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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 03/02/98 Meeting MINUTES Eugene City Council City Council Chamber--City Hall March 2, 1998 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Pat Fart, Tim Laue, Bobby Lee, Scott Meisner, Nancy Nathanson, Betty Taylor, Ken Tollenaar. COUNCILOR ABSENT: Laurie Swanson Gribskov; Mayor James D. Torrey The March 2, 1998, Eugene City Council meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m.; Council President Pat Farr presiding. I. CEREMONIAL MATTERS Mr. Fart read a proclamation signed by Mayor James D. Torrey proclaiming March 1998 to be American Red Cross Month in Eugene. II. PUBLIC FORUM Mr. Farr reviewed guidelines for participation in the Public Forum. Pearl Wolfe, 941 West 7th Avenue, stated that she was Director of the New Roads program of Looking Glass. She expressed appreciation for the allocation made to her organization by the City Council in September. She reported that the grant had enable New Roads to hire three new outreach workers who had made 475 unduplicated contacts during the first month of their employments. She said the grant also enabled 103 homeless and runaway youth to stay at the Station 7 shelter, and 55 family reconciliation sessions to be held. Galen Phipps, 2485 Roosevelt Boulevard, stated that he was Director of the Station 7 shelter program of Looking Glass. He expressed appreciation for support of the City Council for homeless youth and their families. Henry Alvis, 704 Woodland Acres Lane, stated that the rear of property on which he lived abutted Terry Street about which the council was to take action regarding improvements during its meeting. He said he believed assessments made against his property for the improvements were unfair because he would not benefit from them any more than other residents of Eugene. He said he had been unaware of the meaning of the irrevocable petition on his property which required that he pay the assessment. He said he had already paid assessments for the street on which his house fronted. He encouraged councilors to develop alternate funding sources for development of Terry Street. Minutes--Eugene City Council March 2, 1998 Page 1 7:30 p.m. Caryle Tylerkays, PO Box 22912, requested that the council support her effort to keep open the YMCA Downtown Childcare Center. She said she did not believe perceived safety issues on the mall were being addressed. She said the program was the only one of which she was aware which provided the ethnic diversity which she wished to provide for her child. She said she was seeking assistance from Downtown Eugene Incorporated and was preparing applications for foundation grants to support the program. Charles Robertson, 670 Woodland Acres Lane, stated that he did not believe the improvements planned for Terry Street were needed. He said there were other streets in the City which needed widening and improvement more. He said he believed improvements should not be made until it was determined whether the West Eugene Parkway would be built by the Oregon Department of Transportation. Misha Seymour, 1313 Lincoln Street, #306, stated that he wanted to speak about directions being taken by the City. He expressed concern about elected officials benefitting from land speculation, political activities related to the City Manager, the cost of City litigation, loans to private businesses, limited library hours, and the aftereffects of a demonstration which took place on June 1, 1997. He proposed that a daytime curfew be imposed on legislators who propose bad legislation. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE HEARINGS OFFICIAL; AUTHORIZATION OF DESIGN, ACQUISITION, AND BIDDING OF PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS TO TERRY STREET City Engineer Les Lyle referred to the findings and recommendations of the Hearings Official regarding proposed improvements to Terry Street. He explained transportation plans in the Bethel/Danebo refinement plan as they related to Terry Street improvements. He directed councilors' attention to a vicinity map of the project area distributed with the agenda of the meeting, and described how all affected subdivisions had submitted irrevocable petitions for the proposed assessments on properties involved. He described the petition filing process and how generally property owners were made aware of petition requirements. He pointed out that the Hearings Official and staff had responded to the concerns of those who objected to the project, that no design work on the project had yet been undertaken, and that he was committed to dealing with traffic speeding concerns of area residents using traffic calming techniques as much as practicable. Mr. Tollenaar stated that he was familiar with the issues involved in Terry Street assessments because of similar problems in his own ward. He said he believed home owners with double street frontage were not treated fairly in current assessment procedures, although he was aware of some developers who set lower prices for such sites. Mr. Tollenaar asked if it would be possible for a developer to leave a narrow strip of land between property with double street frontage and one of the streets to avoid the assessment inequities. Mr. Lyle replied that he did not believe enough value would be attached to such a configured property to pay for assessments. He said establishment of bond and/or escrow processes for such properties would be possible. Minutes--Eugene City Council March 2, 1998 Page 2 7:30 p.m. Mr. Tollenaar said that he did not believe that a right of access to a street to the rear of a property with double frontage provided any appreciable benefit, as described in documents submitted by the City Attorney. Ms. Nathanson stated that she had spoken at length about issues involved in Terry Street assessments in previous council meetings. She said she believed the process involved was unfair and had likely resulted from lack of good planning. She suggested that the Planning Commission should consider ways to alleviate the impacts of such situations in the future. Ms. Nathanson said she approved the need for the improvement and the use of traffic calming proposed for the Terry Street project. Ms. Nathanson said she had trouble accepting the findings of the Hearings Official regarding benefits to property owners, and would not vote for their approval. Ms. Nathanson asked if it was possible to provide an estimate of the assessment that would be paid by a typical property owner for Woodlawn Acres Street improvement and those proposed for Terry Street. Mr. Lyle replied that he believed most home owners' costs for Woodlawn Acres Street were built into purchase prices. He said the current estimate for Terry Street assessments was $75-$85 per foot, so if a property has 100 feet of property, he or she would pay $7,500- $8,500 in assessments. Most parcels have less length. Ms. Nathanson said that properties with double frontage were an advantage to developers, but that often resulted in increased use of cul-de-sacs and other design plans which exacerbated collector street issues. Ms. Nathanson said she was interested in pursuing issues related to full and adequate disclosure of irrevocable petitions. She and Mr. Meisner suggested that the council consider instructing its Intergovernmental Relations Committee to consider making such an issue be a priority for the 1999 State Legislative session. Mr. Lyle said he believed Ms. Nathanson had raised important issues. He said staff was approaching the Board of Realtors regarding concerns about full disclosure of irrevocable petitions. He added that decisions made by the council regarding Terry Street improvement assessments would affect a number of other similar projects being undertaken (Barger, Ayres). He said current policy was that street infrastructure was paid for by System Development Charges and assessments and that if assessments were removed, the only other logical revenue resource available was the Road Fund, which was already very constrained. Mr. Meisner stated that he shared the belief that assessments for street improvements on properties with double-street frontage seemed unfair. He said issues related to such concerns should be dealt with as Growth Management Strategies were implemented. He suggested ways to better ensure that potential buyers of double-street frontage property are fully informed of irrevocable petitions, but that the City need to be very careful it did not take on the responsibilities of the realtors as established by State law. Ms. Taylor said that she shared the concerns expressed regarding the Terry Street improvement assessments. She said she believed the issue should be reconsidered. She suggested that selling of property without full disclosure of irrevocable petitions should result in a penalty. She said she would vote against approving the findings of the Hearings Official. Minutes--Eugene City Council March 2, 1998 Page 3 7:30 p.m. Mr. Tollenaar stated that he did not believe it was inequitable for property owners to pay for street improvements serving their property, but that assessment of property with double-street frontage did not seem fair. He said the proposed street improvements were needed and that if the council rejected the project, it would create serious consequences for other projects and the transportation needs of the area. He said he believed the only option available to the council was to approve the findings and agree that the assessments were not fair because rejecting the request could create significant delay in street development and "spillage" of traffic into non- collector streets. Mr. Meisner said he agreed with Mr. Tollenaar and would vote to approve the findings. He said the situation in question might be inequitable, but that he did not believe the City should be a "retrospective guarantor" of assessments legally made. He said he hoped no effort would be made to place the City in conflict with State requirements for disclosure of irrevocable petitions. He said allowing property owners to choose which frontage assessments to pay would set a dangerous precedent, be unfair to those who have paid them in the past, and create a significant drain on infrastructure development revenue. Mr. Tollenaar moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, to approve the Hearing's Official's Minutes, Findings, and Recommendation of February 12, 1998, and authorize design, acquisition, and bidding of improvements to Terry Street from Royal Avenue to Roosevelt Boulevard. In response to a question from Mr. Laue, Mr. Lyle said that three double-frontage assessment issues have or were likely to come before the council in the first quarter of 1998 (Barger, Ayres, and Terry streets). Mr. Laue said that the issues involved in double frontage assessment concerns were significant, especially when one of the streets was an arterial. He pointed out that provisions were in place for not making assessments for arterial streets in areas of difficult terrain and suggested that similar arrangements could be devised for double-frontage situations. Ms. Nathanson said that the reasoning of Mr. Tollenaar regarding the issue under consideration was convincing, and that if her negative vote might defeat the motion, she might reconsider and vote to approve the findings. She said her vote was intended to be a symbolic gesture to underscore how important she considered the issues involved. The motion was adopted, 5:2, Ms. Nathanson and Ms. Taylor voting no. Minutes-Eugene City Council March 2, 1998 Page 4 7:30 p.m. IV. PUBLIC HEARING: ORDINANCE CONCERNING A STREET NAME CHANGE FROM LARKWOOD LANE TO ST. CLAIR LANE Mr. Fart opened the public hearing on Council Bill 4638 concerning changing the name of Larkwood Lane to St. Clair Lane. Mr. Fart determined there was no one present wishing to testify in the public hearing. Mr. Fart closed the public hearing. Land Use Planner Nan Laurence reviewed the reasons proposed in the application to change the name of Larkwood Lane to St. Clair Lane. She said no objections to the proposed change had been received from fire, police or neighbors concerned. She explained that the proposed name had been chosen by street residents. She said it was unlikely that a current footpath connecting the lane to another street would ever be developed because of the difficult terrain involved. Acting in Capacity City Manager Jim Johnson announced that the council would consider Council Bill 4638, an ordinance concerning the change of name of Larkwood Lane, located off Fox Hollow Road. Mr. Tollenaar moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, that Council Bill 4638, with the unanimous consent of the council, be read the second time by council bill number only, and that enactment be considered at this time. The motion was adopted unanimously, 7:0. Mr. Johnson announced that the council would consider Council Bill 4638 by number only. Mr. Tollenaar moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, that Council Bill 4638 be approved and given final passage. The motion was adopted unanimously, and became Ordinance 20108. V. PUBLIC HEARING: ORDINANCE CONCERNING REVISIONS TO THE PUBLIC HEARINGS ORDINANCE Mr. Lyle stated that he was available to answer questions regarding the proposed revisions to the ordinance concerning public hearings. Mr. Fart opened the public hearing. Mr. Fart determined there was no one present wishing to testify in the public hearing. Mr. Fart closed the public hearing. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Minutes--Eugene City Council March 2, 1998 Page 5 7:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James. R. Johnson City Manager Pro Tern (Recorded by Dan Lindstrom) Minutes--Eugene City Council March 2, 1998 Page 6 7:30 p.m.