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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/06/1977 Meeting " . . M I NUT E S EUGENE CITY COUNCIL September 6, 1977 Special meeting of the City Council of the City of Eugene, Oregon, was called to order by His Honor Mayor Gus Keller at 7:30 p.m., on September 6, 1977, in the McNutt Room, City Hall. Council members present: Eric Haws, D. W. Hamel, Tom Williams, Ray Bradley, Jack Delay, Scott Lieuallen, Brian Obie, and Betty Smith. I. Acceptance of Project No. 07-51-23280 for Coburg Road Storm Sewer in in the amount of $771,100 Economic Assistance Grant. Manager said this was part of the Public Works Emergency Employment Act and the deadline for accepting would be September 7. He said inquiries had been made about extension of the grant deadline and various alter- natives)with very vague responses indicating it was highly unlikely. In background information, he said the government required the city and school districts to have a project which had planned specifications ready, that the jurisdictions have control of land, and none of the grant money was available for land acquisition. An agreement was obtained with School District 4-J and Lane Community College, with a joint letter from all three jurisdictions sent three weeks ago. e He continued that this was part of a plan developed in 1967 and follows the policy of the City in the method of financing in that storm sewers larger than 24 inches be funded either by general obligation bond issues, federal grant money, or state money. He said the plan in part has been implemented and if the project were not built now, it woul d mean a reversal of the present system. He said the storm sewer would have to be built sooner or later, and if federal monies were not used at this time, it would have to be financed from bond issues or other general funds, which was not City policy. He noted the City had recently received notification that two of its three projects had been approved: $100,000 for Spencer's Butte, and $100,000 for airport development. Originally, six projects had been submitted for federal funding, but the City received none, with School District 4-J receiving $2,000,000. He said this present request for a storm sewer was in- cluded in the first request. As a result of the first review of the six projects, the federal government advised the City the storm sewer was the best, so that project was resubmitted. Don Allen, Public Works Director, distributed maps to Council and described the existing city limits, the projected urban service . 9/6/77--1 ~~b > boundary, and the proposed construction route of the storm sewer. He . said the purpose of the storm sewer would be to drain the east side of Coburg Road, between 1-5 and from Beltline north to the river, to relieve the drainage flow to the property on the west of Coburg Road and f~ow to the north and dump into the McKenzie River. He said these projects necessitate long-range planning and a prior City Council had made the commitment, as had the present Council. He said the sewer system under the present City policy would not be assessed to any adjacent property owners. Mr. Allen continued that when the area was annexed in 1960, the City took over the system from the County. In 1966, the City was unable to acquire the necessary easements for construction of the storm sewer. The federal government was willing to submit funds, but the City could never get the property owners to grant easements. In 1968, the City Council approved a design whereby a construction firm would do the master plan south of the floodway and the Public Works Department would do the plan north of the floodway. Mr. Allen said there was no question the City was in dire need of this type of fundi ng. He said the City had never before used bond issues to build storm sewers. Public Works was prepared to go ahead with the plan, there were no easements required, and they could comply with federal requirements. Ms. Smith noted the Cone/Breeden area included in this project system, and the fact her husband had been an architect dealing with the Cone/ -- Breeden people. However, she felt she had no conflict of interest and planned to discuss and vote on the issue. Mr. Delay questioned Mr. Allen that if the projected urban service boundary were redefined to a lesser degree in the future, if it would not be a waste of money to build a storm sewer to service just those property owners inside the city limits. Mr. Allen replied the City would be in trouble if the Cone/Breeden property were developed to even 60 percent of its maximum density. In answer to a question by Mr. Haws, Mr. Allen replied if the sewer system were not built now, it would have to be done later and the City would have to fund it. Mr. Allen also told Mr. Haws that, from an emergency standpoint, the present system would not be adequate for development and therefore the system was needed to serve that property within the city limits and within the projected urban service boundary. Mr. Haws said he was concerned that the storm sewer extended beyond the projected urban service boundary. Mr. Allen noted that was because the storm sewer had to have a discharge point, that being the McKenzie River. He also noted for Council the City had adopted several years ago a policy whereby as a first priorit~ funds would be diverted for building a drainage system south of Beltline. .; 9/6/77--2 ltkl e In reply to a question by Mr. Haws, Mr. Allen estimated the sewer would extend 2,000-3,000 feet past the urban service boundary area to the river. Mr. Bradley wondered how much of the area outside the urban service boundary would be served by the storm sewer, to which Mr. Allen replied, very little. Public hearing was opened. Bruce Anderson, 101 East Broadway, represented a group of citizens who were petitioning LCDC regarding the recent Cone/Breeded annexation. He expressed appreciation to staff for their help in the past week in providing information regarding this grant. He made some specific points as to why he felt the City had not acted appropriately in this grant application at this time. He noted the City changes its policies from time to time as the goals change, citing the recent adoption by LCDC of state goals and guidelines, which will require cities to take a more specific look at the use of agriculture land. A legal point he raised was whether the grant had been properly made under the EDA guidelines. He said the grant application agreement asked the three jurisdictions that the three agencies reconsider and resubmit the application if a planning target was reduced. He did not feel this had been done. He requested that Council compare the land-use planning carried out in the 1960's to the present land-use planning under state Goals and e Guidelines, and further, that Council not accept the grant, but that it attempt to find alternative uses for the money. A second choice he suggested to Council was that the money be accepted with the stipu- lation that the City staff be directed to work with representatives of the petitioners to LCDC to secure a substitute project, and not to irrevocably commit the money to storm sewer project. A third recommendation was that if the City decided to use the funds for the Coburg Road storm sewer, it would not commit those funds for spending without ten days advance notice, and not before other alternatives have been looked at. He continued that the 1990 Plan Update is going to have to be more specifically identified in the future, and felt there would be more stress on agricultural land for agricultural production. He said if that happens, the City should not have committed these lands to any other use in the interim. Jerry Rust, 260 East 21st, spoke as a private citizen against accep- tance of this money. He noted the urban service boundary should be site-specific. He felt the classes of soil in the surrounding area should be looked at, saying there was very little of class 1 and 2 soils, and with the City encroaching on more class 2 soil as it pro- gresses north toward the McKenzie River. He felt the community's ideas were changing about land use and felt that agricultural land needed to be protected. He suggested an alternative might to be to accept the grant and commit money for a storm sewer only to the area within - the city limits. 9/6/77--3 ~~g I . w S dney Herbert, 2750 Onyx, protested Ms. Smith's statement of having . no conflict of interest. Mr. Anderson said he also questioned the legality of the conflict of interest of Ms. Smith. Mr. Williams asked legal counsel if a challenge to a City Council member voting did not have to be made in writing 24 hours prior to action being taken. Stan Long, City Attorney's office, said the Code provides that in quasi-judicial hearings, a challenge for dis- qualification of a City Council member's vote required a 48-hour notice. He said consideration of the grant acceptance is legislative, with two provisions covering a possible disqualification: 1) State statutes clearly require a City Councilor to disclose any potential conflict, but that does not require abstention; 2) the City Charter refers to any direct personal pecuniary interest. Mr. Bradley felt Ms. Smith did have a conflict of interest, and should abstain, citing an image of fairness would be enhanced. Mr. Obie was disturbed to hear the sincerity of a Council member questioned. He said the issue concerned a drainage system for an entire area, not just the Cone/Breeden property. Mr. Allen said he had detected a concern on the part of some Councilors regarding the large area included outside the city limits. He cited other similar situations by which the City had engaged in drainage systems outside the city limits, noting the Amazon diversion channel. - He said major drainage facilities have no political boundaries, and this was not precedent setting. Public hearing was closed, there being no further testimony presented. Mr. Bradley requested City Manager and City Attorney to respond to the alternatives presented to Mr. Anderson. Manager reiterated his earlier comments of seeking information from EDA regarding other alter- natives or extension of deadlines, and noted again the vagueness and uncertainty of response from EDA. He noted the time constraints and said the whole thrust of the project was to get it going as quickly as possible. He said there was much competition for federal monies, and considered it risky to not accept the grant monies at this time. Mr. Long said after consideration of vague replies from EDA, the City staff would not recommend Council select any alternative. He said there was information as to the consequences of such action. Mr. Bradley wondered if it would be legitimate to tie up the funds for 90 days before commiting to a project, as had been suggested by Mr. Anderson.Mr. Long said his understanding from the Department of Commerce was that on-site labor must be commenced 90 days from the offer of the grant, which was August 24. He said a number of questions - 9/6/77--4 ~~9 . , e had been asked of EDA regarding consequences of other actions taken by Ci ty Counci 1 . If the City does not accept the grant offer at this time, the Assistant Secretary has the right to reclaim the funds. He said if that were done, there is no guarantee the funds would be re- turned to Eugene, but a better chance that they would go to some other location. Mr. Williams said City Council had submitted the project and if it had not liked the project, it should have said so at the time of sub- mission. He felt it was far to late in the discussion to consider throwing away the federal grant money. Mr. Obie said it seemed as individuals the City Council has to make the best decision, based on the advice on plans before it. He spoke in favor of adopting the plan as presented, saying it is this Council.s decision, and the citizens in the. community who would be served by this grant money. Mr. Bradley was bothered by the legality of putting a storm sewer on County property, wondering if the County could revoke the permit it has already issued to the City. Mr. Allen said he assumed the County would have that right, but it would have to show a justifiable cause. Mr. Delay questioned whether there were other similar long-term pro- jects, such as this one. Mr. Allen said there were other storm sewer projects which were in a similar category. However, he said the dif- e ference between this project and others were that other projects had major problems with rights-of-way, and there were no such problems with thi 5 one. He said he did not feel the City could come up with any project that would be any less antagonistic than this one. Mr. Haws said from what he had heard from staff, from a practical point of view, this was the best way to go. He understood the con- cern regarding agricultural land, but had not heard anything that would lead him to believe the project should not be accepted. He re- quested Council to express any reasons, if there were some. Mr. lieuallen said he was having real difficulty in making a decision. On one hand, he saw the existence of a fairly large storm sewer which might put pressure to develop that portion of the city and use up land which should be left for agricultural use. On the other hand, he understood the drainage problem in the area and the necessity for extending the sewer to the river. He said the real question in his mind was political, the future pressure for development in that area if the storm sewer were provided. He asked at what point the Council was going to strengthen its policy regarding infilling the core area of the city. Mr. Bradley questioned if there were no more housing started in that area, would the storm sewer still need to be constructed. Mr. Allen replied that if the present Cone/Breeden property were developed to 60 percent of its potential, then the facility would be needed at this . 9/6/77--5 b70 t ~ time. He said the City could go back to its process of improving open e / ditches to the west of Coburg Road, but noted his staff was continually harrassed about open ditches now. He said the liability becomes greater to the City regarding the western side drainage as more development is done on the east. Mr. Delay asked Mr. Allen if his proposal for this particular storm sewer would be the same if the new existing city limits were the ex- tent to which it would encroach on farm land. Mr. Allen replied if the City could be assured the land would remain in a rural atmosphere, it would not build that large a system. He noted that the Cone/Breeden area is only 285 out of 650 acres to be served by the proposed storm sewer. He said the open ditches to the west of Coburg Road could be used, but the City still would be facing problems with that. Mr. Delay then wondered if Mr. Allen perceived the excess capacity as being a significant enough point to argue taking advantage of this capital development. Mr. Allen replied the cheapest way to construct a storm sewer is to do it right in the first place. He said there would eventu- ally be some kind of development on that land. If open ditches were used, he said the City would have to acquire the land from property owners by exercising power of eminent domain. He noted there was a significant savings between the open ditch drainage system and the proposed storm sewer. In response to a question from Mr. Lieuallen, Mr. Allen said he felt there was no other alternative because of the cost factor. Mr. Haws wondered if it were possible to require the people who have e not yet developed in the area to pay for the cost of putting in their own system. Mr. Allen replied the present policy is one where the City participates with the developer only on 24-inch storm sewers. In any area not already subdivided, the City pays for all of it. He said the City has never assessed stann sewers to property owners. Mr. Haws wondered if there were any way to accept the grant offer with the stipulation to preserve 500 acres agricultural land in the area. Mr. Long said that might occur whether or not Council so stipulated. He reviewed for Council the recent Cone/Breeden annexation and an uncertainty whether the City had complied with the State Goals and Guidelines adopted by LCDC. He said subsequent to that time, there is no question that future annexations will have to be more compatible with state land-use goals and guidelines, or state-approved compre- hensive plans. He noted it was a quasi-judicial matter. However, he noted that what happens to the future city limits is unknown, but this element would be present. Mr. Bradley said taking that legal fact into consideration, and assuming the area outside the city limits remained in agricultural use, he wondered if it made sense to put in 84-inch storm sewers at this time. Mr. Obie felt that kind of discussion should go on at the time con- sideration of the update of the 1990 Plan was made by Council, and that Council should act now in accordance with the plan in existence at this time. Mayor Keller said Councilors could make all kinds of assum- ptions, but the issue at hand was to accept or not accept the grant offer. . 9/6/77--6 ~r ---- . .. e Mr. Hamel moved, seconded by Mr. Williams, to adopt the resolution. Mr. Delay said he had felt the the entire Cone/Breeden annexation had been a mistake and the rezoning was a mistake. He felt it was encroach- ing on valuable agricultural land, adding to the urban sprawl, and voiding infilling of the core of the city. He also felt it was a bad way to spend public money, noting there were more important ways to spend the money within the city limits. However, he continued, it was true the area had been annexed and was now part of the city. Therefore, he was going to abstain from voting on the motion because he did not want to keep money from coming into the City. He hoped Council would look hard at drawing in the projected urban service boundary when the time comes to discuss that issue. . Mr. Bradley felt City Council had the right to reserve land as agri- cul tural land. He felt Council should also look at other marginal areas around the city boundaries, ones which do not include land. He said Council should not be acting in haste and expedience to commit itself to urban development just because money is available. Mr. Williams said the issue before the Council was whether or not it wants the money for the storm sewer, noting it would create jObs in the community where the unemployment rate was high. He felt it was not a question of any other alternative. He reiterated that when funds were rejected, they would most likely be allocated to some other location. He noted this project was not developed at the last minute e by persons interested in urban growth, but was put together with many public hearings and approved by Council. He said it seemed to him that when Council had gone through that process, it was way too late at the time of the grant offer to be debating whether or not it wishes to accept the grant offer. He felt to not accept the grant offer would not be in the best interest of the community. He said this discussion should have occurred when the grant was submitted, not this late in the game. Mr. Bradley said, in response to Mr. Williams' comments, that he felt Council should have an adequate way of correcting any errors made along the way, and he wanted to continue the democratic process allowing for last-minute changes, therefore maintaining flexibility. Vote was taken on the motion which carried, with Obie, Williams, Smith, Haws, and Hamel voting aye; Bradley and Lieuallen voting . no; and Delay abstaining. A short recess was taken. II. Parks & Recreation Contract Awards A. Monroe Park--development project for Westside Neighborhood Quality Project, opened August 25, 1977 Manager noted the project included site grading, paving, irrigation, and drainage, lighting, and special features. The source of funding would be the community block grant. Bidders included the following: e 9/6/77--7 ~7l I t .. Merlin R. Starn $104,322.26 e Morris P. Kielty 140,298.00 Wildish Construction Co. 173,940.18 Parks Office Estimate 119 , 007 . 00 B. Skinner's Butte Phase 5--for automatic irrigation and turf, opened August 29, 1977. Source of funding was 50 percent City funds and 50 percent Bureau of Outdoor Recreation. Fairway Irrigation Co., Inc. $ 14,482.00 Ramsey-Waite Co., Inc. 15,891.00 Washburn Landscaping Co. 18,499.00 JDB Irrigation & Lanqscaping 18,829.35 Willamette-Cascade Irrigation Co. 26,496.00 Dells Lane County Nursery 29,448.00 Parks Office Estimate 19,448.00 Mayor Keller questioned the wide spread of bids for the Skinner's Butte Park contract and Mr. Obie questioned the same for the Monroe Park. Ed Smith, Parks and Recreation Director, said the bids had been reviewed thoroughly, the staff had full confidence in awarding to low bidders, and both had bonds; therefore he saw no problems with any default on the projects. Mr. .Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Harne 1, to approve awa rdi n9 to low bidder on each contract. Motion carried unanimously. e III. Improvement Petitions Res. No. 2744--Authorizing initiating process for street paving, sanitary sewer and storm sewer, and sidewalk construction within Mushroom Plat (1447) was read by number and title. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel, to adopt the resolution. Roll call vote. Motion carried unanimously. Res. No. 2745--Authorizing initiating process for sanitary sewer and storm sewer within Coraly Park, First Addition (1434) was read by number and title. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel, to adopt the resolution. Roll call vote. Motion carried unaniously. Upon motion duly made, seconded, and passed, the meeting was adjourned to September 7, 1977 . Ch~ry)~ City Manager CTH:DT:ml/CM4b7 e 9/6/77--8 lo13