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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/24/1991 Meeting e M I NUT E S Eugene City Council McNutt Room--City Hall July 24, 1991 11 :30 a.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Roger Rutan, Shawn Boles, Ruth Bascom, Debra Ehrman, Randy MacDonald, Kaye Robinette, Paul Nicholson, Bobby Green. The adjourned meeting of July 22, 1991, of the Eugene City Council was called to order by His Honor Mayor Jeff Miller. Mayor Miller announced that the agenda has been amended to include consideration of Resolution 4263, relating to the University of Oregon's Long- Range Plan. 1. ITEMS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL, MAYOR, AND CITY MANAGER e A. American Field Service (AFS) Student Ms. Bascom noted that she received a letter from an AFS student from Brazil who had spent a year in Eugene and who wanted to bring greetings from the mayor of Sao Paulo. She asked staff to send a response on behalf of Brazil- ian mayor. B. Airport Name Change Ms. Bascom asked if the council was interested in asking the Airport Commis- sion for a recommendation regarding naming a street near the airport after Mahlon Sweet. Mayor Miller asked if there was a need for the council to take any official action regarding the name of the Eugene Airport. Mr. Gleason said that the council does not need to take further action on this issue. C. Council Potluck Ms. Bascom asked councilors and the Mayor if they would be interested in getting together informally on August 7 for a potluck before the August recess. She said that she would bring the issue before the council on August 5. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 24, 1991 Page 1 e D. Class Generates Ideas on How to Improve the Environment Ms. Bascom said that she received a letter from a grade school class that spent the summer generating ideas about how to improve the environment. Mr. MacDonald asked that the council send a letter in appreciation to these stu- dents. E. Storm Drain Stenciling Mr. MacDonald asked staff to explore the possible implementation of a program similar to the City of Springfield's in which volunteers stencil messages in front of the storm sewers reminding citizens not to dump waste in the storm sewer system. City staff agreed to explore such a project. F. Field Spraying Mr. Green asked about the status of his request regarding legislation on field spraying. Pam Berrian, City Manager's Office, said that council would be receiving a response to this request on August 2, 1991. G. "Portland-Style" Regulation of Styrofoam Containers e Mr. Nicholson said that he has been contacted by a constituent who is inter- ested in adopting a regulation system similar to the one used in Portland for styrofoam containers and phosphated materials. Mr. Green said that he was also contacted by this individual and recommended that she channel the re- quest through her neighborhood organization. The council indicated that it has considered the possibility of modeling an ordinance after Portland's, but decided against it. H. Ordinance Prohibiting Slash Burning Outside the City Mr. Nicholson said he was contacted by a constituent who is encouraging the council to pass a resolution urging property owners to refrain from burning slash outside of the urban growth boundary. He asked whether the council was interested in pursuing the issue. Mr. MacDonald noted that the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority (LRAPA) has also voiced concern with the impact of burning on air quality and the fire department is concerned with the fire hazards associated with this, as well. At council's request, Mr. Gleason agreed to report back to the council on the time and staffing implications that would be required to undertake a project of this nature. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 24, 1991 Page 2 e I. Status of Lincoln School Ms. Ehrman noted that little progress has been made on Lincoln School rede- velopment and asked for an update on the status of that project. J. Radar Watch Mr. Boles noted that he appreciated the copies of Radar Watch that were in- cluded in the council packet; this is an example of the types of services that citizens may have to take more responsibility for in the future. II. EUGENE DECISIONS WORKSHOP BRIEFING Barbara Bellamy, City Manager's Office, briefed the council on the process to be followed for the Eugene Decisions workshops. She noted that the environ- mental scan "Trends and Issues" report serves as background information to assist the council and the community in planning for the future. Ms. Bellamy said that information for Eugene Decisions will be gathered in three ways. The annual Community Survey is now being conducted; the results of which should be available to the council by early August. Mr. Boles asked that staff make available the results of last year's survey in order to com- pare the two documents. Information is also being collected through newspa- e per questionnaires published in The Register-Guard and What's Happening. Ms. Bellamy said that the reaction from citizens who have been asked to at- tend the focus group session at the workshops has been very good; this is a reflection of the interest in this community around this process. Referring to the open house questionnaire, Mr. MacDonald suggested that the section which offers an opportunity for input be large enough to allow citi- zens to write in suggestions. Ms. Bellamy provided an overview of the format of the community workshop and said that the purpose of the workshop is two fold: to get input from citi- zens and to inform and educate the public about the decisions to be made. Workshop participants will be asked to brainstorm ways to solve the problem in four ways: 1) reducing services; 2) maintaining services, 3) expanding services and identifying new revenues; and 4) providing services differently. Regarding the open house questionnaire, Ms. Bascom said that the breakdown of services is confusing; specifically, affordable housing (listed under devel- opment services) has been separated from homelessness (listed under social services). She voiced concern that the way the questionnaire is formatted overemphasizes the "crisis management" approach to dealing with this social problem. Mr. Boles responded that the format of the questionnaire is de- signed to elicit certain responses and acknowledged that dealing with homelessness requires a multi-pronged approach. However, the format is a sketch of the current organization of services. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 24, 1991 Page 3 e Mr. Gleason observed that how the data is probed will determine what type of data is received. If the data collection process needs to be altered, it can be done throughout the process. Ms. Bellamy said that information gathered from citizens this month will assist the council in developing preliminary strategies for solving services and funding problems. The council will be looking for themes about services and funding so that strategies can be developed that reflect these expecta- tions. September is a process checkpoint. At the direction of the Council Committee on Eugene Decisions, staff has prepared some sample strategies for use at the July workshops. The purpose of the sample strategies is to give workshop participants an idea of how the information they provide might be used in a strategy. The committee directed staff to use a target of $8 mil- lion for the purposes of these strategies. This is approximately $4 million for operation and $4 million for capital. Warren Wong, Administrative Services Director, provided the council with information on the General Fund Six-Year Financial Forecast and explained how those figures were obtained. The best-case scenario assumes that the City will receive all State revenue sharing moneys and alcohol and beverage taxes, that the assessed valuation will grow sufficiently so the City can continue to levy the entire tax base, and that the County agreements are funded. The worst-case scenario assumes the opposite. The committee directed staff to use FY94 data because it believed this to most closely represent the City's fiscal environment. e Mr. Wong explained that the CIP target for General Capital projects was based on the following assumptions: 1) compliance with statutory requirements, 2) preservation and maintenance of existing capital assets, 3) addressing changes in population and services, and 4) implementation of adopted plans. Mr. Wong explained that the CIP General Fund requirements were developed in two ways--based on the existing six-year CIP and by looking at the replace- ment value of the assets. The difference in the two approaches was approxi- mately $200,000. He summarized the following CIP General Fund categories and provided examples of each: 1) fire and life safety/code mandates; 2) preser- vation and maintenance; and 3) upgrade/enhancements of existing assets. These categories yield a targeted CIP of $4.5 million which does not include 4) the acquisition of any major new capital assets, the fourth and final CIP category. Mr. Wong said that if the council is comfortable with the CIP categories and the $4.5 million, the CIP process next fall will be modified to reflect the new target and those categories of assets. Mr. Boles noted that using the actual $8 million number for the workshop will be important in the size and scope of the strategies formed. Ms. Ehrman noted that despite Measure 5, property taxes are increasing be- cause of increasing assessed valuations. She said that it might be helpful for staff to give an explanation of this for workshop participants. Mayor Miller also noted that the City does not stand to gain money as the assessed valuation increases. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 24, 1991 Page 4 e Mr. Nicholson commented that a lot of unnecessary blame has been placed on Ballot Measure 5. Although not highly publicized, the structural deficit that has been building over several years has contributed greatly to the need for organizational restructuring. Mr. MacDonald questioned whether the guiding assumptions provide an adequate budget for sustaining capital assets. Mr. Gleason said that it would, but noted that it would not include any additions to the capital inventory. Ms. Bascom questioned whether citizens would be able to understand the impor- tance of asset preservation and maintenance. Mr. Robinette said that it is important to explain this to the public, but it is up to them to make a deci- sion about fiscal financing. Mr. Boles agreed. Mr. Gleason observed that it might take several years of communication to the public until it understands the full breadth of the decisions to be made. Mr. Nicholson commented that a large portion of the community is going to be interested in administering City services in other ways. Mr. MacDonald spoke about the importance of keeping Eugene Decisions process distinct from State tax issues. Mr. Gleason commented that the Federal government has decided to balance the deficit through local government. Mr. Nicholson added that the deficit is a e redistribution of the tax load. The sources of revenue which used to be available to the City are simply being transferred to the richest people in the country. By consensus, the council approved the workshop format. III. UNIVERSITY OF OREGON LONG-RANGE CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT PLAN Christine Taylor, Planning and Development Department, said that the City is being asked to review the University of Oregon Long-Range Campus Development Plan in order to determine whether it is consistent with the Statewide land use goals and local planning policies. Ms. Taylor responded to questions that were raised during the council's July 22 public hearing on this item. She noted that this plan adopts by reference the following City plans: West University Refinement Plan, Riverfront Re- search Park study, 19th and Agate Special Area Study, Fairmont Plan, TransPlan, Central Area Transportation Study (CATS), and Metropolitan Area General Plan. Responding to a question from Mr. Boles regarding the relationship between the Riverfront Research Park and the City, Ms. Taylor said that the Universi- ty has ownership of the land and has a long-term lease with a developer for site development. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 24, 1991 Page 5 -- --- e Mr. Boles asked for further clarification about the relationship between the City as the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) for this land which is not in URA ownership. Mr. Gleason explained that the City has an intergovernmental agreement with the University which governs this property. As the URA, the council will be reviewing where its responsibilities lie within the agree- ment, which primarily center around infrastructure facilities. In terms of this site, there are several other sites on this property that might devel- oped before the URA must extend the infrastructure. Mr. Boles clarified that when the additional infrastructure construction activity takes place, it should be paid for through Systems Development Charges (SDC). In response to questions regarding citizen involvement, Ms. Taylor emphasized that much of the citizen input in the plan occurred through the University/ Community Liaison Committee (U/CLC) which included, among others, a member of the Planning Commission and representatives from various neighborhood organ- izations. Ms. Taylor said that in terms of future plan revisions, the plan would be reviewed every five years by the State Board of Higher Education; the council could review the plan at that time as well. Responding to a question from Mr. Green regarding the City's responsibilities with respect to on-street parking, Mr. Gleason said that the Fairmont neigh- borhood wanted the City to remain aware of its responsibility to remedy park- ing problems in the area, should the University take no action. Ms. Ehrman said that the five year mandatory review should be stated expli- e citly in the plan. Mr. Gleason noted that as a State agency, the University has some proprietary State rights. Phase 1 in this plan is a recognition and codification of the existing relationship between the University and the City. Phase 2 of the plan recognizes the changing nature of the relationship and helps determines changes in the relationship. Res. No. 4263--A resolution acknowledging the University of Oregon Long-Range Campus Development Plan. Mr. Rutan moved, seconded by Mr. Boles, to adopt the resolu- tion. Mr. Boles raised several concerns with respect to this plan. He said that because this is a land use planning document, it should go through the City's accepted citizen involvement process. He noted that the council should con- sider what types of changes will trigger a plan review. He voiced concern over Assumption 3, one of five assumptions from which this plan was formulat- ed, which states that lithe eXisting organization and working relationships among the University, the State System of Higher Education, other State agen- cies, and local governments will continue essentially unchanged." He argued that these relationships will change as a part of the Eugene Decisions pro- cess. Mr. Boles also said that if this plan is to be consistent with the City's plans and policies, the citizen involvement component should be re- e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 24, 1991 Page 6 -- e viewed to determine if its congruent with that process. He felt that the review groups were too narrow and said that the plan does not adequately address the relationship between the University and the larger community. Mr. Boles invited the University community to educate the rest of the commu- nity. Ms. Ehrman highlighted Assumption 5 which states that uno major land acquisi- tions will occur outside the presently approved campus boundaries." She also said she was impressed with the level of detail which the plan gives to Level 1 policies. Mr. Nicholson concurred with the need for a broadened public input process. He highlighted that the transportation section ranks autos as the least pre- ferred mode of transportation to the University. Noting that this is a compilation of existing City policies, all of which had to go through the CIC review process, Ms. Bascom said that the plan has re- ceived a great deal of public involvement. However, the City's CIC should not be included in a formal way in this plan review process. Mr. Rutan noted that the tenor of Mr. Boles comments reflects the high level of interest that the council has in being an active and constructive partici- pant in University planning efforts. Mr. Boles said that if the council is serious about ensuring an adequate level of citizen involvement, the process should be stated explicitly within e the plan. The council composition is likely to change in the future; this concern may be lost. He also said that the plan provides an important oppor- tunity for the City to be involved in University planning policies. Mr. Boles moved, seconded by Mr. Rutan, that the council rec- ommend a change in Assumption 3 of the plan to reflect the reality of changing relationships between the bodies. Mr. MacDonald offered support for the amendment which would give greater stability to the plan. Mr. Nicholson said that while he agrees with the substance of the amendment, he questioned the appropriateness of changing an assumption, noting that the plan document was written based on the assumptions. Roll call vote; the amendment failed 4:5, with councilors Boles, Ehrman, MacDonald, and Robinette voting in favor, and councilors Bascom, Green, Rutan, Nicholson, and Mayor Miller (to break the tie) voting opposed. Mr. Rutan moved, seconded by Mr. Boles, to amend the motion to communicate to the University of Oregon via a letter from Mayor and Council the content and spirit of Councilor Boles comments: expressing the council's interest in a higher level of involvement in University planning activities in the fu- e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 24, 1991 Page 7 e ture; the considerable impact of the University on the commu- nity and its issues; the need for a periodic plan review, recognizing that the revision process take into consideration the effect on Assumption 3; and the need for enhanced public involvement within the plan, excluding the use of the City's eIe. Roll call vote; the amendment carried unanimously, 8:0. Mr. Boles moved, seconded by Mr. Nicholson, that the eIe be involved in reviewing and commenting on the plan. Ms. Bascom said she is not comfortable with the amount of review eIe is hav- ing in City activities and flagged this issue for the council's next process session. Mr. Rutan also disagreed with eIC invoTvement. He said that this plan out- lines a relationship between the City and the University and felt that such interference would not be received positively by the University. Mr. Robinette agreed and said that if the eIe is to be involved, it is the City's responsibility to send it to the CIC. It would be inappropriate to make the University go through the City's CIC. Mr. Nicholson acknowledged the changing nature of the relationship which exists between the University and the City and said that a change in the citizen involvement process may be the first step. Without CIC involvement on the front end, the City has no assurance that the input process would be satisfactory to warrant council approval of the plan. e Mr. Boles clarified that he is suggesting that the CIC be asked to review and comment on the plan. The motion would not require the University to comply with the recommendations. Roll call vote; the amendment failed 4:5, with councilors Boles, Ehrman, MacDonald, and Nicholson voting in favor; and councilors Green, Bascom, Rutan, Robinette, and Mayor Miller (to break the tie) voting against. The main motion carried unanimously, 8:0. V. METROPOLITAN POLICY COMMITTEE ACTION: AMENDMENTS TO THE METROPOLITAN AREA GENERAL PLAN FOR GOOD NEIGHBOR CARE CENTERS, INC. City Manager Mike Gleason introduced the topic and said that Jan Childs, Planning and Development Department, was available to answer questions. Res. No. 4264--A resolution accepting the recommendation of the Metropolitan Policy Committee to conduct a public hearing on an ordinance adopting the Good Neighbor Care Center, lnc.'s proposed plan diagram amendment as modified by MPC. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 24, 1991 Page 8 e Mr. Rutan moved, seconded by Mr. Boles, to adopt the resolu- tion. Roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously, 8:0. The meeting adjourned at 1:40 p.m. ~~ Micheal Gleason City Manager (Recorded by lraci Northman) mncc 072491-1130 e e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 24, 1991 Page 9