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Home My WebLink About12/08/1982 Meeting (2) ,- M I NUT E S e Eugene City Council Work Session City Council Chamber December 8, 1982 12:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: John Ball, D. W. Hamel, Mark Lindberg, Gretchen Mill er, Brian Obie, Emily Schue, Betty Smith, Cynthia Wooten. The work session was called to order by His Honor Mayor Gus Keller. 1. 6th/7th AVENUE IMPROVEMENTS AND STATE SIX-YEAR HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM STATUS (background information distributed) A. Statels 1984-1989 Six-Year Highway Program Timetable Irv Berman, Planning Engineer, Public Works Department, discussed materials that had been distributed to councilors. He said that the Statels Six-Year Timetable is a program for State Highway capital expenditures comparable with the Eugene's Capital Improvement Program. He said that actual construction of the 6th/7th improvements had not yet been programmed for and that the City would e be emphasizing the need for this project in discussion with the Highway Divisionis District Engineer in Roseburg. Mr. Berman said that Mayor Keller would speak on the matter at Oregon Transportation Commission hearings on the six-year program. Mr. Berman used visual materials to explain the State transportation planning process and the status of the 6th/7th project. Councilor Wooten asked if the 6th/7th project would be a part of the Federal Interstate system. Mr. Berman, City Traffic Engineer Jim Hanks, and City Manager Micheal Gleason responded that the project was not a part of the Interstate system and was therefore not eligible for Federal Interstate funds, but they noted that the project would be eligible for gas tax funds since it is on the Federal Primary System. Mr. Hanks said that the matching ratio would ~quire more local (in this case, State) funds for the project. Referring to the visual materials, Mr. Berman explained that the 6th/7th corridor is a IImissing linkll in making east-west State highway connections through Eugene and also in serving the sites of future industrial development identified for West Eugene and the Willow Creek area in the Metropolitan Area General Plan. Mr. Berman then indicated the major improvement projects that the City and Lane County have accomplished in the West Eugene area in the past ten years and those proposed in the CIP for the next ten years and stressed the importance of the 6th/7th project to the City's economic diversification efforts. He sai d that this same visual presentation, emphasizing these points, would be made to the Department of Transportation. - MINUTES--Eugene City Council Work Session December 8, 1982 Page 1 . Mr. Berman said the City's request for construction funding for 6th/7th would provide moneys needed to construct the project once the City voted affirmatively and right-of-way was obtained. B. Eugene's Project Prioritization Requests Mr. Berman outlined the City's project prioritization requests as follows: Priority #1--6th/7th Avenue extension west of Garfield Street Priority #2--6th/7th Avenue widening 4-lanes east of Garfield Street Priority #3--improvements to Highway 99 North from Roosevelt Boulevard to Barger Drive; --pedestrian/bicycle under/overcrossing of Franklin Boulevard in the vicinty of Onyx Street and University of Oregon campus; and --improvements to Franklin Boulevard permitting an acceleration lane entry from the Laurel Hill Valley at Riverview Street. Councilor Miller suggested that the under/overcrossing of Franklin Boulevard near the University campus be removed from the list, since she felt there was general agreement that the project was a bad idea. Councilor Wooten agreed. e ~r. Hanks said that the Eugene Bicycle Committee reviewed this item annually as a part of review of the Bikeways Master Plan. He said that committee believed that this under/overpass was a good idea and could be designed successfully to work with the descending elevation from the campus at Onyx to the lower ground near the Mill Race bridge. Councilor Ball asked if the process for commencing the 6th/7th project was proceeding as quickly as was possible. Mr. Berman responded affirmatively. Mr. Gleason asked at what point the matter could be placed on the ballot. Mr. Berman said he believed it might be possible to vote on the matter before the November 10, 1983, election. He felt that a positive vote would make the State much more eager to proceed with the project. After some discussion, it was agreed that the City should seek a legal opinion on how soon a vote could be taken and on whether it was legally possible to begin designing the project before the vote. Mr. Gleason felt that the City should work to provide citizens with as much general information as possible on the project and to take a vote as soon as possible after this information effort was made. Mayor Keller said he hoped the vote could take place in May 1983. Councilor Wooten said she supported the concept of placing the matter on the ballot as soon as possible but emphasized the need to provide adequate information on the impact of the project on housing, industry, commerce, and on City maintenance funds. Mr. Berman said that a traffic analysis of the project and its impacts was currently being done but that information which could be made available before an Environmental Impact Statement report would not be based on specific designs and could therefore only be general information, not specific. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Work Session December 8, 1982 Page 2 Councilor Obie suggested that the repeal of the City's expressway charter e amendment be placed on the ballot, since he believed that the amendment kept major projects from being accomplished in Eugene. Responding to a question from Mr. Gleason, Mr. Hanks estimated that the cost of the 6th/7th improvements from Garfield Street to Route 126 for construction of an arterial with limited access but without complete interchanges would be approximately $15 million, whereas a freeway would be approximately $200 million. Mr. Gleason said he believed an investment on the part of the City of funds to get the project under way would be money well spent. Mr. Keller summarized the consensus of the council's discussion as support for the concept of the project, a desire to explore the legal possibilities of what aspects of the project can be accomplished under the charter amendment provisions, and a desire to place the matter on the May 1983 ballot if enough information can be provided at that time for the public to make an informed vote. Addressing Mr. Obie's earlier suggestion of placing repeal of the charter amendment on the ballot, Councilor Miller said she did not believe the voters had enough confidence in the council to repeal the ordinance. Mr. Obie moved, seconded by Ms. Miller, to approve the concept of the 6th/7th corridor, to place the measure on the ballot at the earl iest possible date, and to ask staff to return with an opinion on when this could take place. e II. DISCUSSION OF COUNCIL VOTE ON APPOINTMENTS TO THE EUGENE PLANNING COMMISSION AND THE JOINT HOUSING COMMITTEE Councilor Miller asked if the council should reballot on the Planning Commission position. She felt if councilors needed further information, staff should be asked to interview the candidates and ask how often they each appear before the the council, the Planning Commission, the Hearings Official, and County agencies and how they would intend to deal with possible conflicts of interest. Council or Lindberg said he would prefer to discuss this matter today. Councilors agreed to postpone the second work session item on the City's Capital Improvement Program to the December 13 council meeting and to postpone taking action on the program for a future council meeting. , The meeti ng was adj ourned to a speci al work sessi on to di scuss the appointments to the Planning Commission and Joint Housing Committee. (Recorded by Darcy Marentette) DCM:dcm/CM7a20 ,~~~ ~'Wz? /,1.,.' ,- (--.~'P~.. , e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Work Session December 8, 1982 Page 3