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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 03/08/00 Work Session MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room--City Hall March 8, 2000 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bobby Lee, Betty Taylor, Nancy Nathanson, Pat Fart, Scott Meisner, David Kelly, Gary Rayor, Gary Pap~. Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. A. Items from Council, Mayor, and City Manager Mr. Fart reported that he sat in on traffic court earlier that week. He said that in the past he had heard concerns expressed by citizens that Municipal Court did not treat people well, but he had been impressed by the way people were treated by the court. Even those obviously guilty were handled with dignity. Mr. Meisner said he would be unable to attend the news conference at the new library branch in Bethel on Tuesday, March 14, and hoped the event would go well. He asked the mayor to thank those involved in making the branch possible on his behalf. Mr. Rayor said he had walked through Rasor Park to familiarize himself with the area. The orange fenced off area was about 70 feet from the bike path, and it gave people a place to put up blankets and not be in the path of the cars associated with the classic car event. He asked if the memorandum regarding the resolution to the situation, authored by Tim Rhay of Public Works Maintenance Division, could be provided to those who testified in support of the event on February 28,2000. Referring to the traffic projects list for 2000, Mr. Rayor noted that the list indicated a traffic light would be installed at Goodpasture and Kingsley, and he asked staff to contact the student, who had attended the last council meeting, advocating for the light to let him know it would be installed; and that Mr. Rayor had been wrong in suggesting that the traffic light might not be installed for some time. Ms. Nathanson indicated she would provide a written report on the United Front lobbying trip at a later time. She circulated photographs of the delegation's visit and commended the cooperative nature of the effort. She observed that her role in the meetings focused primarily on natural resource funding requests. She invited councilors to contact her if they wanted copies of the photographs. Mr. Pap~ arrived at 5:35 p.m. Mr. Kelly expressed frustration that the council had not had an adequate discussion on the Endangered Species Act. He said that postponing the discussion did not mean the council could forget about it. He said that staff had been seeking clear direction in a timely manner, but the follow-up work session had not been scheduled yet. He said that not all the councilors had not had the courtesy to get back to staff indicating MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 8, 2000 Page 1 Work Session whether they would be willing to consider adding an hour to the meeting that evening. He asked that the council schedule that follow-up discussion in April, even if it meant extending a meeting. Responding to a question from Mayor Torrey, City Manager Jim Johnson said that staff had received direction from the council regarding Option C and was responding in that manner. Mayor Torrey asked if the work session was necessary. Mr. Kelly said it was his sense that the previous direction the council gave enabled staff to respond to the 4(d) rule, and there was an issue of what staff did from this point forward. Mr. Johnson said that scheduling a work session in April would be fine. Mr. Kelly believed the topic was important enough to merit more than a half-hour discussion. Responding to a question from Mayor Torrey, Mr. Klein said that once a meeting had been noticed, councilors could raise an item not previously on the agenda. Ms. Taylor endorsed having another work session because she felt the Endangered Species Act was very important, but she did not see an opportunity to have a meaningful discussion prior to the council break. Mr. Lee said that urban watershed councils and nonpoint source management were very complex topics. He said that the concept of a watershed council should be considered carefully, because it could provide the council with the kind of technical advice and expertise it needed. He did not think an hour was sufficient for that discussion. Mr. Papd said he had been impressed with the United Front effort and the unique approach it represented. The United Front had been united in their support of the many agencies different funding requests. He said the federal administration in Washington, DC, was familiar with the City's projects. Mr. Johnson passed. Mayor Torrey asked the council to indicate support for a work session on the Endangered Species Act. More than three councilors indicated support for such a work session. Mayor Torrey said that he had viewed the work of some architectural students regarding options for a new city hall. He encouraged the council to participate in such reviews, saying the students did tremendous work. He and Mr. Kelly had talked with the University School of Architecture and Allied Arts Director about using the Council Chamber as a student project during the fall term. Mayor Torrey said the first meeting of the After School Gap Analysis of all stakeholders with an interest in youth issues had occurred. The group would report to the council during the last week in May during a joint meeting of the Commission on Children and Families, Eugene City Council, and the Bethel and 4J School Districts. He noted that the effort fell within the council goals. Mayor Torrey informed Mr. Lee and Mr. Fart said that the grant request for the Safe and Sound Program received by the Council Committee on Homelessness and Youth could have been a perfect candidate for State grant funding. That grant process was now closed, and he was attempting to get the grant process reopened to secure that funding. He asked Mr. Fart to work with Richie Weinman of Planning and Development Department on the process. MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 8, 2000 Page 2 Work Session Mr. Rayor said that he would be seeking Contingency Funding for Sexual Assault Support Services at the next contingency request cycle, and requested council head nods. Councilors indicated agreement to considering the request. B. Work Session: Sister Cities Foundation Report Mary Walston of the City Manager's Office introduced the item, reminding the council that the City's agreement with the Sister City Foundation provided for a periodic report to the council. Ms. Taylor, liaison to the Sister City Foundation, said she was pleased that the report was occurring. The foundation was doing well and all the sister city committees were active. Yung Sonna Geil-Walker, staff to the Sister City Foundation, provided an update on the Sister City Program. She thanked the council for its partnership. She thanked Ms. Taylor for her support of the foundation, and acknowledged the support of councilors Nathanson, Kelly, and Lee. She noted the committee presidents present in the audience: Jean Hahn (Kakegawa Sister City), Ken Ramsey (Chinju Sister City), and Shawn Edwards (Kathmandu Sister City). No representative was present from the Irkutsk Sister City. Ms. Geil-Walker provided information on her background as a Korean native adopted by an American family. Ms. Geil-Walker distributed copies of the foundation's events bulletin, noting it was posted on the foundation's Web site. Ms. Geil-Walker said the foundation supported the work of the four committees, coordinated the relationship with the City, and centralized the link for public and private funding. She discussed some of the foundation's current short-term projects, which included a display at the airport and a partnership with Lane Arts Council on an art exhibit at the Eugene Airport to be held April 10 through June 19. Ms. Geil-Walker reported that the 23rd Kakegawa Sister City delegation would visit Eugene April 3-19. Ms. Geil-Walker said she was working with the foundation board to explore the potential for the Oregon Sister Cities Conference to be held next year in Eugene. Ms. Geil-Walker discussed why the Sister City Program was important to the community, citing the changing ethnic landscape and what she termed the four "Ps": population, poverty, pollution, and personal relationships. She said that the program was facing and confronting those challenges and attempting to make a difference through an exchange of ideas and global friendships, dialogue with other cultures, and unique solutions to mutual problems. Betty Sin Lou provided a slide presentation about the work of the Sister Cities Foundation. Mr. Kelly said that the funds the City provided had enabled the hiring of a staff person, and that had clearly made a tremendous difference in the organization's success. Ms. Geil-Walker thanked Mr. Kelly for his comments and commended the council for its adoption of the resolution related to sustainability principles. She stressed the foundation's role as a partner in advancing the goal of sustainability. Mr. Meisner thanked the foundation for the report, and reiterated a previous request that information about the City's contribution of staff time to the foundation's effort be included in the periodic report. MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 8, 2000 Page 3 Work Session Responding to a question from Mr. Lee, Mr. Johnson said that the City's budgetary contribution to the foundation was $30,000 annually and the contribution was included in the base budget. Mr. Lee thanked Ms. Geil-Walker for her work and said he was pleased that the foundation had been able to hire a local resident. He believed that at some point a full-time staff person was needed. Mayor Torrey said he would continue to push for a Mexican sister city. He was not asking the council for money. He added that he had been amazed by the number of people who had come forward in support of the proposal. Ms. Taylor advocated for scheduling a discussion on the topic. There was council concurrence. C. TransPlan Planning Division Manager Jan Childs introduced the item. Tom Schwetz of Lane County of Governments reviewed a memorandum in the packet entitled Review and Recommendations: TransP/an Provisions for Transportation Demand Management. Mr. Kelly first objected to the short amount of time scheduled for the item. He believed transportation demand measures (TDM) needed to occur at the metropolitan level for them to work. If Eugene adopted a policy that Springfield did not, it could put one city at a competitive disadvantage with the other. He said that the policies included words like "could," "may," and "might," and he did not find that satisfactory. He liked the concept on page 2 of the memorandum regarding bench marking, and endorsed that approach. Mr. Meisner agreed with Mr. Kelly that the time for discussion was inadequate. He was dissatisfied with the recommendations. He agreed that the most effective TDM was community wide, but he acknowledged that may not be possible, and had asked staff to develop Eugene-only options. He endorsed the Option 3 change to establish benchmarks, saying the language in the policy was too vague. He wanted to retain the option of mandatory TDM, noting that some of the pricing strategies had been discussed in other venues, such as the Budget Committee, and they were not new. He said that in a 20-year plan, the community will need to do more. Regarding education, Mr. Meisner said that the staff recommendations were focused on school, and he wanted to educate the driving public about options other than the single passenger car. He asked that the section be broadened. Mr. Lee agreed with Mr. Kelly regarding the need for bench marking TDM and asked for more clarification. Mr. Schwetz anticipated some sort of performance measures would be developed, such as mode shares, congestion, etc., and over time set a benchmark for reductions in congestion and increases in transit ridership. Mr. Lee asked where the baseline data would come from. Mr. Schwetz said that staff had that information. Mr. Fart appreciated the staff recommendations. He said that the most important element of the education program was to focus on the next drivers, the teenagers now in schools. He also agreed with Mr. Meisner that there were many in the driving public that did not understand the options available to them; in addition, some neighborhoods did not have those options available to them. Mr. Fart said that education was the key to overcoming resistence. MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 8, 2000 Page 4 Work Session Ms. Taylor agreed that the schools were a good place to focus. She said that students should be educated about the effects of driving. She said that the City should work with the schools to alert them that some school practices and programs created additional miles traveled. Ms. Nathanson had recently read a brochure prepared for 4J school students about the true costs of driving. She asked what the response to the brochure was; was it distributed to every child, discussed in classes, incorporated into leadership training? Ms. Nathanson said that cars cost a lot of money, and she was sympathetic to those parents whose children wanted a car to drive to school because of peer pressure to drive. Regarding incentives, Ms. Nathanson liked many of the incentives related to transit. She suggested that employers in a shared location such as Valley River Center could participate in a joint bus pass program. She asked where the community got the most bang for the buck: through increased bus head ways or by ride sharing programs. She wanted to know the comparative benefits. Ms. Nathanson said it was hard for people to do something they had never done before, such as ride a bus. She suggested that Lane Transit District (LTD) allow a designated parent to ride the bus during commuting hours to act as a chaperone and lend to the feeling of safety. Mr. Rayor did not feel that the original TransPlan draft contained adequate TDM, and was disappointed that the staff recommended no changes for the four strategies. Mayor Torrey wanted LTD to give youth free use of transit all the time, to find ways to have parents pick children up from activities at no charge if with a child. He asked LTD staff for information on the costs. He said that if the City wanted to make a difference, it should make buses accessible to children and to parents accompanying those children. Mayor Torrey urged staff to delete Valley River Bridge from the plan. Mr. Kelly endorsed the mayor's remarks. He said that getting children used to using transit was vital to relieving congestion and making youth transit riders for life. He wanted a policy-level statement that identified a role for the school districts in implementing the plan, making the districts a formal partner in the plan in managing school-related trips. Mr. Fart said that LTD had been very responsive to the City's requests in the past, and continued to improve the system. He applauded that effort. Mr. Fart said that there were employers outside the metropolitan area that required LTD services, such as Country Coach in Junction City. He said that the number of single- occupancy vehicles traveling to such destinations created additional vehicle miles traveled and caused congestion in Junction City and Highway 99. He suggested a single shuttle bus could relieve much of that congestion. Ms. Taylor pointed to the use of shuttle buses to the Country Fair as an example of the successful use of such transit. She agreed with free bus service for children and said that free bus service for everyone would be well worth the cost. If bus service was free, people might try it and continue its use. Mr. Pap~ said that the University of Oregon had attempted various forms of TDM in the past, such as shuttle buses to football games, and suggested that the University might have some benchmarks for staff to take MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 8, 2000 Page 5 Work Session advantage of as baseline information. Ms. Nathanson noted the University's bus pass program for faculty and staff. Ms. Childs said that the University's efforts had been very successful. Stefano Viggiano of LTD noted that since the program's inception in 1987, student ridership had tripled. LTD staff estimated that 25 percent of the total LTD ridership was University students. Mr. Pap~ said that he had discussed the use of MAX with Portland residents, who reported they loved riding the system during normal business hours, but during off-hours residents were less inclined to use the system. He said that LTD needed to address the perception of safety issues if it wished to serve people both early and late. Mr. Meisner agreed that the school districts' cooperation was essential. He said that some of the districts' choices had an impact on the transportation system and how it was funded and operated. So did employers who sent thousands of people off a shift at a single time. Regarding Policy 2, Mr. Rayor noted an upcoming work session on parking issues, and suggested that the topics were related. Ms. Childs said that Policy 2 enabled Eugene and Springfield to take different approaches to parking management, keeping in mind that the document needed to be adopted by the three jurisdictions, and Eugene's implementation could be more aggressive. Mayor Torrey complimented LTD. He said that LTD had been very responsive to complaints from parents that students could not ride the bus with skateboards, and had been clear that skateboards were not prohibited on the bus. Mayor Torrey adjourned the meeting of the Eugene City Council and convened a meeting of the Eugene Urban Renewal Agency. D. Executive Session Regarding Real Property Pursuant to Oregon Revised Statutes 192.660(1)(e), the City Council met in Executive Session for the item. This portion of the meeting was closed to the general public. Mayor Torrey adjourned the meeting of the Eugene City Council and convened a meeting of the Urban Renewal Agency. E. Urban Renewal Agency: Possible Action from Executive Session Mr. Lee moved, seconded by Ms. Taylor, to adopt Resolution 1005, a resolution of the Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Eugene authorizing the institution of proceedings in eminent domain for the acquisition of the Agripac property interests (TL 17-03-32-22-00700) located within the Riverfront Urban Renewal Plan area. Mr. Rayor asked staff to explain if the resolution enabled condemnation to occur, and the mention of ten years in Section 4 of the resolution. Mr. Klein said that the resolution indicated the City must dispose of the property or use it within ten years. MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 8, 2000 Page 6 Work Session Mr. Kelly asked if the purposes referred to in that section referred to the good of the public. Mr. Johnson said yes. Mr. Rayor said he would be more comfortable with the resolution if the intent regarding public purposes was included. Mr. Johnson said that it was the intent of the City to acquire the property for the purpose of the Urban Renewal Agency, and to as quickly as feasible move it out of Eugene ownership to other government ownership or into private ownership. Mr. Klein added that the legislative intent reflected by the record was sufficient to establish the council's intent. Ms. Nathanson said that the legislative intent will be clear that the council wanted the site to be developed in a manner consistent with land use regulations and other criteria the council would determine, but the purpose was to result in a good quality development. Mr. Torrey concurred, saying that the City would merely act as a facilitator. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Mr. Lee moved, seconded by Ms. Taylor, to adopt Resolution 4622, a resolution authorizing acquisition by the Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Eugene of the Agripac site (Assessor's Map 17-03-32-2 2-00700). Mr. Kelly confirmed that there was a mechanism known as friendly condemnation, and it may be in the seller's best interest to take that approach because of tax benefits. Mr. Johnson concurred. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Mr. Lee moved, seconded by Ms. Taylor, that the City Manager respond to the General Services Administration's solicitation for a United States courthouse site by offering to work with the General Services Administration in developing a portion of the Agripac site as the location for a new courthouse. Mr. Kelly noted and appreciated the use of the word "portion" in the motion. Mr. Lee said that the City had come a long way since its initial discussion with the General Services Administration. He thought the council was working toward a solution that would be exciting for downtown. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. The meeting adjourned at 7:48 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James R. Johnson City Manager MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 8, 2000 Page 7 Work Session (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 8, 2000 Page 8 Work Session