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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/23/1983 Meeting \ M I NUT E S e Eugene City Council City Council Chamber November 23, 1983 11 :45 a.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Emily Schue, Brian Obie, Richard Hansen, Mark Lindberg, Freeman Holmer, and Betty Smith. COUNCILORS ABSENT: John Ball and Cynthia Wooten. Adjourned meeting of the City Council of the City of Eugene, Oregon, was called to order by His Honor Mayor Gus Keller. I. ITEMS FROM MAYOR AND COUNCIL, APPOINTMENTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, AND AGENDA ADJUSTMENTS A. National League of Cities Councilor Schue stated that several councilors would be traveling next week to the National League of Cities Conference in New Orleans. She stated that when the councilors returned, they would make a report on the conference to the counci 1 . B. Willow Creek Development e Councilor Hansen stated he had observed the Willow Creek area development that morni(lg. He encouraged the other councilors and the public to view the area, stating that the owners had spent in excess of $1,000,000 to develop the area to meet the demands of prospective industry. C. Merger of Community Development and Joint Housing Committees Councilor Lindberg stated that he and Councilors Holmer and Schue had been appointed as a subcommittee to study the potential merger of the Community Development Committee and the Joint Housing Committee. He stated that both committees had appointed subcommittees to consult with the council subcommittee, and the result was a recommendation to move ahead with the merger. He di rected staff to develop by-laws for the joint committee, with the understanding that no other issues regarding the merger had yet been resolved. D. Kentucky Performing Arts Center Mayor Keller stated he had viewed part of the two-way television hookup of the Kentucky Performing Arts Center with the Hult Center and other centers throughout the United States. He stated that the personnel in Kentucky were interested in the work performed in Eugene, but he had had to leave prior to the question-and- answer peri od. He said the the thrust of the discussion by those present was that the people in Kentucky had built a "generic" hall, as contrasted to the Hult Center. - MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 23, 1983 Page 1 E. Appointments e 1. Consideration of Mayor's Nominations to the Towing Practices Committee (memo distributed) Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Obie, to approve the Mayor's appointments of William Potter, 3873 Vine Maple; Marvin Price, 1825 SE Harold; Bernie Spealman, 1880 Kintyre; Blanche Patterson, 321 Hunington; Vic Mann, Police Department; and Freeman Holmer, Councilor to the Towing Practices Committee. Roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously, 6:0. 2. Submission of Ballots for Appointments to the Planning Commission, Citizen Involvement Committee, and the Downtown Commission Councilor Obie stated the council has historically reappointed those individuals who have performed an effective job on the committees and commissions. He suggested that those people seeking reappointment to the Planning Commission be scheduled for interview by the council at the luncheon on December 14, 1983, with additional interviews to be held if the council decided not to reappoint those individuals. He also suggested that the balloting for the other positions take place on December 14, 1983, due to the absence of Councilors Ball and Wooten at this meeting and to the recent submission of a nomination to the Downtown Commission by Councilor Holmer. Ms. Smith asked about the possibility of obtaining additional applicants for the position on the Downtown Commission. Mr. Holmer felt that additional applications could be obtained if the balloting e were to be delayed. He questioned whether the three incumbents on the CIC were to be given the same treatment as those reappointments on the Planning Commission. Mr. Obie said he had not made that suggestion as he had only recently realized that those whose terms were expiring on eIC had also reapplied. He said that issue could be addressed at the December 14 meeting. Mr. Obie moved, seconded by Ms. Schue, to request Eleanor Mulder and Roger Rutan to join the council at its luncheon at 11:30 a.m. on December 14, 1983, for interviews relevant to consideration of reappointment to the Eugene Planning Commission, to advertise for additional applicants for the vacant positions on the Downtown Commission, and to determine those to be interviewed for the openings on the Citizen Involvement Committee and Downtown Commis- sion at the December 14 council meeting. Roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously, 6:0. F. Agenda Adjustments City Manager Micheal Gleason stated that the council and public was working off a revised agenda that included an ordinance for second reading which had been held over from the November 21 meeting. He also stated that the council would not be meeting on November 30, 1983. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 23, 1983 Page 2 II. ROUTINE ITEMS FOR COUNCIL APPROVAL e A. Consideration of City Council Dinner/Work Session Minutes of October 10, 1983, Regular Meeting Minutes of October 24, 1983, October 26, 1983, and November 9, 1983 (minutes distributed) Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Obie, to approve the City Council minutes of October 10, 1983, October 24, 1983, October 26, 1983, and November 9, 1983. Roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously, 6:0. B. Call for Public Hearing: Abatement of Building Located at 5300 Fox Hollow Road (memo, resolution and background information distributed) Res. No. 3818--A resolution calling a public hearing for December 12, 1983, to consider abatement of a nuisance and unsafe building at 5300 Fox Hollow Road. Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Obie, to adopt the resolution. Roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously, 6:0. III. ORDINANCE FOR SECOND READING: CODE AMENDMENT CONCERNING DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT PARKING VIOLATIONS (memo, ordinance distributed) City Manager Micheal Gleason introduced the agenda item, stating that it had been held over due to the need to have an additional councilor consider the e emergency clause. CB 2699--An ordinance concerning prohibited parking; amending Section 5.231 of the Eugene Code, 1971; and declaring an emergency. Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Obie, that the bill be approved and given final passage. Roll call vote; all councilors present votin1 aye, the bill was declared passed (and became Ordinance No. 19200 . IV. STREET VACATION FOR RIVER'S EDGE PUD (RIVERSIDE REALTY) (SV 80-2) (memo, additional information distributed) City Manager Micheal Gleason introduced the agenda item. Jim Croteau of the Planning Department presented the staff report, stating that the street vacation issue began as a Planned Unit Development for the River's Edge area, a PUD consisting of 94 dwelling units. He said that the applicant was required, as part of the original approval, to petition for the vacation of that section of Van Buren Street which was within the PUD. He explained that the street had never been put to pUblic use. Mr. Croteau said the request had originally been presented to the council in 1981 as a street vacation, but it was postponed due - MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 23, 1983 Page 3 to involvement by the City with some enforcement actions with regard to the completion of the PUD, those actions having since been settled. He also stated - that the original request had included a proposed benefit assessment for the 50' x 70. area of approximately $8,000, but staff was now recommending a special benefit of $1,129 to be levied against the applicant to cover the costs incurred by the City for street improvements in the area. He stated that City Attorney Tim Sercombe was present to respond to any legal questions regarding the issue. Councilor Holmer stated that he and Mr. Hansen appreciated the background information since they were not present on the council when the issue was originally presented. Mr. Sercombe stated that background information and the minutes on the issue had been provided to those councilors who were not present on the council in January 1981 and that those councilors could vote if they had read the material. Mr. Hansen stated that he had read the material. In response to a question, Mr. Croteau distributed a map pinpointing the section of Van Buren Street north of Lewis Lane to be vacated. Mr. Gleason asked council to hold the second reading of Council Bill 2247 until all financial matters were resolved. CB 2247--An ordinance authorizing vacation of a 50-foot-wide public right-of-way located at the northern terminus of Van Buren Street, north of Lewis Lane. Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Obie, that council give first e reading of Council Bill 2247 at this time. Roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously, 6:0. V. SIX-POINT ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION PROGRAM/FY83-84 ACTION PLAN (memo, resolution, background information distributed) City Manager Micheal Gleason introduced the agenda item. Jim Farah, Planning Department, presented the staff report, stating that this was the council.s annual adoption of the Six-Point Program. He added that the program was staff's "marching orders" for the coming year and that the Planning Department used the program as a guide for developing its work program relating to economic divers- ification. He said the program had operated well in focusing the public and private sectors' economic diversification efforts within the community. He stated that the program was prepared by a joint staff group, incorporating a variety of input from operating departments, and had been reviewed by the Joint Comittee on Economic Diversification, the Planning Commission, the Downtown Commission, the neighborhood groups, and several other interest groups. He then reviewed some possible changes to the document submitted to the council: A. Section I II .A. : Delete "Eugene" and add "community." B. Section III.C.4{d): Delete "public." C. Section III.C.5(d): Delete "neighborhood." e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 23, 1983 Page 4 'i - In response to a question, Mr. Farah explained that shopping centers were designated as neighborhood, community, or regional in the Metropolitan Plan. D. Section III.C.5(f): Delete "Strip developments should be avoided." E. Section III.C.6: Add (d) "Act and encourage our residents to act to make our community especially hospitable to foreign visitors; for example, multi-lingual menus and street signs." F. Section V.l(f): Add "When the land inventory is completed, considera- tion might be given to identifying underused public buildings that can be made available for commercial or industrial use." In reference to strip development, Councilor Lindberg said that the council's pol icy had been to avoi d such development and he suggested the phrasi ng "Cl uster or integrated development should be favored over strip development." Mr. Hansen commented avoiding strip development might oppose such opportunities found there. He suggested the phrase "Favor or encourage cl uster or integrated development.II G. Section V.4(e): Primary Tasks: liThe City will work with the Cooperative Museum Commission to ensure that the Cultural and Leisure Plan is consistent with the long-range plan for area museums." Councilor Holmer said the Cooperative Museum Commission had developed its plans and that substantial amounts of public money had been invested in those plans. e He hoped that the Cultural and Leisure Plan would be consistent with the Coopera- tive Museum plan. Ms. Schue said she did not want to give precedence to the Cooperative Museum planning as suggested by the new language. Mr. Farah responded that he read the language as saying staff should not develop a Cultural and Leisure Plan outside the context of the direction occurring through the Coopera- tive Museum effort. He agreed with the comments of Ms. Schue, stating that the language more explictly stated that idea. Mr. Farah stated that the changes made on pages 18 and 26 would not receive further public review, but that the other proposed changes would receive further review as part of the Community Goals update process. Councilor Lindberg said he had discussed the issue of strip development with Mr. Hansen and suggested the following revision to Section III.C.5(f): "Cl uster of integrated developments shoul d be favored over stri p development. II Mayor Keller asked for a cl arification of Mr. Holmer's concern with "Eugene" versus "community" in Section III.A. Mr. Holmer responded that the City had carefully solicited the collaboration of other communities and organizations operating within the area of the Oregon-Pacific Economic Development Corporation and that the City needed to develop goals for the whole community, not drawing any boundaries around the Eugene city limits. Mayor Keller asked if Mr. Holmer intended to add the Springfield Chamber of Commerce to Section (c) on page 17. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 23, 1983 Page 5 Mr. Holmer said no change was needed, stating that this section referred to a e specific program for a private entity. Ms. Schue said it appeared presumptuous for the City to tell the community of Springfield how it ought to operate and that the council did not have any authority to set rules for areas outside the City's boundaries. Mr. Holmer said council was giving instructions to staff and that it was his assumption that they should be told to work cooperatively within the larger community. Mayor Keller stated that it was the Eugene Six-Point Plan and he was comfortable with retaining the "Eugene" language. He said he had no problems with the other changes as stated. Mr. Farah briefly reviewed the pages within the document containing the changes, adding that staff was recommending that council adopt the Six-Point Program and forward the chapter on Proposed Policy Foundation to the Community Goals Committee for review at the Community Goals Conference. Res. No. 3819--A resolution repealing Resolution No. 3730 and adopting the Six-Point Economic Diversification Program/FY83-84 Action Plan. Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Obie, to adopt the resolution with the proposed changes (except the proposal to change the word IIEugene" to "Community" in Section III, A) as suggested and foward the appropriate sections to the Community Goals Committee. Roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously, 6:0. Mr. Gleason thanked the council for their time and effort in reviewing the document, stating that staff depended on those types of documents for guidance. e Mayor Keller said he preferred the original two-page document and he hoped that the next plan would not be any longer than 33 pages. Mr. Gleason said the work programs supporting the goals were added for clarification. v. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONS' QUARTERLY REPORT (memo and reports distributed) City Manager Micheal Gleason introduced the agenda item. Jean Names, President of the Women's Commission and the Human Rights Presidents' Council, presented the staff report. Ms. Names briefly reviewed the November 16 Human Rights Staff memorandum to the City Council, outlining the work plans of the Human Rights' commissions. She stated that this was the first quarterly report to the council and a new reporting format was being used. She distributed information pertinent to the applications for boards and commissions received by the council, stressing that 49 percent of the 137 applications for the 31 vacant positions were from women. She said she would return in January 1984 to report on the second quarter. Councilor Smith stated that the new reporting format was quite clear and self- exp 1 anatory . She said it would be helpful in monitoring the activities and attendance of the commissions. - MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 23, 1983 Page 6 VI. URBANIZATION REPORT (memo, background information distributed) e City Manager Micheal Gleason introduced the agenda item. Jim Farah of the Planning Department presented the staff report, stating that the draft of the report was being presented in a work-session format. He said that Eleanor Mulder, President of the Planning Commission, and Jim Carlson were present to respond to the council's questions. He added that staff was requesting the council to hold comment open for ten days after the public hearing to allow the Metropolitan Area Plan Advisory Committee to submit written comments. He said that the document submitted to the council was the eighth draft, the document having already been reviewed by the Planning Commission and the Planning and Land Use Committee of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Farah said the purpose of the paper was to take the general direction established in the Metropolitan Plan and refine it to suit Eugene's particular situation. Councilor Holmer questioned the language of Proposed Policy 12 on page 21, stating that his own recommendation was that the issue of the land tax not be put out to public discussion. He explained that he did not feel the land tax had a substantial body of public support or understanding. Mr. Farah said the land tax concept came about as part of the development of the "Growth" Chapter in the 1979 Community Goals and Policies and was embodied in Proposal 8. Mr. Holmer said he was concerned with the council distributing the document to the general pub 1 i c in advance of the Community Goal s Conference. In response to a question by Mayor Keller, Mr. Holmer said he felt Proposed Policy 11 was appropriate for inclusion in the report, and he added that it would be decided by the legislature. Mr. Obie said that Policy 12 only committed the council to consider the implications of a land tax, stating that it would be a healthy e exploration if the council had the time. Councilor Holmer stated that he, Mr. Farah, and other staff members had met with Richard Lindholm of the University of Oregon, an advocate of the vacant land tax, to discuss the commercial, political, and economic implications of the land tax. He said the conclusion of that discussion was that the City was not ready to address the issue, stating that many difficulties were involved. He said that making the issue part of the Urbanization Report would require the council to address the issue before it was ready for public discussion. Mayor Keller asked if Mr. Lindholm had mentioned that one of the stronger supporters of the land tax was presently employed in Washington, D.C. Councilor Lindberg questioned Mr. Holmer's suggestion, stating that the land tax issue was already scheduled for review by the Goals Conference. Mr. Holmer said the policy called for a review by the council, not the Goals Conference. He said he did not feel the issue was appropriate for the council at that time. Mr. Farah said the Planning Commission had discussed the issue, adding that the report had originally been drafted to state a "vacant land tax," on which public testimony was given. He said the commission was not willing to forward any discussion of a vacant land tax to the council. e MINUTES--~ugene City Council November 23, 1983 Page 7 Councilor Schue understood the proposed policy to exempt the Special Light Industrially zoned land from the discussion of the land tax; therefore, the e consideration of the land tax was already present. Ms. Mulder said the exclusion of the Special Light Industrial land was due to over-allocation of such zoned land. She agreed that such a decision should go the Goals Committee and the decision would be returned to the council. She said the Chamber of Commerce was uncomfortable with applying the land tax to Special Light Industrial land because of the peculiarity of the land allocation. She said the commission recommended that this land be exempted based on other existing policies in the Metropolitan Plan. Mr. Lindberg said he understood that Mr. Lindholm proposed abolishing the taxation of improvements on land and taxing only the land. Ms. Mulder said that was correct in its purest form but that various mixtures were possible. She explained that every piece of property had some land value based on its locational features. She said the commission felt the issue should not be ignored. Councilor Hansen said the conversation implied that the council had agreed to review the particular method of taxation, but he did not feel the council had agreed that it wanted to discuss the land tax. He said that the policy should not be included until the council had discussed it. Mr. Hansen moved, seconded by Mr. Holmer, to delete Proposed Policy 12 from the Urbanization Report. Mr. Farah commented that it would be appropriate for the council to wait until the public hearing before voting on any part of the report. Mr. Hansen withdrew his motion. e Councilor Holmer asked if the council would have any influence on the document to be distributed for the public hearing. Mr. Farah said the document as presented to the council and as modified by the Planning Commission would be distributed to the public. Mayor Keller said the issue was scheduled for public hearing and that the council might want to spend some extra time on the document in preparation for that hearing. Councilor Holmer questioned Proposed Policy B10, stating that the City had already investigated the application of the urban/rural transition area. Mr. Farah said staff felt there was much more to investigate, to include tech- niques such as public purchase of land, zoning of land allowing only large-lot development, and density transfer. The meeting was adjourned at 1:05 p.m. until December 12, 1983. (Recorded by Thorn Strunk) - TS:cj/CM32bl MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 23, 1983 Page 8