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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 02/09/09 Work SessionM I N U T E S Eugene City Council McNutt Room—City Hall—777 Pearl Street Eugene, Oregon February 9, 2009 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Andrea Ortiz, Jennifer Solomon, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka, George Poling, George Brown Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order. A. Committee Reports and Items of Interest from Mayor, City Council, and City Manager Ms. Piercy thanked councilors and staff for their participation in the recent goal-setting work session. She announced that on January 16 the City issued the first over-the-counter permit for an entire house, which would also be the first LEED-certified single-family dwelling. She noted there would be an economic forecast on February 10, the Police Auditor Ordinance Review Committee (PAORC) would meet on February 10, there would be a town hall meeting with Lane County on February 11, the Asian Celebration would occur over the coming weekend and February 14 was Oregon’s sesquicentennial celebration. She said a recent report showed an increase in use of the Eugene Public Library. Mr. Clark also thanked all who participated in the goal-setting session. He attended the Santa Clara Community Organization meeting where the discussion focused on participation in the Infill Compatibility Standards/Opportunity Siting work, restoration of neighborhood waterways and increasing the number of community gardens in the Santa Clara area. He congratulated City Attorney Jerome Lidz for his recent selection as Oregon’s Solicitor General with the U.S. Department of Justice. Ms. Ortiz expressed her appreciation for the goal-setting session and thanked jurisdictions who participated in the recent Emergency Medical Services (EMS) summit. She looked forward to representing the council, along with Mr. Clark, on the newly formed EMS work team. She was supportive of the City’s approach to a new skateboard park in Washington/Jefferson Park, which would combine public and private resources. Mr. Pryor said he was pleased with the results of the goal-setting session. Ms. Taylor stated that she had received calls objecting to the skateboard park and asked if the City was paying for it. Mr. Ruiz said he would provide details of the project. Ms. Taylor said she also received complaints about the Crest Drive/Storey Boulevard/Friendly Street assessment. She said some people were being forced to sell their homes. She hoped the City could do something about the situation. Mr. Poling said the Convention Visitors Association of Lane County Oregon (CVALCO) was unveiling its new logo and branding work at a tourism forum on February 10. He noted that reconstruction work had begun at the intersection of Beltline and Coburg Road to add turning lanes and extend off-ramps. He had received inquiries from neighbors along Coburg and Harlow roads about the possibility of resurfacing MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 9, 2009 Page 1 Work Session Pioneer Pike similar to the project on Arcadia Drive last year. He understood that project was funded with a one-time allocation for street repairs from the Facility Reserve. City Manager Jon Ruiz said the one-time allocation was intended to be a two-year program and he would check on whether Pioneer Pike was on the project list. Mr. Brown indicated he had also received email regarding the Crest Drive area assessments and noted the council was holding a March 9 work session on the subject. He had been attending PAORC meetings and looked forward to the committee’s report. He said he was pleasantly surprised with the council’s goal- setting session. He thought it was very productive. Mr. Zelenka reported on his participation in the Biking/Walking Summit. He was pleased with the goal- setting session and found it very useful. He met with members of the Lane County congressional delegation during a recent trip to Washington D.C. and said the focus was on the federal economic stimulus package. He urged the Lane County delegation to assure that dollars went to the local level. He said the PAORC had worked on 10 of its first 12 items and ordinance modification language was being drafted. He said the next six issues to be discussed represented more substantial changes. A public hearing on PAORC recommenda- tions was scheduled for February 19. He congratulated Mr. Lidz on his appointment. He also had received letters about the Crest Drive assessments and pointed out that the process used for those assessments was used throughout the City and the State to bring streets up to urban standards. He said the Crest Drive process was modified to make it more compatible with the neighborhood’s wishes. Ms. Piercy said she was pleased the sandy area at Washington/Jefferson Park was being replaced with a skateboard park. She reminded everyone that the funds used for parks did not come from the same funding stream as money for road repair and maintenance; if they were not used for parks they could not be reprogrammed to road repair. Mr. Ruiz said he would be meeting with agency directors and executive staff to develop a coordinated package for economic stimulus funds. He said the package could come before the council on short notice to address some of the issues. B. WORK SESSION: Sustainability Commission Recommendations Mr. Ruiz introduced Sustainability Manager Felicity Fahy. Ms. Fahy said the Sustainability Commission would present its next three recommendations, which built on the recommendations presented to the council in October 2008. She thanked Mr. Zelenka for his participa- tion as the council’s representative on the commission. She introduced Will Shaver and Josh Bruce of the Sustainability Commission to present the recommendations. Mr. Shaver briefly reviewed the two recommendations adopted by the council in October 2008, and said work on these recommendations was in progress and updates would be provided later in the year. He said those recommendations and the next three being presented had emerged from a subcommittee tasked with identifying sustainability initiatives that the City could move forward with quickly. Mr. Bruce provided background information and discussed the development of the following recommenda- tions: MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 9, 2009 Page 2 Work Session 1. The City of Eugene shall increase the volume of waste diverted from landfill from internal opera- tions and facilities from current levels of an estimated 45 percent to at least 75 percent by 2014 and 90 percent by 2020. 2. By August 2010, develop a community action plan that aims to reduce total, current community- wide fossil fuel consumption 50 percent by 2030 (as an absolute not a per capita reduction) by (1) establishing targets for achieving that goal; (2) identifying strategies to achieve those targets; (3) identifying necessary adaptations; (4) developing measures for tracking success; (5) identifying financial impacts, and (6) including periodic progress reports back to the community with annual reports of progress to the Sustainability Commission. 3. By January 2010, return to the council with a scoping and resource plan for developing a food security plan which will (1) identify community partners and form a project advisory committee, (2) review existing policies and food system assessments, (3) develop a market analysis plan, (4) identify benefits and barriers, and (5) determine the budget and timeline to complete the plan and identify resources available, including external funding sources. Ms. Piercy asked if the commission had discussed the impact of successfully achieving the goals for waste reduction on businesses engaged in recycling in the community. Mr. Bruce said that had not been specifically discussed, but there would always be a need to have that material processed and that could provide other opportunities. Mr. Shaver noted that the local recycling industry had experienced considerable growth and was a part of Eugene’s economy; expanding it would benefit the community. Ms. Piercy said the City could support efforts to get more local produce to residents and expand community gardens, which were complementary to the third recommendation. Mr. Clark thanked the commission and staff for their work. He felt a 90-percent waste reduction in 12 years was a challenging goal, but could support it as an aspirational goal. He said that it would be difficult to agree with the goal if there was a regulatory component, but it did not appear there were regulatory efforts attached to any of the three recommendations. He found the reduction of fossil fuel consumption by 50 percent even more challenging based on his observations of the market place and would certainly be opposed to any regulatory efforts for that goal. He could support the goal in terms of providing opportunities and education about the wisdom of reducing consumption. Mr. Clark said food security was a very important issue. He had concern with the County’s discussions of rural reserves and the related legal issues, but was in favor of the City operating as a clearinghouse for local efforts. He wanted to see expansion of local community gardens by the City and hoped the market analysis could identify ways to expand market opportunities to sell local produce. Mr. Zelenka commended the efforts of the Sustainability Commission and City staff. He said the goals were well crafted and challenging, but achievable. He said the goals all created work plans and included financial impacts to be brought back to the council. He said they also represented job creation and cost saving opportunities for the community. With respect to the reduction of fossil fuel by 50 percent, he noted that Denmark and the United Kingdom were already there. The goal was consistent with Portland’s plan and the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ agenda. He was disappointed that the agenda item summary (AIS) did not incorporate the triple bottom line in its analysis. Ms. Fahy said a staff team was developing a triple bottom line tool that would be useful in future analysis and decision-making. She hoped to have a draft available within a few months that could be incorporated in future council materials. MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 9, 2009 Page 3 Work Session Ms. Taylor said she was pleased with the commission’s work and would support all of the recommenda- tions. She saw a real connection between energy use and food security and both goals could be helped by controlling urban sprawl. She liked the County’s idea of rural reserves to preserve food production resources. She recommended that the City discontinue charging the Farmers’ Market for parking. Mr. Poling asked how the City determined the amount of waste that was diverted from the landfill. Ms. Fahy explained that it was part estimate and part hands on work “dumpster diving” to determine how much garbage was produced and how much could still be recycled. She said the City worked with Sanipac to identify the amount of material that was recycled. She said the most difficult thing to measure was the amount of waste that was not created by changing practices. Mr. Poling noted that the second and third recommendations referred to a wide variety of community partners, but only the third identified those partners. He asked if there were different partners associated with each goal. Mr. Bruce said there were different groups associated with each goal and there was less specificity in recommendation #2 because there were many potential partners and it would be necessary to determine which ones were willing to be involved. Ms. Fahy added there would be overlaps between the two groups of partners. She said identified partners were those that had already expressed an interest. Mr. Poling asked if the goals of achieving 90-percent waste reduction by 2020 and 50-percent fuel consumption reduction by 2030 were really achievable and how those goals were identified. Mr. Bruce said that the second recommendation relied heavily on the Portland task force report and efforts at the interna- tional level; the goal could be tied to the estimate of the reduction of fossil fuel availability in the future. He agreed that the first recommendation to establish a goal for waste reduction was challenging, but the commission recognized that all of the goals were aspirational in nature. He stressed the importance of setting specific goals to provide guidance for the community’s efforts. Mr. Pryor appreciated the emphasis on a non-regulatory approach. He said he had been able to divert almost 90 percent of waste in his personal business because it was primarily paper, but that goal would be challenging in other work environments like the maintenance yard. He recalled that demolition of the Williams Bakery diverted 95 percent of the material. He supported the second recommendations because it was desirable to reduce dependence on fossil fuel, but there was also an economic benefit if the cost of fuel skyrocketed. Mr. Brown asked for clarification of the market analysis plan. Mr. Bruce said a market analysis would be part of the scoping document for food security to understand the dynamics of the local market. Mr. Brown said the City should do all it could to increase food security, including expanding community gardens. He agreed with Ms. Taylor about the importance of preserving the urban growth boundary as long as possible and no longer charging the Farmers’ Market for parking. Mr. Zelenka, seconded by Mr. Clark, moved to direct the City Manager to adopt the goal of increasing the volume of waste diverted from landfill from internal oper- ations and facilities from current levels of an estimated 45 percent to at least 75 percent by 2014 and 90 percent by 2020 and report back to the council with a work plan for implementation that includes fiscal impact implications. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 9, 2009 Page 4 Work Session Mr. Zelenka, seconded by Mr. Clark, moved to direct the City Manager to report back to the council by August 2010, following the development of a community energy action plan in conjunction with the community climate action plan that will aim to reduce total, community-wide fossil fuel consumption 50 percent by 2030 (as an absolute not a per capita reduction) by (1) establishing targets for achieving that goal; (2) identifying strategies to achieve those targets; (3) identifying neces- sary adaptations; (4) developing measures for tracking success; (5) identifying fi- nancial impacts, and (6) including periodic progress reports back to the community with annual reports of progress to the Sustainability Commission. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Mr. Zelenka, seconded by Mr. Clark moved to direct the City Manager to under- take a scoping and resource plan for the development of a food security plan in con- junction with community partners and report back to the council by January 2010. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. C. WORK SESSION Use of Facility Reserves – Next Steps on Police Patrol Facility Mr. Ruiz referred to the extensive discussion over many years about a City Hall complex and police facility. He said the council’s last policy guidance in 2007 was for staff to develop a patrol facility concept design for the Lane Transit District (LTD) site on Garfield Street and continue to explore acquisition of other potential sites in the area. He said last year the Budget Committee had made recommendations about the use of Facility Reserve funds, but the council did not act on those. He requested policy guidance prior to spending any money from the Facility Reserve. He introduced Facilities Manager Mike Penwell to discuss a patrol facility. Mr. Penwell said concerns related to the current City Hall had been studied and well documented, including space, aging systems and seismic vulnerability. He said there were a number of decisions to be made about the City Hall facility, but staff recommended proceeding with a police patrol facility in order to get first responders into a safe, adequate space. The Facility Reserve had been established for just such a purpose. He said progress had already been made with the move of 9-1-1 and property and forensics to other facilities and a patrol facility seemed to be the next logical step in moving public safety services out of the building. Ms. Piercy felt the best outcome for the council’s discussion was taking the time to obtain all of the information necessary to make a good decision before taking sides on the issue and passing a motion. She wanted to know how dangerous City Hall was to all those who worked in the building, not just patrol functions. Mr. Penwell said the types of earthquakes that occurred in Western Oregon were subductions where one plate slid beneath another. He said based on geological and historical records those earthquakes occurred every 300 to 600 years and subduction zone earthquakes tended to be 9 to 9.5 on the Richter scale and last four to six minutes; the City Hall building would not withstand such an event. He said codes established two safety levels for structures: one was a life/safety level that meant people could get out of a building after an earthquake even if the building had to be demolished later; the second was a central facility level applicable to fire stations, police facilities, schools and hospitals. He said that level was intended to increase the likelihood that the building was operational after a seismic event. An analysis of City Hall by several engineers indicated it would not withstand even a moderate earthquake. He said it had been slightly over 300 years since the last subduction zone earthquake and the State estimated the risk of another one at approximately two-percent per year. MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 9, 2009 Page 5 Work Session Mr. Zelenka expressed concern with fracturing the community if the council placed a police patrol facility as the highest priority. He hoped to gain community support for efforts to address problems with the City Hall building and felt the staff recommendation was premature and reflected the wrong priorities. He suggested slowing down, investigating what should be done with the current building and developing a comprehensive plan that would address a potential move to the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) facility, renovation of the current building, a police patrol facility and Municipal Court needs. He said the plan should also identify options and costs for renovating the current City Hall building, the possibility and potential cost of moving to the EWEB building, cost and location of a patrol facility, cost and space needs of Municipal Court and options for shifting various administrative functions if patrol officers were moved to another location. Mr. Clark pointed out that New Orleans knew in advance of Hurricane Katrina that systems would not hold in a catastrophic event. The council was fully aware that if there was an earthquake of any size, leadership of the City would be incapacitated by the collapse of City Hall and emergency response capability would be impaired at a time when it was most desperately needed. He said council discussions had not educated the public about the safety aspects involved in the need for a new City Hall and police facility. He was interested in investigating the EWEB building as a site for City Hall on a parallel track with discussions of a patrol facility. He noted that master planning for the EWEB site was underway and asked that any motion include an official inquiry to EWEB about the potential of including use of its administrative building as a potential City Hall site in the master planning process. Ms. Taylor felt it was too soon to make decisions. She was interested in knowing the cost of a seismic retrofit of the current building to the life/safety level before proceeding. She agreed that another police facility was needed, but did not understand why the Police Chief could not be located with patrol officers. She said a new police facility should be located downtown. She also wanted to know how much money would be left for a basic seismic retrofit and maintenance of City Hall if a new patrol facility was built. She suggested relocating Human Resources to a rental facility, such as the Beam development. She said services the public needed to access should be located close together and a police facility should be nearby. Mr. Poling pointed out that the council had been planning for a new City Hall for ten years and it was a previous City Council that wanted to separate the patrol facility from the City Hall complex because of concerns that the presence of officers might deter some citizens from coming in. He asked if it would be appropriate to build a complete police facility that included administration and patrol if there was sufficient money in the Facility Reserve and a site available close enough to the downtown area. Mr. Ruiz said a complete police facility was the best outcome, but he understood that would double or triple the cost of just a patrol facility and there was not enough money for that. Mr. Poling stated it was important to take action swiftly as the current patrol facility was inadequate and there were seismic concerns. He said the problem with retrofitting the current building was that the cost would be much greater if the police function was included because the code would require retrofitting to the central facility level. He said sites for a patrol facility had been discussed, including the LTD property and sites that were already owned by the City. He agreed that any funds remaining after construction of a patrol facility should be invested in retrofitting City Hall to make it safe for the remaining employees. He encouraged consolidating as many City functions as possible into City Hall once patrol was relocated and the building retrofitted. MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 9, 2009 Page 6 Work Session Ms. Ortiz agreed with Mr. Poling that a patrol facility had been under discussion for many years and was not a new subject. She supported taking a comprehensive look at City Hall and the functions that should be nd located there, but felt it was time to take action on a patrol facility. She was in favor of the 2 Avenue and Chambers Street site, but realized it would have to be purchased. She said the council should lead by example by investing in downtown. This was a good time for construction projects that would generate jobs as there were many people looking for work. She said a patrol facility was a matter of equity for the police department as the City had already provided new facilities for fire and library services, as well as new offices for councilors. Mr. Brown requested a copy of the most recent engineer’s report and asked if it included cost estimates for retrofitting the building. He expressed concern that the public would perceive building a new patrol facility as paying too much attention to the police and neglecting the other functions housed in City Hall. He thought the issue was too complex to act without more consultation and perhaps a public vote. Mr. Penwell said he would provide the report. He explained that cost estimates for renovating the City Hall building to address all of the issues, including a seismic retrofit, had been developed as part of the master planning process. He said that cost was approximately $50 million in 2008 dollars. He reminded the council that it had spent two and a half years and $2 million on a master planning process that included extensive public involvement. The overriding public sentiment was that something needed to be done and a patrol facility was the logical next step; that information was available on the project website at www.eugenecityhall.com. Mr. Pryor questioned whether it was reasonable to delay when there had been so much discussion and public input. He asked if the $6 million remaining after a patrol facility was constructed would be adequate to significantly improve the existing City Hall building. Mr. Penwell said a central factor was the elimination of EWEB’s steam facility, which would require installation of boilers in the building that could not be connected to old equipment, necessitating an upgrade of the entire heating and ventilating system. He said that would not be feasible with an exterior envelope that needed a full upgrade and if that was done then a seismic retrofit should also be done. He estimated the cost of those improvements at $30 million. He advocated for moving patrol officers into a safe facility as a first step, regardless of what decision was made about reinvesting in the current building. He said all employees in City Hall were important, but relocating patrol functions preserved the ability to respond to the community in a crisis. Mr. Pryor said the discussion was about City Hall components and relocating patrol functions to a new facility was a critical component for the welfare of the community. He was willing to support the recommendation as the most logical approach. Ms. Solomon agreed with Ms. Ortiz that it was time to make a decision following the extensive master planning process of the past two years. She thought the council would be liable if the police were unable to respond to the community in an emergency situation and it would be a dereliction of duty to fail to make a decision to move forward. Ms. Piercy said her intent was to avoid a tie vote and obtain the support of a majority of the council for a decision. She did not want to slow down the process but favored having additional discussion and information to achieve that level of support from councilors. She preferred a downtown location for patrol functions and noted that there was a vacant lot currently available to which patrol vehicles could be moved. She said the possibility of staggering retrofitting and renovation work should be explored. Mr. Ruiz asked if the council was willing to explore a full police facility instead of a patrol facility or preferred to keep police administration in City Hall. He asked for direction on whether to explore the MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 9, 2009 Page 7 Work Session EWEB facility as a potential City Hall and the amount of money the council was willing to ask the community for in terms of new dollars for the project. Mr. Clark thought the council needed to take action and favored the idea of moving forward with a separate patrol facility, but was not certain how to proceed. He agreed a patrol facility should be in the general downtown area. He could support suggested motion B to explore potential patrol facility sites and report back to the council with recommendations on how to proceed. He also wanted the motion to include exploring with EWEB the possibility of including in its master planning process the use of its administrative facility for City Hall. Mr. Zelenka agreed that something needed to be done about patrol functions, but City Hall and Municipal Court were also long-standing issues that had to be addressed. He felt that passing suggested motion A would be a political mistake and the council should investigate in parallel a patrol facility and what to do with City Hall and Municipal Court and develop a comprehensive plan for all of them. He said if the building was unsafe for police it was unsafe for everyone. He doubted that $16 million would be sufficient to construct a patrol facility, leaving little left to address problems with the City Hall building. Mr. Poling, seconded by Ms. Solomon, moved to direct the City Manager to in- clude an appropriation of $16 million from the Facility Reserve in the FY 10 budg- et to fund the design and construction of a police patrol facility. Mr. Poling objected to characterizing the action as political; it related to the safety of police officers. He said construction and materials costs were down and jobs were needed for people in the community. He said it was the right time to move forward with building a new patrol facility and Facility Reserve funds should be preserved for that purpose. Ms. Piercy encouraged the council to allow itself more time to discuss the matter before taking a vote. Mr. Ruiz suggested continuing the discussion at the February 11 work session. Mr. Poling withdrew his motion. Ms. Solomon concurred. Ms. Solomon asked for additional information about the Beam project. Mr. Zelenka asked for information about plans for the current building and associated costs since it would continue to be occupied for the foreseeable future. He also asked for information about Municipal Court needs. The meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jon Ruiz City Manager (Recorded by Lynn Taylor) MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 9, 2009 Page 8 Work Session