Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout9.23.2019 City Council Work Session MinutesMINUTES Eugene City Council and Eugene Urban Renewal Agency Harris Hall, 125 East 8th Avenue Eugene, Oregon 97401 September 23, 2019 5:30 p.m. Councilors Present: Betty Taylor, Emily Semple, Alan Zelenka, Jennifer Yeh, Mike Clark, Greg Evans, Claire Syrett, Chris Pryor Mayor Vinis opened the September 23, 2019, work session of the Eugene City Council. 1. Committee Reports and Items of Interest Council Discussion: Mayor Vinis - said she was glad to be back and grateful to Councilor Taylor who presided while she was gone. Councilor Semple - talked about the McKenzie Watershed Council Salmon Celebration; said the Human Rights Commission approved a request for closed captioning at the TransPonder gala fundraiser; said that the Human Rights Commission went over its workplan and committees; read an apology for comments made at the Human Rights Commission; said the Sustainability Commission learned about the Carbon Free Challenge and encouraged people to look at their carbon footprint; mentioned a resolution in support of the youth -led climate strike; said that the Sustainability Commission also went over its workplan and committees. Councilor Taylor - talked about people continuing to be concerned about 5G, noting that the one area the City might have some control over is aesthetics; asked for information about whether City Council could undo aesthetic decisions that have already been made around cell tower infrastructure to be included at the 5G work session. Councilor Syrett - talked about serving on the Lane Area Commission on Transportation and shared that the Oregon Department of Transportation has a new incoming director; said this was an opportunity for future vision of Oregon's transportation system, including innovation and climate recovery goals. Councilor Clark- said that at the Lane Workforce Partnership Board meeting they talked about how the current low unemployment rate affects their budget stream; said the Workforce Partnership is working more closely with the Bureau of Labor and Industries to align some of their programs and he appreciates this good work Councilor Yeh - talked about a Police Commission goal to meet outside of police headquarters because not everyone is comfortable there; shared that upcoming meetings will be at Petersen Barn, Sheldon and Hilyard Community Centers, and the Atrium and they will be asking for community feedback about locations. Mayor Vinis - said Sunday Streets was fun and thanked the staff and volunteers who pulled it all together and did a great job planning. Mayor Vinis adjourned the meeting of the Eugene City Council and convened a meeting of the Eugene Urban Renewal Agency. MINUTES - Eugene City Council September 23, 2019 Page 1 Work Session 2. WORK SESSION AND ACTION: Downtown Riverfront Development—Williams & Dame Associates' Concept Plan Community Development Director Mike Kinnison, Urban Development Manager Will Dowdy, and Principal Landscape Architect Emily Proudfoot gave an update on the Downtown Riverfront Development and a proposed revision to the Williams & Dame Concept Plan. Council Discussion: Councilor Semple - said she's glad to see construction moving along; asked staff to point out where the plaza part of the park will be; said she likes the change in the grade of the riverfront; said she doesn't like the new proposed plan as much as the old plan, but is comfortable with it; shared concerns that the housing will look like dorms and that the Knight Campus employees will take over that housing; shared her desire for the restaurants and retail to be affordable to everyone so that more people feel welcome; said she likes the structured parking; asked how the changes to the housing plans and additional units would affect MUPTE and asked to be kept apprised of how that's going. Councilor Syrett - said she was fine with the new concept plan; talked about how higher buildings will create a more urban environment and there will be people in the community who will think that's great and those that don't; said it seems like a better overall use of limited space and likes that there will be more housing units; said she's pleased that the new concept plan creates additional parking spaces and the idea of shared parking represents an opportunity to be innovative in that area; said she looks forward to hearing more about how the City is going to help make shared parking solutions happen when development gets to that point. Councilor Pryor - said that he appreciates the proposal and it's a trade that in some respects turns out positively; said he also likes that parking has been acknowledged and accommodated; talked about balancing density with space and aesthetics; talked about creating destinations for everybody at the riverfront so that the area doesn't becoming exclusively posh, including the plaza and steam plant; said he's happy to support the new plan, but wants to keep these things in mind. Councilor Z elenka - said the parking makes a lot more sense in the new concept plan; said the plan is denser and a better use of the land; asked if the number of affordable housing units was changing and if the park footprint was changed. Mayor Vinis - said she likes that the affordable housing has moved up and closer to services; asked about the streets that cut through from the railway to the river and the plan to make them shared use streets. MOTION AND VOTE: Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Semple, moved to authorize the Agency Director to amend the Disposition and Development Agreement consistent with the proposed changes in Attachment A. PASSED 8:0. Mayor Vinis adjourned the meeting of the Eugene Urban Renewal Agency and convened a meeting of the Eugene City Council. 3. WORK SESSION: Short -Term Rentals Building Permit Services Director Lydia Kaye gave a presentation about current regulations related to short-term rentals in Eugene, their benefits and challenges, what other cities have done, and options for local regulations. Council Discussion: Councilor Taylor - said she appreciates this topic being discussed now before it becomes a problem like in other communities; said the two biggest problems are the damage to livability MINUTES - Eugene City Council September 23, 2019 Page 2 Work Session of the neighborhood and the destruction of housing availability; said that having a lot of people coming and going changes the character of the neighborhood and affects parking; said she knows there's two sides and has heard from people who say short-term rentals are ruining neighborhoods and others say that they need to rent short-term in order to pay their mortgage. Councilor Zelenka - said he brought up this issue a few years ago but council wasn't interested in discussing at that point; talked about how many of the rentals are around the university; said he's concerned about the impact on the neighborhoods and livability; said he has a problem with people buying homes to exclusively rent them out short-term all year long; shared concerns that they are turning neighborhoods into a business area, said he doesn't have a problem with people occasionally renting their homes short-term, but not all year long; asked how many days per year other jurisdictions have limited short-term rentals to; asked about owner -occupancy requirements without a conditional use permit; asked about the Transient Room Tax and what percentage of short-term rentals are reporting and paying that fee right now. Councilor Pryor - said that this information has been helpful and he'd like to be deliberate on implementing regulations; asked about the challenges of imposing inspection requirements; said he wouldn't want to require inspections for this kind of housing if the City doesn't require it for other kinds of housing because it seems like overreaching; said he would discourage including number six on the motion related to inspections and instead require a guest registry Councilor Clark- said that guests staying at a short-term rental will report on the condition of a place and people wouldn't stay somewhere with bad reviews; asked how many of the short- term rentals are owned by Expedia, Priceline, or Trip Advisor in Eugene; said it was interesting that the people dealing with where people travel are also owning companies that deal with how houses are bought and sold; shared concerns about the ability to have large companies comply with local regulations; commented that if more ADUs start to be built, the ADU rental income cannot be used towards income to qualify for buying the house but you can use both incomes from the house and ADU if you're buying it for an investment property; said he thinks that will happen to houses around the university. Councilor Syrett - said her main interest is to mitigate the negative impacts of short-term rentals on neighborhoods and without regulations, including licensing, there's no effective way to do that; talked about the logic of applying similar standards as hotels and motels and asked if the City requires them to provide guest registries and parking requirements, noting that not all requirements would be the same; said she's not interested in inspections because of the workload and expense; said she supports parking requirements, limiting the number of people, and limiting the number of days the unit can be rented; said she thinks people would complain if standards weren't being met; said she wanted to be deliberate about implementing regulations and is supportive of adopting some. Mayor Vinis - asked staff to explain the suggestions made and why certain requirements were not included; commented that there's some sense of urgency about short-term rentals in the community and it might make sense for council to adopt some regulations that are able to be quickly and effectively rolled out, understanding that this is an iterative process and regulations can be added or amended later. Councilor Semple - asked about the basis for license ramifications related to complaints; asked about the expense of inspections and complaint response; shared concerns that if the number of days a short-term rental could be rented each year, it may leave some houses empty for the rest of the year. Councilor Zelenka - asked how HB 2001's ADU owner -occupancy and parking regulations related to short-term rental regulations; talked about inspections when new houses are built, noting that new short-term rentals could be inspected and the fees would get paid for by the owner; asked a process question about the way the motion is structured, skipping straight to a public hearing before City Council reviews a proposed ordinance; said he had a problem with MINUTES - Eugene City Council September 23, 2019 Page 3 Work Session requiring online platforms to assist in regulations when many of the current short-term rentals aren't being captured by the online platforms, so it would have limited value. Councilor Clark -asked how staff would go about the process of finding out how many short - terms rentals are owned by Expedia, Priceline, or Trip Advisor in Eugene; asked how any regulations would be enforced with these large companies. Councilor Taylor - thanked staff for all of the great information provided in the agenda packet. MOTION: Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Zelenka, moved to direct the City Manager to schedule a public hearing on an ordinance that amends Chapter 3 to add a short term rental licensure program and that includes as part of the licensure program at least the following items: 1) yearly license fee; 2) owner -occupancy requirement; 3) limit on the number of days a unit can be rented; 4) basis for license revocation, including number of complaints per calendar year; 5) minimum separation between short-term rentals; 6) inspection requirements; 7) requirements for on-line platforms to assist in regulations; and, 8) parking requirements. Council Discussion: Councilor Zelenka -said that the motion is not uncomplicated and there's a lot packed in to it; the way it's written leaves a lot of decisions up to staff that City Council would be voting on; suggested a friendly amendment to replace "direct the City Manager to schedule a public hearing on" with "direct the City Manager to draft and bring back to council for deliberation". Councilor Taylor -said she didn't object to the friendly amendment, but that there's also some urgency to do something; suggested creating a deadline; accept a friendly amendment to replace "direct the City Manager to schedule a public hearing on" with "direct the City Manager to draft and bring back to council for deliberation before the end of the year". Councilor Clark - said he didn't think that items 5 or 6 needed to be included in the motion, that they are superfluous and won't affectively alter what we come up with. MOTION TO AMEND AND VOTE: Councilor Clark, seconded by Councilor Semple, moved to remove 5) and 6) to keep on a better track PASSED 5:3, Councilors Taylor, Zelenka, and Evans opposed. Council Discussion: Councilor Pryor - said he was going to make the same motion as Councilor Zelenka and is supportive of bringing back a draft. Councilor Syrett - said there is urgency around this topic in the community, but they need to make sure there is time to hear both from people who offer short-term rentals and those who have experienced the negative effects; said she's glad this won't go straight to a public hearing because she'd like to strike a balance between the competing interests; commented that they're not looking at creating a land use permit process for a home that could be used as a short-term rental, but there may be space to consider that down the road. Councilor Evans - asked if a licensure fee could be added to support the administration of the program. Councilor Clark - talked about iBuyer programs coming out that will alter the housing market; said that large companies will be renting homes short-term between when they are purchased and sold; said he'd like staff to look into the idea of how this takes into account not just the platforms that are intentionally renting as their ongoing business model, but the ones that are buying and selling homes intentionally without realtors in the process that will have the motivation to rent them on a short-term basis; asked how the City would know if they were MINUTES - Eugene City Council September 23, 2019 Page 4 Work Session owner -occupied or if they were being rented for short periods of time between purchase and sale. VOTE ON AMENDED MOTION: PASSED 8:0. The meeting adjourned at 6:59 p.m. Respectfully submitted, '6t'(j, J�� Beth Forrest City Recorder (Recorded by Elena Domingo) Link to the webcast of this City Council meeting: ham. MINUTES - Eugene City Council September 23, 2019 Page 5 Work Session