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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 12/08/99 WS MINUTES Eugene City Council McNutt Room--City Hall December 8, 1999 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Scott Meisner, Nancy Nathanson, Pat Farr, Bobby Lee, Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Gary PapS, Gary Rayor. DINNER WORK SESSION OF THE EUGENE CITY COUNCIL Mayor James D. Torrey called the work session of the City Council to order. Mr. Farr participated in the meeting via telephone hook-up. A.Work Session: Federal Courthouse/City Hall Alternatives The council considered the motion tabled on December 6, 1999 (italicized text represents the amendment to the motion passed by the council on December 6): Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, to authorize the City Manager to negotiate the sale of City Hall with GSA and bring a purchase offer back to the council for final approval. Such sale of city hall shall be contingent on the passage of a bond measure for replacement public safety facilities at the May 2000 election. Mr. Kelly noted that the General Services Administration (GSA) had agreed to a six-month delay in the site selection process. He recommended that the council table the motion on the floor, and work through the upcoming recess on further steps. Mr. Lee moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, to table the motion. The motion passed unanimously, 7:0 (Mr. Rayor not yet having arrived at the meeting). Mr. Rayor arrived at the meeting. Ms. Nathanson moved, seconded by Mr. Lee, to direct City Manager Jim Johnson to urge the General Services Administration (GSA) to remove from consideration the 6th Avenue site for the new federal courthouse. Responding to a question from Mr. PapS, Mr. Johnson said that the GSA had postponed its federal courthouse site selection decision at the council's request, and had indicated at the same time it would consider other sites throughout the metropolitan area. He confirmed, in response to a question from Mr. Kelly, that the site selected could still be the City Hall site. MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 1 5:30 p.m. The motion passed, 5:3; Mr. Rayor, Mr. Pap~, and Ms. Taylor voting no. Mr. Meisner suggested the councilors provide Mr. Johnson with their ideas, thoughts, and/or plans for developing and funding new public safety facilities, including but not limited to, information needs, siting, costs, space needs, process, and public involvement by December 31, 1999, for a possible May 16, 2000, ballot measure. B.Items from Mayor, City Council, and City Manager Ms. Taylor said she had attended the National League of Cities (NLC) Conference and had attended a seminar on downtown revitalization, which she found very interesting. She had learned zoning was critical to a vital downtown, and zoning could preclude one use from dominating the downtown. Ms. Taylor said that a vital downtown also relied on the restriction of uses outside the downtown to encourage development downtown. She said that the presenters advocated for the retention of "anchors" downtown, and that included the police station. Ms. Taylor said that she was on the league's Human Development Policy Committee, which discussed a proposal to take "minority" out of league policies and replace it with "people of color." She said that the issue provoked a lively discussion but it was never resolved. She had suggested to the author of the resolution regarding the term that she refer to the "traditionally disadvantaged" instead of "minority" or "people of color." Mr. Fart noted that the Human Rights Commission would be issuing a statement later in the week in response to the World Trade Organization demonstrations. The statement was not yet final. Mr. Fart invited the council and the mayor to the grand reopening of the Bethel Fire Station on Wednesday, December 15, at 3:30 p.m. He said that starting Friday, there would be a three- person crew at the station, improving response times throughout the Bethel-Danebo area. Mr. Pap8 said that he had also attended the NLC Conference and had particularly enjoyed the keynote speaker and a presentation on "Virtual LA." He briefly described the presentation and other presentations he had attended at the conference. Mr. Pap8 noted a national trend toward removing the pavement and roofs from downtown walking malls. Mr. Meisner termed the NLC Conference a great conference, and expressed appreciation to Mr. Kelly, a Los Angeles native, for providing him with a sense of that city. He described their visit to the Santa Monica street mall. He said that he had also attended the city showcase, where cities discussed their unique and innovative programs. Mr. Meisner said he had spent time with staff from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who had developed an imaginative, creative, and effective approach to code enforcement. The approach involved actual mitigation and participation in that mitigation by City staff as volunteers. Mr. Meisner reported that the Police Commission would meet on December 9 and the meeting would recess somewhat early so the commissioners could meet the recent graduates of the Police Academy at 7 p.m. He invited all interested councilors to attend. Mr. Fart left the meeting. MINUTES-Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 2 5:30 p.m. Ms. Nathanson also reported on the NLC Conference, in particular her work with the Information Technology Committee meeting and the resolution she developed with the assistance of Administrative Services Department staff Pam Berrian for the NLC's adoption. She reported that the resolution was adopted by the NLC at its business meeting. Ms. Nathanson indicated she would provide the resolution to the council. Ms. Nathanson said that she had also attended a meeting of the Municipalities in Transition Project. Fifteen to twenty mayors, councilors, and managers were invited to participate in the project, which was a multi-year study of city revenues and services. She said that many communities that had relied on the sales tax had been doing well, but now were "seeing the handwriting on the wall" from projected revenue shortfalls and beginning to be interested in how municipalities dealt with declining revenues. Ms. Nathanson had shared information with participants about Eugene Decisions, and alerted those cities to the changing demographic trends in employment and the potential that more independent consultants could under-report their income. Those communities depending on an income tax could also experience a decline in revenues. She had suggested comprehensive changes in the national tax policy. Ms. Nathanson said that she had also visited the city showcase discussed by Mr. Meisner, and indicated she would provide the council with brochures about an initiative entitled The Targeted Neighborhoods Initiative. She also had picked up a brochure from a large brewery involved in promoting its civic responsibility related to alcohol awareness, which she provided to the city manager to be directed to the appropriate staff. She had discussed some of Eugene's problems with a representative of that group and the possibility it could help cities secure grant funding, and that individual indicated to her he would be happy to talk with Eugene about providing it with assistance. Mr. Lee passed. Mr. Rayor said the discussion about a new city hall had led him to think about the concept of advisory votes. He suggested that the council might want to request nonbinding advisory votes from the community, particularly when the subject concerned the expenditure of taxpayers' money. He said that such votes could give the council the "pulse of the people." He also wanted to resolve the zoning and land use issues that had been identified during the discussion of siting the federal building on the 6th Avenue site. Mr. Rayor wished all those present a peaceful holiday season. Mr. Kelly said he also attended the NLC Conference and looked forward to the written reports of other councilors. He reported on a seminar he had attended on the topic of "Policy Governance." The seminar was conducted by the manager and a councilor of Bryan, Texas, and they had reported that the council of that community spent half of each meeting agenda on long-term planning issues. He indicated he would provide more information to the council in writing. Mr. Johnson announced that the City had received a $250,000 Meyer Memorial Trust grant for the library, and extended his congratulations to Tim Black of the Intergovernmental Relations Section for authoring the grant proposal. He also wished his wife, Robin Johnson, a happy birthday. MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 3 5:30 p.m. Mr. Torrey congratulated the library staff and all those involved in library fund raising. He said he had another fund raising opportunity; on Monday night the council would hold its holiday party, and councilors would have a karoke machine. He had asked his assistant to tape the event, and to offer it to the highest media bidder. Mr. Torrey reminded the council of the fire in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the subsequent loss of six fire fighters' lives. He had asked the Fire Department to draft a proclamation recognizing the efforts of those gallant individuals to be sent to that community. He read the proclamation, and indicated that, with the concurrence of councilors, he would add their names to the proclamation. The councilors concurred. C.Work Session and Action: Review of Responses to Request for Proposals Related to Sears Building, Existing Library, and Olive Street Lot Planning and Development Department Director Paul Farmer introduced the presentation. He provided background on the process, saying that staff had considered the City's ordinances, policies, and goals in developing the Request for Proposals (RFPs). Staff believed that the RFPs and responses were consistent with those ordinances, policies, and goals. Mr. Farmer said that the process was part of a city-building process, and revenues from the process would be directed toward construction of the library. Mr. Farmer said that there had been few responses from areas outside Eugene, but he attributed that to a healthy economy that kept outside firms more focused on their local areas. For that reason, the proposals were more limited in number and geographic scope than expected. Mr. Farmer said that staff also learned that it was probably necessary to create a dialogue phase to be more clear about expectations in the RFPs with the respondents to the RFPs. Mr. Farmer said that if the figures for the recommended responses were totaled, it represented 101 percent of the figure established for the library as the amount the City hoped to realize from the assets in question. If the Sears Building realized its full appraisal value, that percentage would go up to 108 percent. If the higher proposal for the Olive Street were accepted, the percentage would rise to 115. Mr. Farmer reported that staff had been told by people in the community that they would have responded to the RFP on the Sears site if the site had not been involved in the discussion about a new city hall. Denny Braud, Planning and Development Department, reviewed the responses received by the City to its RFPs for the Sears Building, existing Library, and Olive Street parking lot site, and described how the responses met the criteria established by the Planning Commission. He invited questions. Regarding the Sears Building, Mr. Meisner concurred with the recommendation to postpone review. He suggested that the RFP be reopened at a later time when confusion over the fate of the building and its use as a City office building was resolved. He liked the proposal for the existing library building. Regarding the proposal for the Olive Street lot, Mr. Meisner said that while his first reaction was that the offer was insufficient, he believed that the proposal for mixed MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 4 5:30 p.m. use office/residential use was a good one and expressed the hope the City would negotiate a fair price for the site. Ms. Taylor was concerned about selling City properties for less than the appraised values. She was also concerned that the properties could be resold for a greater profit, and asked if the City had guarantees that the responses to the RFPs would be carried out. She wanted the full appraised price and guarantees for the projects proposed. Mr. Farmer said that the City would negotiate such guarantees as part of the sale agreement. The City would also attempt to increase the selling prices of each property in negotiations. Mr. Johnson added that staff would return to the council with the results of the negotiations and request its concurrence. Mr. Pap~ agreed with Mr. Meisner regarding the Sears Building RFP. He added that some of the restrictions included in the RFP had served to restrict the number of responses and would probably have a dampening effect on the sale price. He said that if the City sold the property, it needed to consider the impact of the parameters of the RFP on the selling price. Responding to a question from Mr. PapS, Mr. Johnson confirmed that the Planning Commission did not recommend that the council adopt the RFP response to the Olive Street site that met the appraised value. Mr. Pap8 asked if there was anything in the recommended proposal that would make the property more valuable on the tax rolls at a later time. Mr. Farmer said that staff had not looked at the issue from a tax estimate point of view; instead, staff had looked at the uniqueness of the proposal in terms of the housing it included. He believed that if the housing was not built on the site, it would not be built elsewhere in the area. The medical use proposed in the RFP meeting the appraised value could be easily located elsewhere in the area. Mr. Kelly endorsed postponing the Sears Building RFP. Regarding the issue of the appraised values, Mr. Kelly said that he also wanted to maximize the dollar return to the City, but the council made a policy decision that the properties were key properties in the downtown that had the potential to impact the future look and feel of downtown, and established criteria that might reduce the number of responses and result in less money. Mr. Kelly endorsed the proposal for the library site. He also liked the recommended response to the Olive Street site, saying it was an opportunity to expose the community to more rowhouse design and to increase home ownership in the core area. He noted the respondent's previous successful and attractive local developments. Mr. Kelly believed that the proposal was lacking some detail, and asked the manager and Planning and Development Department staff to ensure that the negotiating process included the development of that detail. Mr. Rayor also liked the recommended response for the library site. He noted his opposition to a land exchange, saying it took an existing, tax-paying property off the tax rolls. Mr. Rayor asked if the City could legally accept an RFP that was valued at less than a competing RFP. City Attorney Glenn Klein said yes. He said that the RFP process was not governed by public contracting laws. The RFP document stipulated that costs would be one of many factors the City would consider. Ms. Nathanson expressed appreciation for the RFP process and the Planning Commission's role in the process. She hoped similar processes would be used in the future for the disposal of City- owned property. Ms. Nathanson pointed out that this was the first time such a process had been MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 5 5:30 p.m. used, and it was inevitable that questions would arise. Mr. Lee agreed. He said he supported all the commission's recommendations. Mr. Torrey supported postponing the Sears Building RFP. Regarding the recommended RFP for the library site, Mr. Torrey said that at this point, he was not interested in anything but money because of the potential shortfall to the library. Regarding the Olive Street site, Mr. Torrey expressed appreciation for the quality of the proposals but there was a $148,000 price differential between the offered and appraised price; he asked if the City had the capacity to return to the high bidder and provide it with the opportunity to improve their response. Mr. Klein said yes. Mr. Pap8 endorsed such an action. Mr. Johnson indicated that staff would need specific direction from the council to do so. Mr. Meisner said he also was not interested in a land exchange for the reason mentioned by Mr. Rayor. He supported the proposals recommended by the commission, with the hope the City could negotiate higher selling prices. Ms. Nathanson asked the City Manager what would be negotiated with each RFP respondent, and if staff would negotiate for things other than price and the timing of the sale, such as design and use. Mr. Farmer responded that staff had discussed the subject with some of the respondents, and they had been concerned about the added time and money that would result from the negotiating process. He added that there was a tradeoff between getting the council's preferred requirements and the appraised value. Mr. Torrey asked that staff write a letter to the First Methodist Church thanking it for making its facilities available to the City. Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, to direct the City Manager to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement for the sale of the existing library property to Balzhiser & Hubbard Engineers, with the RFP planning and design criteria brought forward to the negotiations and final approval. Final terms for the sale of the existing library shall be approved by the City Council prior to the execution of a sale agreement. Mr. Rayor offered a friendly amendment to the motion that would exclude consideration of a land exchange from the process. Mr. Meisner and Ms. Nathanson accepted the friendly amendment, and the motion was revised to read: Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, to direct the City Manager to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement for the sale of the existing library property to Balzhiser & Hubbard Engineers, excluding consideration of a land swap, with the RFP planning and design criteria brought forward to the negotiations and final approval. Final terms for the sale of the existing library shall be approved by the City Council prior to the execution of a sale agreement. The motion passed unanimously, 7:0. Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, to direct the City Manager to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement for the sale of the Olive Street parking lot site to Richard Duncan and Michael Foote, with the RFP MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 6 5:30 p.m. planning and design criteria brought forward to the negotiations and final approval. Final terms for the sale of the Olive Street parking lot site shall be approved by the City Council prior to the executive of a sale agreement. Mr. Pap8 suggested that the proposals in question could be put into a more sophisticated form to include tax revenue projections that might make the responses more competitive. Mr. Kelly did not see the need to do so, given that one of the responses was significantly more responsive to the criteria than the other. He also pointed out that because of the relatively small dollar amount involved, the additional expense involved on the part of the respondents could cause them to drop out of the process. The motion passed, 6:1; Mr. Pap8 voting no. Mr. Torrey adjourned the meeting of the Eugene City Council and convened a meeting of the Urban Renewal Agency. Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, to defer review of the Sears Building RFP responses until decisions regarding the City Hall options and federal courthouse siting have been made, and further direction has been provided by the Urban Renewal Agency. The motion passed unanimously, 7:0. Mr. Torrey adjourned the meeting of the Urban Renewal Agency and reconvened the meeting of the Eugene City Council. Mr. Lee left the meeting. D.Work Session: Status Update for Revision of Tree Ordinance Mr. Johnson introduced the item. He reported that the council's decision on the Tree Ordinance would also involve land use decisions, and this would be the first of several work sessions. Public Works Department Director Christine Andersen provided the staff presentation. She reminded the council that in August 1999 it directed staff to revise the Tree Ordinance incorporating the recommendations of the Eugene Tree Foundation. The meeting packet contained the revised draft ordinance and a summary of public involvement activities related to the ordinance. Ms. Andersen referred the council to the five policy issues contained in the meeting packet and said that the first three concerned the relationship of the revised ordinance to land use law. The City Attorney's Office had determined that there were elements of the draft ordinance that constituted land use actions, which required a legal process involving Planning Commission review and recommendation. Ms. Andersen said that staff discussed the issue with the Planning Commission on December 6; several concerns were expressed by commissioners regarding the public involvement process and land use issues, but the commission was also sensitive to the council's interest in strengthening the City's Tree Ordinance. The commission had discussed possible stopgap measures that could be instituted while a more comprehensive ordinance reviewed occurred. MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 7 5:30 p.m. Ms. Andersen reviewed the Planning Commission's suggestions for possible stopgap measures: 1) provide additional staff resources to more fully implement the existing code, including involving Urban Forestry staff in limited development proposal reviews that involved trees, at a cost of between $75,000 and $100,000; 2) administrative rule changes that would help to clarify the existing code definitions and address gaps that have been found in the existing code; and 3) increase the fines for illegal tree removal. Ms. Andersen said that the fourth policy issue involved the cost of implementing the draft ordinance over the long-term, which would require two to three FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) at a cost of $200,000 to $275,000. The fifth policy issue regarded the need for better baseline data and identification of targets and goals for the urban forest canopy. Ms. Andersen described a program called CITYgreen, which assists municipalities in measuring the existing tree canopy in a community and projects how ordinance changes that are implemented have various effects over time. The program also projects the environmental benefits associated with the canopy. Mr. Torrey asked the council for comments. Mr. Kelly commended staff for what he termed a good first draft. He said it moved the City toward an ordinance comparable to those in other Northwest cities. He liked the clear purpose statement and its preservation/replacement/protection/enforcement approach. Regarding the land use issue, Mr. Kelly urged the council to move expeditiously and avoid establishing a new advisory committee to provide input into the ordinance. He believed that the commission/council process was sufficient. Mr. Kelly indicated appreciation for the quality of much of the public input and urged staff to examine the input thoroughly. Mr. Kelly asked what happened between the land use and development processes. He did not see anything in the code that bound the builder or purchaser of a lot in a subdivision to the provisions instituted in the land use process. He also questioned how the City would address tree preservation on subdivisions created 20 years ago that were now being developed. Responding to a question from Mr. Kelly regarding the applicability of the ordinance to public properties, Ms. Andersen said that it was staff's expectation that the ordinance would apply to City property. Mr. Rayor asked if the council could adopt a stop gap measure integrating the planned unit development (PUD) into the current tree ordinance. Planning Director Jan Childs said no. Mr. Rayor said that he had received input that if the City defined the critical root zone as a certain diameter radius, it should make some allowance for driveways. Mr. Rayor expressed interest in seeing the ordinances related to key waterways, erosion control measures, and tree preservation being adopted on the same time line. He believed that citizens generally were unaware that the City was working on three ordinances that had an impact on private property but were not otherwise linked. He suggested a matrix could be used to track the different ordinances. MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 8 5:30 p.m. Ms. Nathanson said she had been discouraged in reading the public comment about the ordinance. It was clear there were many technical procedural problems with the ordinance. She said the comments highlighted her concern, stated at the beginning of the process, that the ordinance was not being processed through a department advisory committee in the typical manner. Ms. Nathanson was disappointed by the statement in policy issue 5 that there was no scientific data quantifying the tree canopy in Eugene, making it difficult to establish targets for planting and preservation. She said that one of her issues was what the City's goals for the ordinance were; was it to increase the tree canopy, maintain it to the degree possible, or exchange certain species for other more appropriate in a densely developing urban environment? Ms. Nathanson said it would be useful to have a report on how many trees were removed in the city within a certain period of time and how many were replanted by developers and builders. She said that would help give her a sense of whether things were deteriorating or improving. Ms. Nathanson was also concerned about issues of erosion, runoff, and general soil stabilization issues. Ms. Nathanson said that in order to be comfortable with any stopgap measure, she needed to know the City was fixing the process. She believed some of the problems the City Council had seen in the past could be more related to process than regulations. Mr. Pap~ advocated for a broad-based public process to provide input into a new Tree Ordinance. Responding to a question from Mr. Pap~, Ms. Andersen said that tree cutting permits would likely be issued through the Permit and Information Center (PIC). She said that it was logical that an FTE could be placed at the PIC to review plans and serve as the point of public contact for questions regarding the ordinance. Mr. Pap~ advocated that permits be issued through the PIC so that residents did not have to travel to Garfield Street. Ms. Andersen said that staff was seeking direction from the council on how much time processing the ordinance should take, and how much concern there was among councilors that the process be a speedy one. She reiterated that some stopgap measures could be instituted, which could somewhat alleviate concerns over the need for quick action, but a fundamental issue that must be addressed was the resource requirements associated with the program. She suggested that community disappointment about the program revolved around the lack of plans review, inspections, and follow-through, which was due to a lack of staff resources. Mr. Pap~ asked if the required funding would be proposed in the upcoming budget. Ms. Andersen said yes. Mr. Meisner said he also supported the approach taken in the draft ordinance. He did not believe the City needed to form a department advisory committee to review the ordinance because he thought the council had a general idea of the changes that might be needed. He pointed out that the council had received considerable advice and input about the ordinance. Mr. Meisner endorsed the purpose statement, saying it gave the council a sense of what the City was trying to accomplish. MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 9 5:30 p.m. Responding to a question from Mr. Meisner, Urban Forester Mark Snyder said that the definition of heritage tree did not include the criteria of "historic" or "significant," and that was an omission on his part that would be corrected in the next draft. At the request of Mr. Meisner, Ms. Andersen described the Planning Commission's discussion of the issue. She said that the commissioners saw land use implications in the draft ordinance and were concerned that the document was not being processed properly. Staff indicated its awareness that a different review process may be required. The commission expressed concern about the lack of a public process and a department advisory committee. However, Ms. Andersen said, the commission also recognized the council's interest in moving quickly on the ordinance. That led to the discussion about possible stopgap measures that might be instituted while a more lengthy process occurred. Ms. Taylor said that all anyone needed to do was to look at the south hills to see the forest canopy was deteriorating, which impelled the need for speedy action. She said she wished there could be a moratorium on all tree-cutting. She questioned why the commission needed to be involved in the review process. Regarding the cost of adding additional FTEs, Ms. Taylor asked if increased permit fee and fines would help meet that cost, and if those fees and fines could be increased soon. She stressed the urgent nature of the issue, and said that it was not possible to reverse tree removal, and planting small trees did not take the place of large trees. Ms. Andersen referred the question of the commission's involvement to City Attorney Glenn Klein. Mr. Klein said that there were elements in the ordinance not related to land use that the council could adopt following a public hearing. The elements of the ordinance that constitute land use regulations were those elements that tie the Tree Ordinance to planned unit development, site review, and conditional use approvals. Mr. Klein said that although the draft states that it amended Chapter 6 of the Eugene Code, there were elements in the ordinance that "impliedly" amend Chapter 9 of the code. To state that the City cannot issue a planned unit development (governed by Chapter 9) without complying with Chapter 6 was to amend Chapter 9. Mr. Klein said that Chapter 9 states that amendments to the Land Use Code must be considered by the Planning Commission, which holds a public hearing and makes a recommendation to the City Council for action. He said that the council would be able to avoid the commission process by modifying the existing Tree Ordinance to make it more effective; for example, strengthening its enforcement provisions. Ms. Taylor wanted the council to insist on the commission acting with as much speed as possible. Ms. Taylor requested information on how many of the Tree Foundation's recommendations were incorporated into the draft ordinance. She wanted the council to adopt all the foundation's recommendations. Ms. Andersen said that staff attempted to include all those recommendations and would identify the correlations for Ms. Taylor in the next draft. She noted that the foundation indicated it was pleased with the draft. Ms. Childs invited questions and reported that the Planning Commission had reviewed the previous ordinance. She said that the commission would do its best to expedite the review. MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 10 5:30 p.m. Mr. Torrey asked staff to develop information about the impact on the residential lands inventory from implementation of the ordinance when it was adopted in final form. Mr. Kelly said that stopgap measures were fine, but he wanted to ensure that effort was focused on getting the ordinance right. He did not see the need for a department advisory committee, and he also did not want to see the issue incorporated into the Land Use Code Update given the time it had taken to bring the ordinance to this point. Mr. Kelly agreed with Mr. Rayor regarding the issue of driveways in the critical root zone. He said that the ordinance could cause some small lots to be unbuildable. He suggested that staff consider the testimony offered by Matthew Rivers on how that element of the ordinance could be made more flexible. He concurred with the staff recommendation for additional FTEs. He asked that the request be brought to the Budget Committee, adding that he believed that the cost should be covered in part by increased fees. Regarding the suggestion in policy issue 3 that review of tree removal in land use permits be accomplished through other existing processes, Mr. Kelly said that he was supportive of that approach as long as it resulted in the same level of review and could be extended to cover the cases that did not include a land use application. Mr. Kelly indicated he would provide his other comments regarding the issue in writing. Mr. Rayor did not want a department advisory committee. He requested an interim ordinance that eliminated the land use issue and asked staff to develop stopgap administrative rules over the council's break. Ms. Nathanson said she wanted to call Mr. Snyder later for more information about the October 4 tour. Regarding Ms. Taylor's remarks about tree canopy deterioration, she said that in her neighborhood there were fewer trees than there were five years ago. There were other parts of town where the canopy had filled in with mature trees where there had been no trees 40 years ago. The situation differed from area to area. Ms. Nathanson said that constituents discussing the issue with her were mostly concerned about what Eugene looked like and felt like because of the presence of trees. She said that the purpose statement discussed the essential function of trees as it related to environmental purposes, but the aesthetic value of trees was largely ignored. She said that she would contact Mr. Snyder for more discussion of the statement. Mr. Pap8 said that canopy deterioration was a matter of perspective, place, and time. He believed there had been an improvement in the condition of the tree canopy in many locations in Eugene. Mr. Pap8 wanted an ordinance that had community consensus and that citizens respected. He said that there was inadequate funding to enforce a restrictive tree ordinance that people do not respect. E.Appointments to Intergovernmental Boards, Committees, and Commissions The council considered nominations to the East Alton Baker Park Planning Committee. MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 11 5:30 p.m. Mr. Meisner moved, seconded Ms. Nathanson, to appoint Kate McGew (Position 1, expiring December 31, 2001), Andrew Peara (Position 2, ending December 31, 2001, Bonny UIIman (Position 3, ending December 31, 2002), Jean Murphy (Position 6, ending December 31, 2002), Charles Biggs (Position 7, ending December 31, 2002), David Carmichael (Position 10, ending December 31, 2002), Reed Findley (Position 13, ending December 31, 2002), and Rick Ley (Position 15, ending December 31, 2002) to the East Alton Baker Park Planning Committee. The motion passed unanimously, 7:0. The council considered nominations to the Metropolitan Partnership. Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, to appoint Paul Berger to Position 1 on Metropolitan Partnership for a three-year term ending December 31, 2002. The motion passed unanimously, 7:0. The council considered nominations to the Historic Review Board. Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, to appoint Christine Taylor Thompson, 2195 Olive Street, Eugene, to fill the unexpired term of Elizabeth Carter, Position 3, on the Historic Review Board, ending May 21, 2000. The motion passed unanimously, 7:0. The council considered nominations to the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority. Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, to reappoint Al Carl Johnson, 4995 Center Way, Eugene, to Position 3 on the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority for a three-year term ending December 31, 2002. The motion passed unanimously, 7:0. The council considered nominations to the Toxics Board. Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, to reappoint Mary ©'Brien to Position 3 on the Toxics Board for a three-year term ending January 22, 2003, and to appoint Clyde Carson to Position 6 on the Toxics Board for a three-year term ending January 22, 2003. The motion passed unanimously, 7:0. Mr. Johnson reported that the Riverfront Research Park Commission had recommended adoption of the termination agreement between the University of Oregon and the City, and dissolution of the commission. Given that, staff did not recommend reappointment of those commissioners. The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James R. Johnson City Manager MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 12 5:30 p.m. (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 8, 1999 Page 13 5:30 p.m.