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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/09/1981 Meeting e e e M I NUT E S Eugene City Council The Trawler Restaurant February 9, 1981 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Mayor Gus Keller, Betty Smith, Brian Obie, Emily Shue, Gretchen Miller, Bill Hamel, Mark Lindberg, Cynthia Wooten, City Manager Micheal Gleason, Assistant City Manager David Whitlow, HCC Director Charles Kupper, Community Relations Director Carol Baker, and Don Bishoff and Don Nelson, Eugene Register-Guard. Adjourned meeting of the City Council Dinner Meeting of the City of Eugene, Oregon, was called to order by His Honor Mayor Gus Keller. I. ITEMS FROM MAYOR AND COUNCIL A. Evaluation of New Council Process Mayor Keller asked how the new process--having no meetings on the first week of the month--was working out. Council members responded that it had not worked very well because several other committee meetings had been scheduled during the free week. B. Future Agendas Mayor suqgested members submit to the City Manager or to the Mayor topics that they would like discussed at future dinner meetinqs. It was asked whether council members could bring up items that they had not posted previously. Mayor said that they could and that some items might be postponed to the Wednesday council meeting. It was not the intent of the dinner meetings to take action. C. Status of ICAP Grant Ms. Wooten explained in her role working for Congressman Weaver she was investi- gating the status of the ICAP grant. In calling to find out the status she was told that the grant had been lost since October 29. They were starting all over. She had gotten documentation from the Police Department that the Justice Department had received the grant. They will be resubmitting the application to the Justice Department immediately but they have lost four months in the process. D. Status of Urban Development Action Grant Ms. Wooten got a letter from the Washington office from Phyllis Lamphere, Director of this region's Economic Development Administration, saying that there is absolutely no money for the conference center. She did not know of any available recaptured or allocated money. Any money that has gone unspent is MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 9, 1981 Page 1 e e . being impounded by the Office of Management and Budget. The UDAG program is to be the first eliminated by the EDA. It is possible that EDA will be gone by next year as President Reagan has promised. Mr. Keller felt Ms. Lamphere had made a personal commitment to the project when she was in Eugene and reviewed the conference center project. He hoped that Jim Weaver would knock on doors. Mr. Gleason wanted the City to give a good fight for that money. Ms. Wooten agreed and suggested representatives from the Governor1s office and the National League of Cities be called upon to help. The Mayor agreed and suggested that they work on it while in Washington. E. EIC Committee Mr. Hamel reported that Eugene had budgeted the full amount to the EIC but had kept $3,800 of it. Springfield had also kept a share, as well as Lane County. If Eugene does not submit the full amount to the EIC, it will stop the 10th of March. Mr. Hamel was hopeful that Lane County would submit their share as well as Springfield. Mr. Whitlow said they had the item on the agenda for February 18, 1981. II. URBAN VILLAGE--BRIAN OBIE Mr. Obie explained how the idea of the Urban Village was formed, when he was questioning how the downtown housing could be competitive with suburban housing. Mr. Obie reviewed the possible characteristics of an urban village which were: 1) distinctive architectural style; 2) sometimes a similar ethnic background (this would probably not apply); 3) distinctive street amenities; 4) central amenities such as a park, golf course, water features (Emerald Canal); 5) excep- tional scale and density; 6) sharp departure from scale or character of its surroundings; and 7) an abundance of community facilities. Mr. Obie envisioned a four- to eight-block area that would connect to the library, medical facili- ties available, and the mall. He showed a map of the potential urban renewal boundaries study area. He identified three or four places within the map for possible sites. One metro update goal is for 2,500 housing units in the down- town Eugene by the year 2000. Mr. Obie estimated in a four-block area they could get 800 to 1,000 people with very intense density. A strong residential statement south of the commerical area was one strong possibility. Other possible sites were the Performing Arts Center, East Butte, and the Fifth Street area. Mr. Kupper emphasized that the list of elements were not textbook notions. He felt that the City Council needed some discussion about what elements they would be looking for in housing. The list was personal, not professional. Mr. Lindberg did not wish to see vastly different architecture. He suggested building onto what is already good about the city. He said three books had been published from a study done at the University of Oregon. A Timeless Way to Build and A Pattern Language are two of the books. He suggested using the input of local professionals. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 9, 1981 Page 2 e Mr. Obie suggested that they follow the example of the AlA conference and have a store downtown open for comments from the public on what they would like to see for an urban village. Ms. Smith wanted some early communciation with the Emerald Canal Committee so that the project could be synchronized and coordinated. If there were a way to combine these projects it would be to everybody's advantage. Mr. Lindberg wanted to see the City address areas that were hurting or that will be hurtinq. Therefore, he would rule out the East Butte area. He preferred the area to the south and to the southeast of downtown. Mr. Obie envisioned devel- oping an area west of Charnelton with plazas, etc., with work to be done by a private developer. Mr. Keller favored the middle of the mall and a site at 8th and Willamette. Mr. Lindberg felt it was ill-advised to disperse the housing throughout the mall area he suggested the City Council look at all projects going on in the downtown area--the larger housinq picture. They could then know where they were headed and it would not be so confusing--an update process. Mr. Obie aqreed that there were several boards and commissions responsible for various aspects of housing. He asked if the council saw any problem with the renewal agency beinq the lead body in this process. Ms. Smith saw no problem but said the City Council would want to have input. e Ms. Schue saw a problem with low- and moderate-income housing which requires a subsidy, because of the hiqh cost of housing in the central city. The goal of the Joint Housing Committee is to make the housing money go as far as it can. In the downtown area that is not possible. Mr. Obie felt it was important to have all income ranges for the vitality of the area--possibly Olive Plaza would be one element of that. The single-parent family would need to be provided for in the plan. Mr. Lindberq gave examples of Seattle in explaining his point that diversity is important. He suggested building in low- and moderate-income housing in the urban villaqe. He wished to prevent displacement which was an important goal. Ms. Wooten was excited about the concept but hated to give ERA total authority with no appeal process. ERA was not an accountable public agency, she said. Mr. Obie suggested that the council have a plan outlining at what point ERA becomes the lead agency, the best way to do it, and what checks there would be if ERA were to be the lead agency. Mr. Lindberg suggested the City Council be the lead agency. He wanted the council to maintain control of the design standards. Mr. Obie noted Wednesday's council will foreclose the continued City involvement with Ellis/Dutcher. Mr. Keller, recalling the ten years' effort to get a department store to come into the downtown area, assumed the City Council would make very sure that people wanted to move into downtown and live there. He suggested a market study. Mr. Obie replied that ERA at their last meeting decided to have'consultants amend their study to include the urban village concept. e MINUTES--Euqene City Council February 9, 1981 Page 3 e Ms. Smith asked what ERA, the Planning Commission, and other boards had done about financing. Mr. Obie said they had not done a Qreat deal. They do have some money to start with, they have some land, and they would have consideration on tax deferral. They could use tax increment financing for some of the ameni- ties; they could find $8 million for a commercial development based on tax increment. They needed to assign an agency to "carry the ball." The renewal agency will start to be concerned with keeping a vital downtown. Mr. Keller thought there were positive aspects to having ERA the lead agency and now, currently, two City Councilors are members of the board. Mr. Kupper suggested that ERA could develop an accountability process which the City Council would approve. e Mr. Gleason said that this meeting was exactly what he had hoped it would be, with a lot of questions and consideration of how they were going to do it. From the staff point of view the major problems would be to focus in the area of housing. There is some confusion about the roles the different agencies, boards, and commissions will play. The council will have to assign duties. Mr. Gleason had some concern about the City Council being the lead agency. Until the City Council developed a plan and assigned the departments roles, they would have an ebb and flow instead of a direction. The City Council needs to say, liThe king is dead; here is another idea." They need to decide if they will continue to provide dollars for the revitalization of the downtown core. People will be concerned if they do not. A public statement is needed in that regard. Renewal is a process. There is now a focus change. The council needs to define the commitment of resources. They need to make a statement that the mall with two department stores is not what they are seeking any more. Mr. Obie said that the renewal agency is preparing a council resolution. They are not giving up on the downtown or the downtown retail. Mr. Obie asked the council members if they were in agreement with the concept and the effort so far. They were. III. EMERALD CANAL Ms. Baker said that the proposed route of the Emerald Canal was from the end of the Millrace near Ferry, behind the Hult Building, through the Register-Guard parkinq lot, turning the alleyway behind Bell Telephone, crossing 11th to the alley to behind Safeway on 18th where it would connect with Amazon. Mr. Kupper had trouble with the connection of housing and the Emerald Canal, because of the expense of getting the canal in place. Ms. Smith recognized the expense but felt that, if possible, she would like coordination and planning to QO on. Mr. Lindberg did not wish to obstruct the canal. Mr. Keller asked what financing sources the backers of the canal had. Mr. Lindberg replied that they had applied for a planning grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Ms. Wooten said that the Army Corps of Engineers has come up ~ith a ratio of 4.25 ~o 1 (~ is break-even) so it does not look hopeful aSk~ proJect. Mr. Gleason S~l~ proJects on that scale are accomplished by ta lng aavantage of opportunltles over a 40-year period. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 9, 1981 Page 4 e e e IV. AGENDA MARCH 19, 1981 The next agenda will be a continuation of this discussion. Staff will present the history of what has gone on in the downtown area and what is planned for the future. Are the agencies, boards, and commissions coordinated? Does the council want to change roles and relationships? Ms. Schue asked to talk about the fact that the ERA is not responsible to the City Council except when the council would dissolve the ERA~ In a related issue, Ms. Wooten said that there was a structural engineer's report that Lincoln School will need $1 million in work to stay open this year. There is a difference of opinion. To lose Lincoln while talking about housing units in downtown Eugene creates a need to respond to the school board. She is working with Jim Farah in the Planning Department. Ms. Smith asked to speak on the funding from the room tax moneys and the Perfor- ming Arts Center, in order to have input and direction from the City Council members. Meeting was adjourned to March 9, 1981. Respectfully submitted, ~~~ MiC';:~ Gle on City Manager (Beth Conant, Minutes Recorder) MDG:BC:pm/CM9a24 MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 9, 1981 Page 5