HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/10/1990 Meeting
e M I NUT E S
Eugene City Council
McNutt Room--City Hall
September 10, 1990
5:30 p.m.
COUNCILORS PRESENT: Emily Schue, Robert Bennett, Ruth Bascom, Shawn Boles,
Roger Rutan, Freeman Holmer, Debra Ehrman, Bobby Green.
The meeting of September 10, 1990, of the Eugene City Council, acting as the
Urban Renewal Agency, was called to order by His Honor Mayor Jeff Miller.
1. URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY
Abe Farkas, Development Director, reviewed the time lines of several major
projects being conducted within the City. He noted that the Urban Renewal
Agency has money within its reserve accounts which may be available to help
fund these projects. Staff is requesting that the council indicate which of
these projects have council priority to be used in determining allocation of
the fund's limited financial resources.
e Lew Bowers, Development Division Manager, briefly walked through the
estimated time lines of the projects under consideration. Mr. Bowers
provided the council with the following information:
A. Li brary
The architects are currently working on design options for the reuse of the
Sears building as a new 100,000-square-foot library. The council is
scheduled to review those design options at its September 12 meeting.
Possible financing options will be reviewed on October 31.
B. Mall Plaza and Redesign
The design consultants are currently working with the 16 member citizen
committee to prepare a design concept for community review. Fa 11 owi ng the
committee recommendation, a more accurate estimate of the redesign costs for
the plaza and mall will be available.
C. Eighth and Willamette
Submission of proposals is scheduled for October 1. A citizen committee will
review those proposals and forward its finding to the Downtown Commission.
The commission will hold a public hearing and submit a recommendation to the
City Manager, who will in turn prepare a recommendation for the City Council.
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e D. Lane Transit District (LTD) Station Siting
The Station Siting Committee is expected to forward a recommendation to the
Downtown Commission, Planning Commission, and City Council by the end of the
year. Four sites are currently under consideration.
E. Downtown Development District (ODD) Review
The ODD Task Force is expected to finish its work in a few months and forward
a proposal for Downtown Commission review and council action in November.
The Task Force is reviewing what the district funds and how the funding
assessment is determined.
F. Tiffany Building
The project developer is in the process of finalizing approval for interior
modifications to address historic guidelines. The City Loan Advisory
Committee has just approved a loan to the project contingent upon approval of
a budget appropriation. The council will review this request as part of the
FY91 supplemental budget appropriation process.
G. Eleventh and Willamette
Interest in developing this site for a mixed-use housing/commercial
development continues. Resolution of the status of the Eighth and Willamette
e site could allow for the process to develop this parcel to proceed.
Ms. Bascom noted that the council has given a lot of thought to parking
issues downtown including the possible extension of the parking-exempt zone
boundary. She asked whether parking concerns have been addressed within
project discussions. In response, Mr. Farkas said that the Planning
Commission will be looking at many parking issues in the near future. Policy
recommendations regarding parking should come before the council this fall.
Responding to a question from Ms. Bascom regarding the mall redesign, Mr.
Farkas said that Olive Street is being considered as one street among several
which might possibly be opened to vehicular traffic.
Mr. Boles asked whether the City is considering creating an ad hoc RFP
Committee for the 11th and Willamette project similar to the one created for
8th and Willamette. Mr. Farkas explained that the City is still in the
process of negotiating an agreement for the 11th and Willamette parcel from
the initial RFP distributed several years ago.
Mr. Boles asked for information on how concerns for alternative modes of
transportation downtown and the Central Area Transportation System (CATS) are
being tied into project discussions. In response, Mr. Gleason said that the
LTD Station Siting project has been and will continue to be the primary forum
for these types of transportation discussions.
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e Responding to concern raised by Ms. Bascom about the time that is being taken
to make a decision on LTD station siting, Mr. Bennett explained that changes
in criteria for the new station have lengthened the time required to complete
the site selection process. Recommendations for the best possible site or
sites among the four currently being considered should be coming to the
council soon.
Mr. Bowers reviewed the City's current means of project financing. He
reported that the Urban Renewal Agency has $5 million within its reserve
accounts which may be available to help fund these projects. He cautioned,
however, that if Ballot Measure 5 (a property tax limitation which is
scheduled to come before the voters in November) passes, the amount of urban
renewal money which can be used to pay for these projects will be greatly
reduced. Mr. Bowers explained that because urban renewal reserves are the
most flexible source of revenue, they are the most desirable form of project
financing. However, in planning for the possible success of Measure 5, the
City is giving consideration to all potential sources of revenue for each
project.
Mr. Bowers said that staff recommends that the council direct staff to work
with the Downtown Commission to prepare a proposal for allocation of urban
renewal reserve fund monies to be brought back before the City Council prior
to its October 31 meeting.
Mr. Holmer voiced concern with the staff recommendation. He felt that such
an important decision as reserve fund allocation is so important that staff
e recommendations for fund allocation should be brought back to the council
before consulting with the Downtown Commission. The consensus of the council
was supportive of Mr. Holmer's position.
Mr. Boles agreed that a staff recommendation should come before the council
before it goes to the Downtown Commission. In light of the uncertainty
surrounding the future of urban renewal reserves, he suggested that the City
begin planning on the assumption that the resources will not be available.
The $5 million should be viewed as a supplement to other more reliable
resource commitments.
Mr. Rutan advised that staff develop a general set of guidelines for
allocating the resource reserves which the council might use to help it
determine how much reserve fund money should be used for each project. He
also emphasized the importance of developing strategies for obtaining other
funding resources for these projects and limiting the amount of reserve
resources committed for them.
Mr. Bennett said that he felt it would be a mistake for the City to allocate
a large portion of the resource reserves toward the library, which he felt is
of benefit to and should, therefore, obtain financial support from the larger
community.
Mr. Green requested that the staff recommendation for Urban Renewal Agency
reserve fund allocation be presented to the council. Mr. Holmer also
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e requested that the recommendations of the Downtown Development District Task
Force (DDDTF) with respect to fund allocation be presented to the council at
the time of the staff recommendation on urban renewal financing.
Mr. Rutan reported that with respect to the issue of parking, the DDDTF is
planning to allow enough parking downtown to support the existing facilities.
Mr. Bennett advised that DDDTF consider a "pay as you go" parking program.
He said that he believes that convenient, available parking is more important
than free parking to the retail owners downtown.
The council discussed the possibility of using gas tax moneys for
transportation issues. Responding to a question, Mr. Gleason said that a
constitutional amendment would be required to use gas tax for transportation
projects. Mr. Miller suggested that this might be changed in the future.
Mr. Boles reminded the council that the assumption for obtaining revenue from
a gas tax in the future presupposes the future availability of gasoline.
Ms. Bascom noted that a recent trend has arisen around the nation such that
university students in several regions are being taxed to help cover
additional transportation costs. Responding to a question, Mr. Boles
indicated an interest in capturing a portion of the costs for transportation
from a variety of non-profit organizations.
Ms. Schue announced that the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is
looking at the possibility of interfacing air, rail, and highway
transportation systems into a single, multi-modal system of transportation.
e
The meeting of the Eugene Urban Renewal Agency was adjourned at 6:35 p.m.
(Recorded by Traci Northman)
mncc 091090-530
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