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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/25/1990 Meeting e M I NUT E S Eugene City Council McNutt Room and City Council Chamber July 25, 1990 11:30 a.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Mayor Jeff Miller, Emily Schue, Rob Bennett, Debra Ehrman, Ruth Bascom, Roger Rutan, Shawn Boles. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Freeman Holmer, Bobby Green. The adjourned meeting of July 23, 1990, of the Eugene City Council was called to order by His Honor Mayor Jeff Miller. I. RETAIL TASK FORCE FINAL REPORT (The first portion of the meeting was held in the City Council Chamber to accommodate the large number of people who appeared to hear the council discussion of the Retail Task Force final report.) e Mr. Rutan said the City Council had adopted a time line developed by the Retail Task Force, related specifically to street redesign. He asked how the Retail Task Force final report fit into the decision-making process. Jan Bohman, Planning and Development, said that if the council approved the motions relating to the Retail Task Force, they would serve as the basis for the redesign process. Ms. Bohman said that within the next couple of days the task force would distribute requests for proposals (RFP) for a design consultant to lead the public process. She said a design for the plaza area and Willamette Street would be presented to the council at the end of the calendar year and would go to election in the spring. Mr. Rutan asked if the task force recommendations included a no-build option. Ms. Bohman said the design principles would set the basis for the redesign process and did not include a no-build option. Ms. Schue said Laurel Fisher of the Cultural Affairs Committee had called her that morning to point out that she had written to the City Council expressing her concern that the Hult Center not be overlooked in the downtown redesign plan. Mr. Rutan asked the role of Downtown Eugene, Incorporated (DEI) in terms of retail recruitment. Ms. Bohman said the City, not DEI, was recruiting busi- e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 25, 1990 Page 1 '- e nesses for the downtown area. She said the task force report recommended a more focused effort at retail recruitment. She said this effort could be made by DEI, but was not at present. Lew Bowers, Planning and Development, said the first public vote on the downtown redesign plan had been on the creation of a mall downtown. He said no specific design was tied to this vote. Mr. Boles said the City Council had a memo from the Downtown Commission recommending changes to the Retail Task Force Report and that he would like to incorporate these changes into the task force plan. CB 4241--An ordinance concerning a Downtown Tenant Mix Plan; amending Section 2.153 of the Eugene Code, 1971; and declaring an emergency. Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Bennett, 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. In response to questions from the councilors, Mr. Gleason suggested that if the council wished to amend the bill, it do so at this time. Mr. Rutan said the final report of the task force was outstanding, but that he did not feel a strong commitment to the report's fourth proposal, relating e to public policy. He said change would only occur downtown if the council focused on downtown issues, and that an attempt to deal with issues of public policy could diffuse the council's energies. Mr. Rutan said the City has many public policies, all of which would have to be reviewed if the council recommended approval of the task force's public policy statement. He said this would cause an extensive debate on public policy to occur, and that this would do little to further downtown issues. Mr. Rutan suggested that the council not adopt the fourth proposal and, in addition, that this proposal not be passed on to the Planning Commission. He said he would be willing to consider making specific, clearly refined refer- rals about public policy in relation to downtown issues to the commission. Mr. Boles said the Retail Task Force had recommended its fourth proposal because it felt that some of the existing public policies for downtown devel- opment were contradictory to the overall goal of compact urban growth. He said the task force did not have sufficient time to deal with this issue, but hoped the council and the Planning Commission would comment on this percep- tion. Ms. Bascom suggested the council vote on the task force's fourth proposal since it was the current topic of discussion. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 25, 1990 Page 2 ~ e City Attorney Bill Gary said the council was being asked to consider four separate motions. He said the first motion was the enactment of a council bill and that any amendment to the bill should be stated at this time. He said that if there were no amendments to the council bill, the council should proceed to the second reading of the bill. He said the three additional motions being considered at this time were separate from approval of the bill. Mr. Bennett said he felt that all portions of the motion were important, but that he would abstain from voting because he owned businesses on Wi11amette Street. (Mr. Bennett left the meeting.) Roll call vote. The motion passed, 5:0:1, with Mr. Bennett abstaining. Council Bill 4241 was read the second time by number only. Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Ms. Ehrman, that the bill con- cerning a Tenant Mix Plan, including amendments approved by the Planning Commission and Downtown Commission, be approved and given final passage. Roll call vote; all councilors present voting aye, the bill was declared passed (and became Ordinance No. 19711). Mayor Miller suggested that the fourth proposal of the Retail Task Force Plan on public policy be considered at a City Council work session to decide if it e should be passed on to the Planning Commission. Mr. Rutan said he was sup- portive of this idea and that the council should be specific about its re- quest that the commission study public policy in terms of downtown develop- ment. Mr. Boles said the Retail Task Force had attempted to list a couple of spe- cific areas in which it could use the help of the Planning Commission. He suggested the bill be sent to the Planning Commission with the request that it consider the recommendation for public policy and report back to the council within six months. He said the council could further ask that the Planning Commission comment on whether the request seemed to make sense. He said the Retail Task Force had flagged this issue and felt that the commis- sion was the obvious body to which it should be referred. Ms. Schue said that since the City Council would ultimately make any deci- sions about changes to public policy concerning downtown development, it should refine its request for the Planning Commission. Ms. Ehrman agreed that the council should consider public policy on downtown development at a work session. She said she was concerned that public policy would assume top priority if the council requested the Planning Commission to complete a public policy report within six months. Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Ms. Ehrman, to delegate further consideration of the Recommendations for Public Policy to e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 25, 1990 Page 3 - Support Downtown Development first to the City Council for discussion, and then to the Planning Commission with a report back to the City Council. Roll call vote. The motion passed unanimously. Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Ms. Ehrman, to direct staff to develop revisions to existing financial programs similar to those proposed in order to provide incentives to Property Owner Program participants and to investigate creation and funding of new incentives as described and amended in the Retail Task Force report. Ms. Ehrman said that during the preparation and development of the Retail Task Force report the council often heard that this section of the report was particularly controversial, yet there was little public input to this effect at public hearings. She said the City should pursue this program, partly because a recent voter survey showed that the types of stores downtown was a top priority issue. Mr. Boles said the controversy over this issue had died down because people realized the program would be voluntary. Mr. Rutan said it was important to let people know that access to financial programs was open to everyone. Roll call vote. The motion passed unanimously. e Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Ms. Ehrman, to approve the Rede- sign Principles as amended as the basis for the Downtown Redesign process. Ms. Ehrman pointed out that the redesign principles included more than the recommended reopening of Willamette Street. She said a "no" vote would be a vote against all of the redesign principles. She said it was helpful to view the issue of the street reopening in the context of the whole redesign plan. Roll call vote. The motion passed unanimously. Mayor Miller thanked the Retail Task Force for its efforts. Mr. Rutan said the success of the downtown redesign plan would require the leadership and energy of the City Council. He suggested the council exert leadership in devising a strategy to promote the plan. Mr. Boles said the council should not only assume leadership for the plan, but should conduct a quarterly check on the implementation of all components of the plan. Mr. Rutan requested that staff prepare a preliminary work plan for the coun- cil which could be used to benchmark progress on the four components of the Retail Task Force Report. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 25, 1990 Page 4 ,~ e (The City Council moved into the McNutt Room for the remainder of the meet- i ng.) II. ITEMS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL, MAYOR, AND CITY MANAGER A. Eugene Clinic Mr. Rutan requested a full staff report on an item scheduled for the July 23, 1990, council agenda regarding the alley next to the Eugene Clinic. B. Financing for Housing Programs Mr. Rutan requested that public involvement be a component of the City's low- and moderate-income housing programs. He said the public was very interested in such programs and would be likely to support them if they were kept in- formed. Mr. Boles suggested the City keep the public apprised of its housing poli- cies. In addition, he recommended that the City build the highest quality housing projects possible. C. Irkutsk Delegation Ms. Bascom said a group of dancers from Irkutsk had gone to Seattle for the Goodwill Games. She said a local Rotary Club had furnished three planes from e Eugene to fly the group from Seattle back to Eugene, so they could partici- pate in a series of community performances. Ms. Bascom said the Hilton had offered its plaza for a potluck dinner with the Irkutsk group. She said many people from the community had both participated in the dinner event and attended a later performance at Lane Community College. D. National Conference on Peace Corps Volunteers Mr. Boles said the recent National Conference of Returned Peace Corps Volun- teers had been well attended. He said a world map event had been particular- ly popular. Mayor Miller said that this group of people had been among the nicest he had ever met with. E. Highway 99-Beltline Signage Mayor Miller pointed out that a fatal accident had occurred recently at the Highway 99 offramp on Beltline. He said this was an extremely dangerous spot because the signing was inadequate and confusing. He suggested the City should investigate the possibility of better signage, even though this is a State highway. Mr. Gleason said he would review this possibility with City traffic engi- neers. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 25, 1990 Page 5 e F. Rewording of Motions Mayor Miller suggested that staff review the way in which council motions are worded. He pointed out that the motions relating to the Retail Task Force final report had been confusing to the council. G. Settlement of Civil Suit City Attorney Bill Gary said that last April the City had entered into a settlement agreement with a group of plaintiffs in a case called Hunter vs. the City of Eugene, a civil rights lawsuit arising from the 1987 teacher's strike. He said the City had agreed to cloak the settlement at the request of the plaintiffs, but Judge Michael Hogan had lifted the cloak on the set- tlement the previous day, July 24. Mr. Gary said the case involved 18 teachers and one member of the news media, all of whom had filed civil rights claims against the City and 27 individual officials of the City--mostly police officers, but also the City Manager and the director of the Department of Public Safety. The plaintiffs claimed in their lawsuit that the City and the individuals listed had violated their State and Federal Constitutional civil rights, specifically their right to assemble. Mr. Gary said the City had agreed to a total settlement payment of $30,000, which equalled less than $1,600 per plaintiff. He said the case had involved e a great deal of preliminary litigation and discovery. He distributed three documents relating to the case, including the settlement agreements. Mr. Gary said that at the time of the teacher's strike there were disturbanc- es at the site of picket lines throughout the city. He said the police were called in to deal with the disturbances and arrests were made. He said force was used in connection with the arrests. Citations were referred to District Attorney, Douglas Harcleroad, who indicated on July 31, 1987, that the City and police had acted properly in their conduct during the strike, but that he would not prosecute most of the individuals in the case. Mr. Gary said the Oregon Supreme Court decision dismissed the State Constitu- tional claims advanced by the plaintiffs. He said this meant the plaintiffs would have had to go to Federal Court based only on their Federal Constitu- tional claims. Mr. Gary said that at this point Judge Hogan convened the parties, and in a series of lengthy sessions an agreement was reached, in- cluding the cloaking agreement. Mr. Gary said there were several reasons why it was in the interest of the City and the public to settle the case on these terms. He said the plain- tiffs agreed to dismiss, with prejudice, all of their claims against the 27 defendants, leaving only the City of Eugene as a defendant. He said only then did the City agree, through the City Manager, to the terms of the set- e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 25, 1990 Page 6 e tlement. He said this reflected the City's judgment that the individual conduct of the defendants was appropriate under the circumstances, and that they had not engaged in any wrongful conduct. Mr. Gary said that once the plaintiff's charges against the individual defen- dants had been dismissed, the decision for the City became largely economic. He said civil rights lawsuits by their nature are complicated, and that this case included 19 individual lawsuits. He said he had recently tried a law- suit involving one civil rights claim, and the case took most of a week. He said the suit against the City would have lasted several weeks. He said that in addition to the defense costs there would have been significant disruption and cost in taking the 27 defendants out of their work places and into the courts for this length of time. He said the total defense cost would have been in the six-figure range, assuming the City won. Mr. Gary said that if the City had lost even one of the 19 claims filed against it, it would have been responsible not only for its own defense costs, but also for the attorney fees of the plaintiffs. Mr. Gary said another reason the City wished to settle the case out of court was the amount of public attention which would have focused on the trial. He said this would have dredged up the events of 1987, which it was in every- one's interest to get beyond. Mr. Gary said the settlement agreement included two main provisions. First, the City agreed to take steps with the Department of Public Safety to expunge e the arrest records of those individual teachers who had been arrested in connection with the strike disturbance. He said this was appropriate because of both the district attorney's decision that under the circumstances these individuals should not be prosected, and because the plaintiffs were teachers who were exhibiting their emotions in a labor dispute--not criminals. Mr. Gary said the City had agreed to have the Public Safety Advisory Commit- tee (PSAC) conduct a review of the process, policies, and procedures that are followed in connection with civil disturbances. He said this was the kind of review conducted by PSAC routinely. He said this would provide a forum at which everyone in the community could express their opinions about these issues. In response to a question from Ms. Ehrman, Mr. Gary said the plaintiffs would pay their own attorney fees. Mr. Gleason said he was disappointed that the City had to spend any public money on the settlement of this case. He said he did not want to acquiesce in a situation where the police department acted correctly in a labor dispute and was then accused of wrongdoing. He said he was willing to have the case go to trial, but was persuaded that it was best for the City and the public not to fight the case because this would cause a great deal of turmoil, and would be costly. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 25, 1990 Page 7 e Mr. Gleason said he had conferred with the council president, vice president, and the Mayor about the settlement because he did not feel it would be appro- priate to discuss the case with the entire council. He said he was not pleased that the settlement was originally cloaked. Mr. Gleason said PSAC would review Department of Public Safety procedures, not the strike itself. He said the City encouraged the Oregon Education Association (OEA) to review its strike procedures. He said the City met with representatives of the OEA and the Eugene Education Association (EEA) prior to the strike and had agreed on boundaries for behavior. He said that during the strike, representatives of these groups and the City had met on three separate occasions to discuss this issue. He said that both he and the police had been very frustrated that OEA did not understand what kinds of behavior were allowed during the strike. Mr. Gleason said he felt no animosity towards the teacher's union. In response to a question from Ms. Bascom, Mr. Gary said he did not know how the $30,000 settlement was divided among the plaintiffs. Ms. Ehrman suggested that the AFL-CIO be involved in the PSAC review of Department of Public Safety labor dispute policies and procedures. III. ANNUAL ADVISORY GROUP REVIEW e Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Bennett, to approve recommen- dations of the Council Committee on Committees regarding changes to advisory groups. Ms. Bascom said the responsibilities of the Citizen Involvement Committee (CIC) seemed to be worded too broadly. Mr. Boles said that, as a member of the CIC, he felt the group was aware of its basic charge which was to deter- mine the extent to which citizens were involved in community decisions. He said the group's responsibilities were expanded when the City Council asked for CIC involvement in specific issues. Mayor Miller said it was possible that the CIC was "micro-managing" other committees, rather than dealing with whether the City has adequate citizen participation from a policy perspective. Mr. Bennett said the role of a citizen versus the role of elected officials should be considered. He said the CIC should strive to achieve a balance which reflects the overall community. Roll call vote. The motion passed unanimously. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 25, 1990 Page 8 e IV. REVISIONS TO THE SIGN CODE Marsha Miller, of the Planning and Development Department, reviewed the staff report on the proposed changes to the Sign Code. In response to a question from Ms. Ehrman, she said existing electronic message centers would be "grandfathered in." CB 4240--An ordinance concerning signs; requiring permits, and regulating the size and number of signs; adding Sections 9.1000, 9.1002, 9.1004, 9.1006, 9.1008, 9.1010, 9.1014, 9.1016, 9,1020, 9.1030, 9.1031, 9.1033, 9.1035, 9.1037, 9.1039, 9.1041, 9.1043, and 9.1050 to the Eugene Code, 1971; amending Sections 9.015, 9.734, 9.736, 9.738, and 9.740 of that code; renumbering Sections 9.830 to 9.990 of that code; repealing Sections 8.610 to 8.855 of that code; and declaring an emergency. Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Bennett, 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. Ehrman moved, seconded by Ms. Bascom, that Section 9.1008 e of the Sign Code, the fourth section, be amended to end with the date 1997, rather than 2005. Mr. Gleason said it was difficult to calculate what this change from IS to 7 years would mean in terms of cost analysis. He said there were probably five signs in the City which would be affected by this regulation. He said the City would probably not be involved in any litigation if the owners of non- conforming signs were given 15 years to comply with the Sign Code, but that as the number of years for compliance were shortened the chance increased that a lawsuit could be won. Mr. Gary said his best guess was that the fewer years given a sign owner to comply with changes to the Sign Code, the greater the likelihood that a court would find that there had been a taking. He said if the council changed the number of years for compliance from 15 to 7 years, it increased the risk that the court would find in favor of the sign owner. He said that once the court found that there had been a taking there was the question of the value of what was taken. He said billboards were appraised based on their income potential. Mr. Gary said that if a sign had a value of $60,000, based on its income potential, and a life expectancy of 15 years, the amount the City might have to pay the owner could be calculated accordingly. In response to a question e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 25, 1990 Page 9 e from Mr. Bennett, Mr. Gary said the sign code bill did not provide for the City to pay compensation. He said that in order for a sign owner to receive compensation, a suit would have to be filed claiming the taking of property. Mr. Rutan said there was a great deal of precedent on the taking of signs. He said the council should be prepared to pay for the proposed revision from 15 years to 7 for sign compliance. He said he had calculated that the revi- sion could cost the City $150,000. He said the chances of litigation in this case were extremely high. He said it was not reasonable to pass this problem on to future councils. In response to a question from Ms. Schue, Mr. Gary said Mr. Rutan's analysis of the situation was good. He said the sign code bill was constitutional and he felt the City could defend against a charge of taking whether the period for compliance was 7 years or 15. However, he said the City's position would be very defensible at 15 years, and less so as the number of years were reduced. He said Mr. Rutan had used the correct calculation method for figuring the City's possible liability. He pointed out that the City would have to pay not only its own defense costs, but attorney fees for the plain- tiff if it lost a case of this kind. In response to a question from Ms. Bascom, Mr. Gary said the bill was consti- tutional and could be defended if the time for sign compliance were limited to 7 years, although this defense would be more difficult than for a time limit of 15 years. e Ms. Bascom said the council's constituents seemed to be frustrated about the number of billboards in Eugene. She said the council had not reduced the number of signs as greatly as it had hoped it could. She said that Ms. Ehrman's amendment to the bill would help reduce the number of billboards, and if this cost the City some amount of money it was acceptable. , Mr. Rutan pointed out that the sign code would limit the number of bill- boards, regardless of the number of years listed for compliance. He said what was at issue was the costly removal of a few signs. In response to a question from Mayor Miller, Mr. Gleason said the Sign Code bill was an attempt to deal in a straightforward manner with the issue of billboards. Mr. Bennett said he was concerned about billboards within urban growth bound- aries. However, he said the process used by the council to revise the sign code had been good. He said he would like to support Ms. Ehrman's amendment for shortening the number of years billboard owners would be allowed to comply with the code, but that he felt the risks were too high. A vote on the motion to amend the sign code bill passed, 4-2; with councilors Schue, Ehrman, Bascom, and Boles voting in favor; and councilors Rutan and Bennett voting in opposition. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 25, 1990 Page 10 e Mr. Miller pointed out that two city councilors were absent from this meeting and that the issue just voted on could be raised by them at a later date. Roll call vote. The amended motion passed unanimously, 6:0. Council Bill 4240 was read the second time by number only. Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Bennett, that the bill be approved and given final passage. Roll call vote; all coun- cilors present voting aye, the bill was declared passsed (and became Ordinance No. 19710). V. COMMUNITY ATTITUDE SURVEY RESULTS Barb Bellamy, Community Relations Director, reviewed the background on the City of Eugene Voter Survey on Community Conditions and City Services. Tom Eiland, vice president of Moore Information, Incorporated, the public opinion research firm with which the City contracted for the survey, ex- plained that the overall mood of the survey was optimistic. He said no one issue received top rating as the city's most important issue, although eco- nomic development was one of the issues which received the most votes. Ms. Ehrman pointed out that the council should feel good about the fact that it was working on the issues which were given priority by the voters. e Mr. Eiland said people did not seem to be dissatisfied with city government. He said one quarter of the voters surveyed were satisfied with city govern- ment, which was high statistically in comparison with other cities in Oregon which have been surveyed. He said institutional bias against local govern- ment was to be expected. Mr. Boles pOinted out that satisfaction with city government was consistent across constituencies. Mr. Eiland said half of those surveyed rated Eugene as an excellent place to live. He said a variety of factors were listed as being the best aspects of living in Eugene, while high taxes were mentioned as one of the worst as- pects, although no one issue dominated in this category. Mr. Eiland said there was no major difference in voter involvement between those people who knew someone in City government and those who did not. He said people were satisfied with their citizen involvement opportunities. He said City services which rated highest were the bike and park systems. Mr. Bennett noted that people wanted City government to do more about plan- ning and managing growth. Mr. Eiland said people were concerned about this issue, but were not sure what they wanted the City Council to do about their concern. Mr. Eiland said people were happy with Airport service in Eugene and felt that lack of affordable housing was one of the worst aspects of living in Eugene. Mr. Boles said the council could survey people on the issue of e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 25, 1990 Page 11 . affordable housing next year to help determine if its approach to the issue met with voter approval. Mr. Eiland said half of those surveyed were unhappy with the downtown area and wanted more stores downtown. Mr. Miller suggested the council hold a goal-setting session on the community attitudes survey. The meeting of the Eugene City Council adjourned at 1:35 p.m. -....... (Recorded by Kris Bloch) mncc 072590-1130 e e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 25, 1990 Page 12 -'