's recommendations are intended to: maintain the viability of the neighborhood commercial area while improving its compatibility with the surrounding area; improve traffic and circulation patterns; e~hance the southern portion of the Condon School site; and maintain Washburne Park as a passive recreational area. The Planning Commission recommended adoption of the study with a few revisions. Teresa Bishow, Planning Staff, referred the council to a list of the revisions recommended by the Planning Commission. She said the most significant revision made by the commission was to change Policy 13 in order to indicate that the policy is not intended to limit future University use of the Condon School site. Ms. Ehrman referred to the study's recommendation to encourage the use of 18th as a thoroughfare, rather than 19th. She asked how this would be accomplished. Nathan Duke, Transportation Division staff, indicated that this was one of the later recommendations made by the citizen task force and, therefore, specific implementation strategies have not been developed fully. He said staff would be willing to consider this issue and try to develop such strategies. Mayor Obie announced a potential conflict of interest and removed himself from consideration of this item. Mr. Holmer opened the public hearing. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 11, 1988 Page 1 e Bruce McKinleYt 1650 East 26tht was chair of the 19th and Agate Special Area Study Task Force. He emphasized that the area is truly a special one: it has a denser-than-average residential neighborhood; the residential area is quite diverse; the entire special area is heavily influence by the University; and it has a small business area that area residents want to continue as a neighborhood-oriented commercial area. He said these and other factors make the 19th and Agate area special and, thereforet deserving of some special policies. Mr. McKinley also emphasized that the study's recommendations form a package. He asked the council to view the study in this way. Tom Bowerman owns a business at 1639 East 19th and was a member of the task force. He said the Metro Plan and the TransPlan have established alternative transportation goals that the community has yet to reach. He said one reason for this is the fact that so much parking is required by the Eugene Code for businesses; and the existence of so many parking spaces encourages an automobile environment. Mr. Bowerman said the 19th and Agate area is surrounded by a dense residential population; this facilitates the use of alternative modes of transportation. He said there is an opportunity to lower the legal parking requirements for the businesses in the 19th and Agate area. This code change will not only help the businesses but also move the community closer to its goal of increased alternative transportation usage. Mr. Bowerman also urged that imple~entation of the study's recommendations occur as soon as possible. e Eric Gordon owns the Book and Teat a business at 1646 East 19th. He expressed general support for the study and noted that the impetus behind it was the inability of businesses to meet the code1s parking requirements. He said the study recommends that businesses of the area be given more flexibility.in providing the parking necessary to serve their customers. Mr. Gordon noted that the parking recommendations in the study were made unanimously by the group, in spite of the fact that the task force had only two business representatives. He urged expedient implementation of the study's recommendations. Stan Haywortht 775 East 36th Place, said the current parking requirements in the Eugene Code have prevented certain businesses from operating the way that owners and area residents would want them to operate. He urged adoption of the study and expedient implementation of its recommendations. David Rowe, director of planning at the University, said the University supports the study as modified by the Eugene Planning Commission. Helen Jacksont 1935 Columbia Street, was a member of the task force. She expressed a concern about right turns that occur on red lights at the 19th and Agate intersection. She said such traffic movements make the intersection unsafe for children and bicyclists, particularly during the morning hours when children are going to school and drivers are going to work. She recommended that such right-turn movements be prohibited at the intersection from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. She said the City has a precedent - MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 11, 1988 Page 2 e for prohibiting turning movements (left turns) during certain hours. Ms. Jackson said prohibiting right turns on red lights during the morning would significantly increase safety without hampering automotive traffic in any substantial way. Ms. Jackson also stressed the importance of preventing business parking from spilling into the surrounding residential area. Mr. Holmer closed the public hearing. In response to a question, Mr. Duke mentioned several reasons behind the recommendations of staff and the Planning Commission to delete the study.s suggestion that right turns on red lights be prohibited during certain hours: (1) the City has no precedent for restricting right turns during certain hours; (2) the relatively low pedestrian volumes at the 19th and Agate intersection do not warrant such a prohibition; (3) the intersection has no accident history suggesting that right turns should be restricted at certain times; (4) such a restriction would probably be ignored by many drivers and would be difficult to enforce; and (5) statistics comparing states that prohibit right turns on red lights with states that do not indicate that such restrictions have no significant impact on accident rates. In response to a question from Mr. Miller, Ms. Decker emphasized that the Planning Commission recommended deleting the study's recommendation calling for a restriction on right-turn movements at certain hours; however, it did not ignore the safety issue altoge~her. The commission recommended that the study call for staff to search for ways to increase the safety at the 19th and Agate intersection. e Mr. Bennett asked if residents have complained about noise from night events at Condon School. Ms. Decker said there have been some complaints. Ms. Bishow added that the dialogue that occurred during task force meetings between resi~ents and University representatives has begun to address this situation. She said noise from Condon School is monitored better than it was in the past; also, communication between residents and the University has improved. Ms. Bishow said the special area study encourages the University to recognize Condon School's proximity to a residential area and to operate the building in a manner compatible with this area. Ms. Bascom asked why the study did not recommend that a children's play area be built in Washburne Park. Ms. Decker said residents and staff felt that the park should remain as a passive recreation area. She added that if the play area were in Washburne Park instead of on the Condon School site, many children who live northeast of the intersection would have to cross 19th Avenue to go to the play area. In response to a question from Ms. Ehrman, Ms. Decker said that at the request of the University, the study does not recommend paving as the first approach to addressing problems with the alley east of Condon School (e.g., dust and noise); however, the study does recognize that paving ultimately may be necessary. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 11, 1988 Page 3 . Ms. Bascom was impressed at the amount of consensus that was reached regarding issues addressed by the study. She said the parking recommendations are worth trying. Ms. Schue agreed, adding that the effect of the parking recommendations should be monitored. Ms. Ehrman raised a concern that implementing the study's parking recommendations may set a precedent for modifying parking requirements in other areas. Ms. Wooten supported such a precedent, saying that other areas should be examined to determine if lower parking requirements would be appropriate. Ms. Ehrman did not think that the study's suggestion to install a barricade in the alley behind Condon School would effectively address the problems associated with the alley. She believed that paving would be necessary. CB 3057--An ordinance adopting the 19th and Agate Special Area Study. Ms. Bascom moved that the bill, with unanimous consent of the council, be read the second time by council bill number only, and that enactment be considered at this time. Ms. Schue seconded and the motion passed 8:0. Council Bill 3057 was read the second time by bill number only. Ms. Bascom moved that the bill be adopted and given final e passage. Ms. Schue seconded the motion. Mr. Holmer commended the work of the task force and the staff on this study; however, he said the process that was used delayed action on the study's recommendations. He said the issue should have been brought to the council in a form that would have allowed it to take effective action, rather than simply adopting the special area study. Because of this, he said he would abstain. The motion passed 7:0:1, with Mr. Holmer abstaining. The ordinance was declared passed and became Ordinance No. 19568. III. RESOLUTION CALLING FOR A SPECIAL ELECTION CONCERNING WILLAMETTE STREET RECONSTRUCTION Mr. Bennett withdrew himself from consideration of this item. Richard Weinman, Development Department staff, said that in May the council voted to place the i~sue of reconstructing Willamette Street from 8th to 10th avenues on the November 8 ballot. The council requested that the election resolution indicate that the sole question being referred to the voters relates to continuous through traffic between 8th and 10th; the result of the vote, therefore, would not preclude future council decisions to allow traffic on certain portions of the area in question. Mr. Weinman said that in - MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 11, 1988 Page 4 - - -- - e addition to deciding whether to adopt a resolution placing the matter on the November 8 ballot, the council needs to decide whether a voters pamphlet should be prepared for the issue. In response to a question from Mr. Holmer, Mr. Weinman said that early September would be the latest the council could act to place this issue on the November 8 ballot. Mr. Holmer requested that this action be postponed until early September in order to give councilors more time to consider the issue. In particular, he mentioned the upcoming review of the Downtown Development District and said this review might yield some information that could lead the council to modify the question it refers to the voters. Ms. Ehrman said she still had a concern about the question being referred to the voters. She said that asking whether there should be limited through traffic on Wil1amette from 8th to 10th is quite different than asking whether there should be any traffic at all on the street. Mr. Rutan said he also had some concern about the clarity of the question that would be referred to the voters; therefore, he supported Mr. Holmer's suggestion. Ms. Wooten said she was not sure what new information relevant to this decision would arise during the postponement; nor did she perceive a lack of clarity in the question that would,be referred to the voters. Mr. Miller saw no harm in a postponement of this decision. e Mr. Holmer moved to postpone action on this issue and to direct staff to reschedule the item to a date that would still allow the council to meet the deadline for placing the . Willamette Street reconstruction issue on the November 8 ba 11 ot. Ms. Bascom seconded the motion. Ms. Schue said councilors with concerns about the clarity of the question that will be referred to voters needed to tell staff how the resolution should be modified. Mayor Obie expressed a concern about the cost of holding such advisory votes and wondered whether the councills goal (determining public opinion) might be achieved with less cost by conducting a poll. He asked staff to provide some information on this possibility. The motion passed 6:1, with Ms. Wooten voting in opposition. IV. OPTJONS FOR LIBRARY FINANCING Warren Wong, Finance Division staff, said the recent failure of the Lane County serial levy means that the Eugene library will not receive approximately $215,000. This money had been used to pay for Sunday and Monday hours, as well as bookmobile services. He noted that Eugene voters e. MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 11, 1988 Page 5 - e supported the Lane County serial levy, 57 percent to 43 percent. Mr. Wong reviewed several options the council could consider regarding the affected library services: (1) reduce library operating hours, staffing, and bookmobile services; (2) recommend a three-year City serial levy of about $241,000 (nine cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation) to fund the affected library services beginning in FY90, and authorize an inter-fund loan to pay for the affected services during FY89; (3) use contingency funds to provide the affected library services during FY89; (4) apply any marginal beginning working capital that is identified during the audit of the FY88 budget (this potential source of funds has already been identified for two other areas); and (5) reduce other programs or line items in the FY89 budget in order to obtain funding for the affected library services. Mr. Wong said staff recommended the second option, a City serial levy and an inter-fund loan. In response to a question, he said staff believes it is somewhat early in the fiscal year to spend about 40 percent of the FY89 contingency fund (option 3). In response to another question, he said the serial levy, if passed by voters, would remain constant throughout the three years. Ms. Schue said a City serial levy would not really represent a new tax for Eugene residents, because they used to pay for the library services through the Lane County serial levy. This, combined with the fact that Eugene voters supported the Lane County serial levy, inclined her to be comfortable with staff's recommendation. She did indicate, however, that she does not generally support serial levies. ~s. Schue also said that if a serial levy is referred to voters, it should be done during the general election in November rather than during a special election in September, because the e former would cost the City less. Mr. Miller expressed a concern that the present property tax rate in Eugene is already high. He was also concerned about approaching the voters too many times for liPrary financing measures (for example, once for a serial levy to fund operations and perhaps once again to finance construction of a new library). He said it might be more prudent to refer to the voters an entire package dealing with library financing. Mr. Miller, therefore, recommended against a City serial levy. He supported using contingency funds or making adjustments to the FY89 budget. Mayor Obie reiterated Mr. Miller's concern about the number of times voters should be approached for library financing issues. He suggested that contingency funds be used for a short period of time (perhaps 90 days) to fund the library services affected by the failure of the Lane County serial levy. This would give the City more time to deal with library financing issues as a package. Mayor Obie added that libraries in the entire region are in jeopardy. He said some type of comprehensive solution needs to be found, perhaps through some non-general funding source. Ms. Bascom and Mr. Bennett supported the Mayor's suggested to use contingency funds for a short time period; however, Mr. Bennett was concerned that 90 days might not be enough time to address the library financing issues. e. MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 11, 1988 Page 6 e Mr. Holmer recommended against a City serial levy to fund library services, saying that it would border on legislative hypocrisy to fund a general City service, such as the library, through a serial levy. He said some of the programs recently re-added to the FY89 budget might be more appropriate for this type of funding. Mr. Holmer moved to use FY89 contingency funds for six months to fund the library services affected by the recent failure of the Lane County serial levy. Ms. Bascom seconded and the motion passed 8:0. V. BUILDING PERMIT SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS Terri Vanderpool, Permit Services Division Manager, said the council directed staff to develop measures to reduce building permit turnaround time. Specific turnaround goals have been established: two weeks for residential plans and three weeks for commercial plans, 90 percent of the time. In order to meet these goals, increased staff (1.5 FTE) will be needed in the areas of site analysis and fire safety review. The cost of meeting the turnaround goals is projected to be $50,500. Ms. Vanderpool said a revenue stream has been identified for this. Recently, the City's building valuation tables were updated, increasing the cost per square foot that is used to determine project values and, therefore, increasing the City's revenue from building permit fees by about $125,000 per year. Ms. Vanderpool said staff recommends that $50,500 of this additional revenue be used to improve building permit e turnaround time. Ms. Ehrman asked why fire safety inspections of buildings are usually done by about three people. She asked if one person could conduct the inspections more cost-effectively. City Manager Mike Gleason said that in order to save money, the City now has firefighters conduct fire safety inspections of buildings. These firefighters are on-call and must be ready to respond to emergencies; therefore, the members of a firefighting unit must remain together. In response to a question, Mr. Gleason said that if the council passes the proposed motion, a supplemental budget process would be initiated. Mr. Holmer asked when staff would begin to implement the turnaround goals. Mr. Gleason said the new staff positions would have to be filled, so there would be a delay of two or three months after the funding is approved. In response to several questions, Larry Reed, Building Division staff, said the building permit fee calculation is based on two factors. The first is a certain percentage of the assessed value of a construction project. The City Council has authorized staff to apply the highest rate allowed under State law. This rate has not changed for about two years. The second factor is determining the value of a project. Eugene's building valuation tables were recently updated, which means that project values will be about 8 percent higher than they were since the last time the tab~es were updated (1981). e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 11, 1988 Page 7 .......~ e Mayor Obie referred to the staff definition of turnaround time: lithe number of calendar days in which complete construction plans are in the City's possession for review." He said this issue of completeness is a source of continual finger-pointing between staff and the building community. Mayor Obie stressed the importance of improving not only the officially defined turnaround time, but also the effective turnaround time. Ms. Vanderpool said staff plans to prepare regular permit tracking reports documenting the amount of time plans are in the City's possession for review, and the amount of time plans are in a developer1s possession due to incompleteness. In response to a question from Mayor Obie, Mr. Reed said the recent changes in the building valuation tables will mean that a typical residential construction of about 2,000 square feet will have to pay about $70 more in building permit fees, making the total permit and review fees for such a project about $700 or $800. In response to a question from Ms. Bascom, staff indicated that the adopted goal for the City's plan review service is to have 70 percent of its costs paid through fees. Currently, the amount of revenue from fees is about 65 percent. Mr. Holmer moved to authorize staff to prepare for the expenditure of fund$ in the amount of $50,500 annually for the improvement of turnaround time in building permit plans review. Ms. Bascom seconded and the motion passed 8:0. e VI. MINUTES AND FINDINGS OF HEARINGS OFFICIAL AND APPROVAL OF IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (DOVE LANE) (JOB #2384) . Mr. Holmer moved to approve the Hearings Official minutes and findings of June 28, 1988, and to approve improvements for paving, sidewalks, and storm sewers on Dove Lane from Highway 99 to Taney Street. Ms. Bascom seconded and the motion passed 8:0. VII. COUNCILOR HOLMER'S NOMINATION TO THE BUDGET COMMITTEE Mr. Holmer moved to appoint George Robinson to the Eugene Budget Committee for a term ending December 31, 1990. Ms. Bascom seconded and the motion passed 8:0. VII I. CALL FOR PUBLIC HEARING FOR AUGUST 8, 1988, CONCERNING STREET VACATION REQUEST (WESTCOAST FREEHOLDS) (SV 88-3) Mr. Holmer moved to call for a public hearing on August 8, 1988, concerning street vacation request SV 88-3. Ms. Bascom seconded and the motion passed 8:0. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 11, 1988 Page 8 - e IX. APPROVAL OF CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Mr. Holmer moved to approve the City Council meeting minutes of April 11 and April 27, 1988. Ms. Bascom seconded and the motion passed 8:0. Mayor Obie adjourned the meeting to July 13, 1988. Respectfully submitted, _~4tL. -Jl~' . <--....- ." Micheal Gleason, City Manager (Recorded by Mary Feldman and Monty Hindman) MNCC 071188-730 e e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 11, 1988 Page 9