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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/25/1978 Meeting - M I NUT E S EUGENE ClTY COUNCIL January 25, 1978 Adjourned meeting from January 23, 1978 of the City Council of the City of Eugene, Oregon, was called to order by His Honor Mayor Gus Keller at 11:30 a.m. on January 25, 1978, King's Table, Oakway Mall, with the following Councilors present: D. W. Hamel, Eric Haws, Tom Williams, Jack Delay, Scott Lieuallen, and Betty Smith. Councilors Brian Obie and Ray Bradley were absent. i ( i I t , i ~ I e I. Items from Mayor and Council A. Bond Lane Park--Mr. Hamel had attended the Willakenzie Neighborhood Association meeting Tuesday, January 24. The neighborhood associa- tion was pleased with the parks presentation and voted unanimously to request that work start promptly, as $21,000 funding was available. Mr. Hamel expressed hope that the Parks Department would be able to comp ly. B. Commissioner Rust's Proposal Regarding Annexation by Cities--Ms. Smith requested this issue be placed on the February 7 agenda for the joint meeting with the County Commissioner and Springfield, and asked staff to prepare a position paper for Council. C. Minor Partition and Panhandle Lot Review--Manager said an initial procedural discussion for Council would be held February 15. He noted there were many issues to be considered in this discussion. Ms. Smith hoped Council could discuss this item before any other requests were brought before Council, noting the Planning Commission seemed additionally concerned with the problem. Mr. Delay felt Council would have to discuss the issue in context of the whole set of policies it has, and determine how it is going to develop the City and accommodate growth. He was comfortable in dealing with the issue through the update of plans rather than isolat- ing individual issues. Mayor Keller responded that the request was a result of controversy under each minor partition that had appeared before Council. , I : . Mr. lieuallen questioned the purpose of the review, whether it was just to educate the public of City policies. Mr. Hamel felt public education was very important, noting most of the problems had occurred in the Willakenzie area. Mr. Lieuallen agreed public education was important to inform citizens that Council was not automatically going to change policies because citizens did not like them. - 1/25/78--1 52. Mr. Haws wanted to see in the review some basic discussion or whether or not the panhandle policy is good land use planning and if it is a tool Council wishes to use. Manager said the discussion February 15 would be an initial one with a review of the procedures to be followed and an attempt to define the issues. He noted there were other growth management concerns which were very much related to this issue. D. Budget Committee Meeting--Meeting scheduled January 26, Thursday, has been cancelled. A tentative meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, February 2, 7:30 p.m., McNutt Room. Ms. Smith noted the Lane County Boundary Commission meeting that evening in which both she and Mayor Keller would be involved. It was suggested staff check Tuesdays as possible meeting date. E. Room Tax Committee Meeting--Scheduled for Wednesday, February 1, 4 p.m., Mayor's Office. . II. Housing Demand Report by Economic Consultants Oregon Housing Demand Report dated October 1977, and Housing Supply Report dated December 1977, and supplementary memo from Betty Niven distributed. Ed Whitelaw, ECO, reviewed for Council the Housing Demand Report. He noted for Council the report used already existing population forecast from Lane County and moved those down to a city level. He directed Council's attention to Table 2, page 4, with the population forecast of 126,744 by 1985. He felt this was still a low estimate, noting the November-to-November employment statistics for Lane County suggested the high forecasts were even lower than thought last summer. He said during the 12-month period, Lane County had captured 30 percent of the total increase of employment in the entire state. although the population increase was between 10 and 12 percent. Therefore, the originally high population forecast is thought more to be in the middle. Table 13t page 20, indicated the high and low forecasts of housing demand for Eugene in 1985 based on the population estimate of 126,744. A high forecast assumed the bulk of increase in housing demand will be in the multiple-family housing; a low population forecast assumes the demand will be in single-family dwelling units. Given the assumptions on vacancy rates, household sizes in single-family and multiple-family housing, and other variables in Table 13, if housing costs continue to increase rela- tive to household income, then households will choose more multiple-family housing. Thus the actual demand for housing will converge to the high estimates in Table 13. In contrast, if household income increases rela- tive to housing cost, then households will choose more single-family housing and the actual demand for housing will converge to the low esti- mates in Table 13. 1/25/78--2 53 I 11 1, I' I , .1 r -' - e Mr. Whitelaw said, however, these implications were incomplete until Council looked at the housing supply. He directed Council to page 12, Table 5, high and low forecasts of housing demand for Eugene in 1985, in which the demand was contrasted to projected capacity. He said the . capacity was different from the actual amount of housing the market would supply. He noted if Eugene's stock of used housing and construction of new housing are to satisfy Eugene's demand for housing in 1985 and beyond, and if Eugene's boundaries remain unchanged, then either the residential mix or density or both will have to change from their 1976 levels. He said there would have to be a higher density or, in economic terms, inefficiency would result. He said this is demonstrated by higher prices and/or a greater demand to convert agriculture land to urban land. To put it in further context, he continued, the most accurate description of the housing stock was for January 1976. However, there were changes taking place in the community in the past two years to support the need for better update, and the first quarterly report for 1978 will be on housing based on January 1977, statistics. He said the policy implications included that annexation alone will not eliminate the inefficiencies, as there will continue to be an increased demand for multiple-family housing disproportionately concentrated in central locations. e Mr. Lieuallen questioned Mr. Whitelaw as to how he could pinpoint where people would want to live, noting the suggestion of the demand for housing around the core of the City. Mr. Whitelaw replied the trends come from patterns established elsewhere wherein usually the outcome for households looking for housing is the tradeoff of accessibility to jobs and residen- tial space. He said typically multiple-family housing and high density occurs the closer the location is to concentration of jObs. He said that would be compounded if there is not an increase in large investments in highways around large metropolitan areas. He said also if the cost of fuel and energy increases relative to incomes and price levels, any given city will be more compacted. This was also one reason he had argued that annexation alone would not solve the problem. Mr. Hamel wondered if the high density comparisons had been made also to Valley River Center and the University of Oregon. Mr. Whitelaw said any concentration of employment would generate the same kind of demand, including Valley River Center. Mr. Lieuallen said the report suggested if the trends continue through 1985, the suggestion is made there would be an excess of single-family I units and an undersupply of multiple-family units. Mr. Whitelaw said those figures illustrated the kind of imbalance that might exist, but that would not happen as the units would be occupied. He said the report suggests those are the kinds of possibilities if there is not a shift in the mix and density in the meantime. - 1/25/78--3 5~ Betty Niven reviewed her memo for Council. She felt it important that Council go back more than two years, and she had supplied information back to 1959. She noted since that time there had been a rather wide swing in the amount of construction. She said by looking at the percentage of permits for one and two or more dwelling units, Council could see that the last three years were a part of a cycle that has changed since 1959. She said during that period 'of time, almost as many multiple-family units were built as single-family units. In spite of that, the present report indicates that unless the City takes some action it will arrive in 1985 without enough multiple housing. She pointed out for Council the magni- tude of policy decisions that it faces. She also reviewed for Council the availability of vacant residential and agricultural land, noting none of the parcel of 10 acres or more are zoned R-2, R-3, R-4, RG or RP. When considering the figures and how many fewer multiple-family units are being built, she wondered if it was because there was not suitable land on which to place them., She noted in the report by Mr. Wh i te 1 aw, the asumpti on is made that the present mix of 64 percent single-family units and 36 percent multiple-family units raises the question of whether the 1976-77 figures will come out to the same percentage figures. Taking the 64-36 percent mix, she suggested if past development practices were applied to available vacant land, one might think the percentage would come out with the same. But, by looking at Table 3 on page 7, she said it points out there will be only 23 percent of additional multiple-family units of the total of new family units to be built. This occurred because the figures were used from a census district where distribution is almost all single-family zoning. She said if that were to occur, the City would be worse off than it is now. There simply are not available sufficient lots of adequate size zoned multiple-family. Mr. Haws wondered how many of the ten acres or more in the Goodpasture Island area were zoned R-2. Jim Saul replied approximately 260 acres, noting this was the only area where ten acres or more were zoned R-2. Mr. Saul continued that the Goodpasture lsland area was an example of what was occurring in the City. He said there had been a PUD request for 50 acres last year but the proposal was now defunct. Because of financing available now, more single-family dwellings are being built even though it is zoned R-2. He said this trend would continue unless the City wished to discourage such a trend by insisting on a mix. Betty Niven interjected perhaps the City should initiate development of a policy where basically single-family projects should contain a mix. John Porter told Council the same data base would be used for update reports that would be coming to Council. Mr. Williams wondered whether very much had really changed regarding housing demands and supply. He asked whether the pressures are not converting single-family units to anything more dense and whether single- family zoning could be altered. He said it might be a necessary conclu- sion to say that Eugene's employee housing will be in Junction City, Goshen, or Springfield. Ms. Niven said that was not necessarily so. She noted the advent of the environmentalists and their pressures for open space. Until that time, all forces of public opinion were operating against what would make economic sense. She said unless people can be 1/25/78--4 55 e e - e converted from a notion that the status quo cannot be sustained, then she felt Mr. Williams statement might be right in that the City has not progressed very far. She reiterated annexation and expansion would not resolve the situation. She said it was an extremely difficult problem, but noted the City of Eugene had done a great deal more than has been done in many cities of this size. She felt both the City Council and the Planning Commission had accomplished steps necessary for supporting a large population on less land per person. However, she continued that what has been going on will not solve the future problem. The solution will take a great deal of understanding on the part of all the people in the community. Mr. Lieuallen was concerned with the figure given of 82 percent of the land that could be used being in parcels of less than 1/2 acre. He questioned whether that land was in the core area of the City. Ms. Niven and Mr. Whitelaw referred Mr. Lieuallen to housing supply report page 21; Mr. Whitelaw said he did have that data. Mr. Lieuallen then wondered if that land could be assembled. Ms. Niven replied it was not readily assemblable, and said there is not very much of this land that is not in the central area or near the University of Oregon. She said that if it were less than 1/2 acre in size, perhaps a fourplex could be built on the property. e Mr. Lieuallen said it seemed rezoning was an obvious implication of the report. He wondered if there were a lower limitation of what should be built. Ms. Niven replied she felt that there was a need for both a maximum and minimum density level. Mr. Lieuallen said the the 1990 Plan suggests high-density development near the downtown area; yet the report suggests this is an area that cannot be so developed. He wondered what was the answer. Ms. Niven believed all the development did not have to occur in the central area if transportation could be worked out. She said there is hardly anything in Eugene that is not central if one looks at it compared to a large city. Ms. Smith questioned the process in terms of further reports. Mr. Porter replied the reports were information reports to Council and not action reports. The information supplied would be a base for future decisions. He noted some items that would be coming before Council early in the spring would incude a suggestion to convert industrial land to housing in the west area; a second phase of the growth study which would include transportation, schools, sewers, and streets, with recommendations to encourage growth in certain parts of the community. Also, the final update of the 1990 Plan will be included in the future. The same data base will be used in all these reports, and Council will be receiving status reports throughout the year. Ms. Niven noted the Joint Housing Committee will be giving consideration of steps that could be taken to change the zoning ordinance process. e 1/25/78--5 5~ Mr. Hamel left the meeting. III. Discussion with Bill Morrisette Regarding His Proposal Resolution distributed to Council. . Manager said the request from Mr. Morrisette regarded a resolution to have Eugene, Springfield, and Lane County cooperate in an effort to reduce traffic congestion during the peak a.m. and p.m. rush hours by staggering work schedules for public and private employees. He continued the City does have a work-hour-staggering process for employees, and also the staff had preliminarily discussed implementation of a para-transit proposal for the entire community. This project would include such things as van use. He said staff hoped this implem~Qtation would occur within a few months, depending on funding. He felt these matters were of great concern to the City, and hoped more interest could be obtained on the part of Lane County and Springfield. However, it was also felt that the existing committees and T-2000 review process were already to some degree involved in this issue, and it was hoped that discussions would continue on a metro-wide basis, as this was a metropolitan problem. He said staff was reluctant to suggest promoting the formation of a separate committee to study this one aspect which was included in the T-2000 plan, as perhaps it would set a precedent of developing individual study groups on other details of the plan. Gary Long, Personnel Director, said the City had adopted a policy in 1975 of flexible working hours, a four-ten work schedule, and job sharing. He had taken a telephone survey of department heads, and said staff in ~ many of the larger departments come to work earlier than 8 a.m. However, .., administrative offices were pretty much held to the 8-to-5 schedule, but where feasible the work hours were staggered. He said in looking at the proposed resolution, he agreed with the purpose but felt the City already had two-to-three years' experience in the things that were being proposed. He felt it was not appropriate to initiate an individual study committee but perhaps more appropriate to endorse the concept. Mr. Lieuallen questioned to what extent the employees take advantage of the policies. Mr. Long replied that job sharing possibly included up to 20 persons; the flexible time option was much more widely used in Personnel, Finance, Court, and Planning. The four-ten work schedule is the least used option as City employees have to be available to the public at the expected 8-to-5 work hours. With small exceptions the entire Police and Fire Departments and the outside work forces of Public Works and Parks were not on 8-to-5 schedules. Mr. Lieuallen wondered what impact these policies might have and what impact they were having now. Mr. Long said he would prefer to answer that question after a more in-depth study rather than just a telephone study. Assistant Manager noted the Municipal Court is currently opening at 7:30 and closing at 5 to allow persons to conduct business there before going to their own jobs. He noted some departments were open 24 hours, such as the Police. - 1/25/78--6 51 e Mr. Delay understood staff was saying City has these policies but they (staff) do not know what the impact of the policies were. Mr. Long said he felt that was not quite accurate. He did not have completely up-to-date information, but he did know the policies were being used. He said of the 1000 City employees, excluding the Fire and Police Depart- ments, there were probably 200 administrative employees in City Hall who were on flexible time. ln City Hall II administrative staff have flexible time; the maintenance crews come at hours other than 8 o.clock. He said if you look at the total picture, more employees are coming to work at other hours than 8 a.m. lt was consensus of Council to have a staff report regarding the impact of these current policies. e Bill Morrisette said he was proposing the resolution in order to have some specific goals to be approved by the three jurisdictions along with the T-2000 plan. He said Springfield City Council accepted it and referred it to a committee for further study; the Lane County Commis- sioners had unanimously accepted it and turned it over to a study commit- tee also. He said his resolution was directed at not only the City of Eugene, but all public employees including state, federal, and school district. He hoped there would be some coordination of schedules between the pUblic sector, and the private sector might follow the example. The main point of his resolution was to have some specific goals to be incorporated in the T-2000 plan. Mr. Lieuallen felt it was important to have a staff report on the impact the current City policies) and the kind of impact conceivable under the best of conditions. e Mr. Williams felt the concept was appropriate for the T-2000 plan. He questioned the need at this point to create a separate committee to deal with this question, opening up the possibility of other committees wishing to deal with every aspect of the T-2000 plan. He wondered if that was the correct process. Mr. Delay saw this as a question of implementation and was not sure it was necessary to wait until the T-2000 plan was adopted to look at this question. He felt it was proper for Council to look at the issue from the standpoint of coordination and implementation and saw no reason to wait. He was not sure this was the best vehicle but he felt the Council should do something toward coordination and implementation. Mayor Keller said it is a fact that the City has had a policy and three years' experience on this issue. He felt it was necessary for Council to receive the staff report. The fact the City had been on record since 1975 of implementing such a poli~y indicated the Council was supportive of the issue. . Mr. Lieuallen said his understanding of staff report would include the current City policies and their impact on employee morale, on the trans- portation system, and in terms 'of citizens USing City Hall services; with the report to be passed on to the other jurisdictions in the area. 1/25/78--7 58 Mr. Porter said there was some urgency in moving ahead on the T-2000 plan to be adopted by July. He noted Mr. Morrisette had made a presen- ~ tation to the Planning Commission last week; he pointed out to Council on .., page 24 of the T-2000 plan under the third policy, the issue was included as an important element in the transportation area. He said there are other things the City is doing in order to deal with the issue, such as encouraging use of.mass transit and bicycles. He f~lt the T-2000 process should be moving ahead and should not be shuttled into individual study groups. He expressed gratitude for Mr. Morrisette's testimony, but hoped Council would not bypass the T-2000 process as it was very impor- tant. Mayor Keller saiq he did not think Council intended to bypass that process. IV. Improvement Petitions Resolution 2822 -- Initiating process for street paving, sanitary sewer and storm sewer construction in Lingle Park Subdivision; street paving on Shiloh Street from 500 feet north of Lemming Street to 270 feet north of Lemming Street; sanitary sewer construction on Shiloh Street from 350 feet north of Lemming Street to Lemming Street (1496) was read by number and title. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Williams, to adopt the resolution. Motion carried unanimously. Resolution 2823 -- Initiating process for street paving on Corydon lane from between Forrester Way and Tandy Turn to Tandy ~ Turn (1040) was read by number and title. .., Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Williams, to adopted the resolution. Motion carried unanimously. Resolution 2824 -- Initiating process for storm sewer construction to serve Delta Highway (west side) from Valley River Way to Willamette River (1465) was read by number and title. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Williams, to adopt the resolution. Motion carried unanimously. A short recess was taken. Mr. Haws left the meeting. V. Mid-Fiscal Year Status Report on Goals, Priority Projects, and Work Plans Report from City Manager dated January 18, 1978, distributed. Manager said this document has been described as a "report cardll by staff. It includes guidelines and checks on the status of various special activi- ties for all departments. He noted in the coding section, the "Hc" indicated Council high priority set at its June work session. The COding - 1/25/78--8 51J e IIW was used as a designation by Manager's office in agreement with staff and department heads for items of high priority. The action status coding was self-explanatory, with IIPUII (progress unsatisfactory) not reflecting on anyone in particular but indicating maybe a lack of resources or other jurisdictions involved. He said items I. through lV. were matters that would require considerable Council involvement. Under item I., Manager said these items were undertaken to try to improve the capacity of the City Council in terms of facilitating decision-making processes. He said some items may be out of date, but he hoped to have quarterly or perhaps more frequent updates. Under item l-B, new budgetary format, Manager said Council had received a questionnaire and staff was continuing to work on developing a new format for 1979-80. Item 1-0, Manager said staff was trying to revisethe licensing code for such things as taxi license appeals. Under l-H, Mr. Delay requested clarification on the Council's election procedures. Joyce Benjamin, City Attorney's Office, said Councilors were not elected, but nominated, in the primary election in May. lf a person received an absolute majority, his or her name would be the only name on the November ballot. There would also be a blank space for write-in. Mr. Delay then questioned if two persons' names appeared on the November ballot and a third had a write-in campaign, what would happen if no one received a majority. Ms. Benjamin replied that was a problem and at that point City Council would probably have to call a special election. Assistant Manager said there were several issues r~ised in the new elec- tion ordinance and staff had tried to assess them as realistically as possible. There were constraints under state law and state constitution as to what could be included in the charter. He said if Council wanted to strike out on a new venture, after the May primary election, it could seek to declare a Councilor elected and go to court to settle the issue. Ms. Benjamin said it might be possible to submit a controversy without suitor action and would take months. She said one problem existed in that the City did not want to be in a position where it adopted an ordinance satisfactory to the City Council and Attorney's office that would put new Councilors in jeopardy. Therefore, she cautioned Council might want to proceed carefully. -- Mr. Lieuallen raised a question regarding item l-E, saying he understood the Planning Commission needed to be more careful about its public hearing procedures and wanted it included in that section. Manager said it possibly could fit in that category or be included under the Planning Department activities. Continuing with lI, Manager said these were basically intergovernmental priority activities and were much more difficult to arrive at satisfactory conclusions. - 1/25/78--9 '0 Ms. Smith said under II-A-2, economic development policy, she did not feel action status should be lipS", as there had not been satisfactory progress. .Ail Manager replied the staff had been trying to develop all data which would .., affect policy decisions. However, apparently the proposed vehicle for economic development may not develop, as Springfield is not cooperating in the formation of the Economic Development Commission. He wondered if the Council had any direction for additional staff effort, noting there would be continuing update reports from Mr. Whitelaw. Mr. Porter said staff will be presenting to Council a recommendation for use of vacant industrial land in West Eugene, which will have some effect on economic health of that area. He felt the City was making satisfactory progress and Mr. Whitelaw had indicated the economy of Eugene was healthier than ever. Manager noted the employment studies were continuing with L-COG' and the City. Mr. Delay noted if "PS" action status meant economic development was under control, that would never be achieved. II-C, Manager noted the date of April 4 for a possible wastewater facility bond issue election. If that occurred, then another date would have to be chosen for the bond issue election for the Civic Center auditorium. It was more desirable for the bond issue for the wastewater management treatment plant to occur' first, as it was a larger project and it would not have an effect on the bond rating of the City. 11-0, Mayor Keller questioned whether the June 30 date for T-2000 was a serious deadline date. He wondered if the City was making that kind of ... progress. Manager said it was necessary to do so to get funding. John .., Porter said a tentative date of March 16, 7:30 p.m., had been set for a joint session between City Council and Lane County; it was hoped the Council could adopt the T-2000 plan in some form by June 30 in order to maintain federal funding for mass transit. II-G, Manager noted a possible election date for the Civic Center Auditorium in June. II-H, suggests working with Department of Transportation towards securing more highway financial aid~ Manager said this was a continuing process and funding was being sought particularly for Highway 99 and Sixth and Seventh avenues. Staff had been in contact with State staff involved in the six-year plan and had worked with various committees hearing these issues in an attempt to get more funding for Eugene. Mayor Keller noted the importance of working through the legislative process to obtain funding. Ms. Smith mentioned the state transportation meetings in Eugene Thursday and Friday, and Manager said he would be attending Friday afternoon. Mr. Lieuallen wondered under the T-2000 plan if the money was being sought to rehabilitate streets, and if that were a high priority. Assistant Manager said it was the broader issue of street maintenance in neighbor- hoods that is very important. Don Allen noted the support of the City for the two cents gas tax increase for these purposes, as the City is des- perate for money for street maintenance. Specifically, the T-2000 plan is di,rected at Highway 99 and 6th and 7th avenues. _ 1/25/78--10 4' . . .. III--Manager reviewed the projects of Council involving primarily single department with the two noted for Parks and Police. Mr. Lieuallen won- dered if there was a preliminary parks report available. Assistant Manager said there were some preliminary data but the Joint Parks Committee wanted toperusc that, and there may be substantial changes made. ..J Mayor Keller noted City Council had strongly felt a need for police staffing and facilities, and wondered if that would be brought into the budget process. Assistant Manager said some five-year projections had been made, and Chief Brooks had identified some problem areas when he presented his initial discussion of the Police Department to Council. lt had been recommended that staff look at an intermediate criteria of 1.75 police officers per 1000 population which is significantly more than what is currently existing. This will be requested in budget projections over the next five years and ways sought to accomplish it. Due to the time constraint, it was decided this item would be continued as a first item of discussion for Council on February 1, 1978. Upon motion duly made, seconded, and passed, the meeting was adjourned to February 1, 1978. Ch~~ Ci ty Manager CTH:DT:jfp/CM7a3 "-,,,' --. 1/25178--11 {,2..