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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCMinutes - 08/09/04 WS MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room--City Hall August 9, 2004 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, George Poling, Nancy Nathanson, David Kelly, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, Gary Papd. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Scott Meisner. His Honor Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. A. ITEMS FROM MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL AND CITY MANAGER Mr. Kelly shared, on behalf of Mr. Meisner, that the Amtrak Depot project was on schedule and on budget and that Amtrak had been slated to move into the renovated depot on September 8. He announced that the grand opening was scheduled for 10 a.m. on September 20 and would be attended by Congressman DeFazio and Amtrak representatives. He invited the Mayor and City Council to attend. Ms. Taylor said she had heard from citizens that they were asked to put in a written request if they wanted to know something about their neighborhood. She felt that regardless of whether it was a City, County, or State issue, staff should try and find the information for citizens. She noted that this request was related specifically to concerns expressed by some of her constituents that a half-way house was proposed to be built in their neighborhood. Ms. Taylor related that constituents were upset about the hours that people were allowed to do construction work. She said she had been asked if the council could make a legislative change so that one weekend day was free from construction noise. She recommended having more concern for the people who already live in a neighborhood than for people constructing new buildings in a neighborhood. Ms. Bettman announced that there was a neighborhood meeting scheduled for August 10 at the Wayne Morse Ranch for the City and residents of the Crest Drive area to discuss street improvements. She hoped that it would result in residents and staff collaborating to come up with a design that would be amenable to the neighborhood while increasing the safety of the streets. Ms. Bettman stated that she was waiting to hear whether or not there was an opportunity for the City to collaborate with the Faith Center and the neighbors so that the development could occur in a way that takes the neighborhood's issues into account. She noted that houses were going to be moved and called the issue %mergent." Ms. Bettman reported that the Police Commission had held a public forum at the library the previous week. She said at least 40 people attended and all were very forthcoming with their issues. She stated that it had MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 9, 2004 Page 1 Work Session been broadcast on Metro Television and was slated to be repeated on August 12. She announced that more forums, the purpose of which was to elicit public input on the police department's complaint process, were scheduled for September 28 at Sheldon Community Center, September 30 at Petersen Barn, and October 6 at the Whiteaker Community Center. She thought it likely that another forum would be scheduled for the University and also one that would be conducted completely in Spanish. She thanked Clergy and Laity Concerned (CALC) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for their help in sponsoring the recent forum. Mr. Poling thanked and congratulated the volunteers and staff that helped to make the second annual Multi- Cultural Festival at Sheldon Community Center. He said he and his wife had attended and it was a good event with good mm-out. He hoped it would become an annual tradition. Mr. Pap6 thanked staff for the copy of the newspaper article on Kurt Corey, director of the Public Works Department, who was recently honored for his work. Mr. Pap6 reported that he had attended, along with Assistant City Manager Jim Carlson and some of the staff, a presentation of a report conducted by EcoNorthwest which looked at what services were and were not provided to the River Road area, who provided them and what the services would cost if they were entirely undertaken by the City. He noted that the transition manager had been hired and was working and thanked the council for approving the allocation to create this position. Ms. Solomon arrived. Mr. Pap6 presented a pile of garbage he had picked up during his morning run between the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) site and the Autzen Footbridge. He felt there were not enough garbage receptacles along that stretch of the bike path. He conveyed his plea to citizens to please respect the environment and pick up after themselves. City Manager Dennis Taylor said Mr. Pap6 provided a good segue for the celebration of the City's volunteers, scheduled for Sunday, August 15, at Alton Baker Park. He commented that, without the help of volunteers, the City could not get ;;half the work done" for the City. He stated that thousands of people donate their time to help pick up garbage in the streams, help in the library, and more. Mayor Torrey announced the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the temporary bridge over the Willamette River at 9:30 a.m. on the following day. He commended the work that went into the bridge, adding that trucks that have been routed through Bend and back to Oakridge will now be able to traverse the Interstate 5 corridor. Mayor Torrey complimented the Public Works Department on its work on Cai Young Road. He felt it was the fastest and most well-done work on an arterial he had ever witnessed. Continuing, Mayor Torrey recommended councilors take a tour of the former Washington School, the new school building at the Patterson School site and the two middle schools, Madison Middle School and Cal Young Middle School, currently being constructed. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 9, 2004 Page 2 Work Session B. WORK SESSION: Economic Development Committee Recommendations Mr. Taylor was pleased to introduce the work of the Economic Development Committee (EDC). He commended the committee's hard work and thanked Jim Forbes for his work as chair and Kathy Smith, who assumed the position of chair when Mr. Forbes left the community. He asked Tom Coyle, director of the Planning and Development Department (PDD), to provide the background on the committee's work. Mr. Coyle reiterated that the committee had been an "outfall" of a directive from the Mayor. He said the committee met eight times, beginning in March 2004 and concluding in July. Ms. Smith read the charge of the committee, from page 15 of the agenda packet. She said the report was not a comprehensive strategic economic development plan and the committee was mindful that there was more that could have been done, had there been more time. She highlighted the recommendations that were made. Regarding its first recommendation, Ms. Smith explained that the committee agreed there was a lack of agreement because the committee was uncertain what the true supply of commercial and industrial land in the city of Eugene consisted of. She advocated for the City Council to support a regional buildable lands analysis, consistent with State requirements. Regarding the second recommendation on land use codes, Ms. Smith asserted there was much room for improvement in the regulatory process. She conveyed the committee's recommendation that Chapter 9 of the land use code be made simpler and reviewed annually. Ms. Smith said the third recommendation to fund an "ombudsman" whose role would be to assist in navigating through the permit process would help streamline the process. Regarding the fourth recommendation on the enterprise zone, Ms. Smith stated that the committee acknowledged that such a zone was not the tool to do everything. She shared the recommendation, delineated on page 30 of the agenda packet. Ms. Smith presented the recommendations in support of existing tools, consisting of infrastructure and urban renewal. Ms. Bettman, seconded by Mr. Poling, moved to accept the report of the Mayor's Committee on Economic Development. Ms. Taylor supported the motion if 'accept' did not mean 'adopt.' She expressed her intention to move to thank the committee and to delay any action until after the conference on sustainable development scheduled for September 23. She commended the committee for its work. Ms. Taylor thought Ms. Smith's quote on page 74 of the agenda packet which asserted the report would "frame the debate" for the City Council and the community was appropriate. She agreed with comments made by Brian Obie in which he supported education as an industry with a capacity for growth. She also supported his recommendation that owners of vacant buildings make rental concessions in order to increase tenancy. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 9, 2004 Page 3 Work Session Mr. Kelly remarked that it was clear from reading the minutes that the committee had worked through many issues in a short amount of time. He wished they had settled on principles and goals that would drive the recommendations. He thought that to be the "biggest vacuum" he saw in previous discussions. He appreciated that the committee had reached a 75 percent agreement, as it had been charged to do by council order. Mr. Papd thanked the committee for its work. He commented that the City had "been around and around" on the second recommendation. He asked if there was any sense from the committee as to how this would be accomplished. Ms. Smith replied that the committee had discussed the logistics of an annual review. Mr. Coyle commented that, in a perfect world, a piece of land use code would be adopted and it would be used for a period of time to determine its efficacy and then either revised or retained. He opined that the challenge in Eugene was that what was administrative and what was policy became longer in time. In response to a question from Mr. Pap~, Mr. Coyle affirmed that an annual review was part of land use code in cities in which he was previously employed. Mr. Taylor added that staff was beginning to incorporate such review as part of the process in a routine way. Mr. Pap~ appreciated the Addendum: The Drama of Compromise, written by committee member Don Kahle. Ms. Solomon lauded the report and the work of the committee. Ms. Bettman thanked the committee for the time they had put into the work. She said it had done the "best with what it had to work with." She thought the recommendations were "recycled old tools." She had hoped that the committee would determine that a long-term committee should be formed to look at what the City's role in economic development should be and what the real opportunities were, instead of looking at one tool and "looking at it in a vacuum." She bemoaned that the committee had not been able to look at the cost benefit analysis of economic tools. She opined that the discussion had yet to happen in which the City considered what it could do with the resources the committee was asking for in these recommendations if the could be invested in economic development in other ways. She would have liked to have seen a definition of economic development "that the community would buy into." She reiterated her objection to the makeup of the committee, calling it representative of "only a small sliver of the population." Mr. Poling also commended the work of the committee. He hoped the City Council would take the recommendations and put them to use. He noted that two surveys, conducted in 2002 and 2004, indicated that constituents wanted the City to take an active role in economic development. He disagreed that the makeup of the committee was not diverse. He thought the members were very representative of the diversity of the community. Mayor Torrey thanked all of the members of the committee. He noted that initially there was hesitation on the part of the committee on whether it should proceed. He believed there were a number of recommenda- tions that the City Council could work with, but the council would only address the first one at its regular meeting following the work session. He stressed that the committee had given the City Council a "tremen- dous leg-up" by tackling the issues. He felt comfortable that the council had received great work from them. He expressed hope that the council would have the courage to move forward with it. He called the report the beginning and expressed hope that it would be put into action and not placed upon the shelf. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 9, 2004 Page 4 Work Session Ms. Taylor expressed hope that the council would not "blindly adopt" the recommendations. She agreed with one committee member's suggestion that economic development focus in part on increasing family wage jobs and another committee member's suggestion that Eugene support its resource-related, medical business and government sector jobs. She supported adding agricultural work to this. Ms. Taylor agreed with the contention of one member that the current urban growth boundary (UGB) contributed to the environment and community livability. Ms. Bettman said she would vote to accept the report, but her vote was not an endorsement of the recommendations. In response to a question from Ms. Bettman, Mr. Taylor said he and the Mayor met regularly to set time for the agenda and had set aside three work sessions between the present meeting and November to consider the recommendations contained in the report. He clarified that the attachment entitled Eugene City Council Revised Staff Motion; Economic Development Committee Recommendations, August 9, 2004 reflected advice from council. Ms. Taylor felt broad principles were needed prior to adoption of the recommendations. She agreed with the principles set forth on page 80 of the council agenda packet. The motion passed unanimously, 7:0. Mayor Torrey strongly recommended the council consider and discuss all of the revised motions in order to fully understand them prior to voting on them. Mr. Kelly noted that the community had gone through a four-to-seven-year process to redo Chapter 9. He asserted the code had not been created in a vacuum, things had been added for a good policy reason or to achieve a particular end. He held no doubt there were provisions that ended up at odds with others, but felt the simplification of the code was a huge work task. He asked if the intent of the motion was to review the codes or to scrutinize future changes in land use code. Mr. Coyle responded that the department had been funded in the previous year's budget to undertake a review of the land use code. He related that he and City Planner Susan Muir wished to go through that process and look for redundancies in the code and elements that needed to be in policy guidelines rather than the code. He hoped to work with the Planning Commission in order to have something within the next four to six months to present to the City Council for consideration. Ms. Nathanson was pleased to support the recommendation. She recalled that she had asked the council to consider a performance or outcome-based code rather than a rules-based code. She asserted that the council had made the code more complicated. Ms. Taylor supported simplifying the code if it meant clarifying it but opposed if it created more loopholes for certain types of development. Ms. Smith, speaking on behalf of the committee, stated that the intent was to simplify and certainly not to form loopholes. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 9, 2004 Page 5 Work Session Ms. Bettman asserted that the City had just completed ten years of land use code review. She felt that the PDD had already adopted the review as a work plan item. She did not see how this would improve the economic development policies of the City. She thought streamlining land use code would decrease regulation, which she opposed. She remarked that "more than just the developers" should be considered and the neighborhoods needed to be involved. She questioned opting to put the money in this way rather than creating an alternative path so that a developer could use a clear and objective code and a vehicle for an alternative path to allow developers to be creative and intuitive. She noted that PDD had asserted it did not have money to develop this "alternative path." Mr. Pap6 asked what was meant by the provision of a framework for "bounded delegation." Mr. Coyle replied that certain activities, projects, or standards different from the code could be approved if a series of standards were prescribed at the front end. He called it a level of flexibility at the edges of the code. He asserted it would allow the person at the front counter a certain level of creativity. Mr. Pap~ supported simplifying the process. He cited a city in California wherein a procedure was set up so that everyone acting on a permit sat at a table together and worked the kinks out of the proposal. He felt this resulted in better submittals. Mayor Torrey liked the recommendation. He predicted that there was a lot of work to be done on it while the council was on break. He felt that what was needed, more than anything else, was the ability to provide predictability to the people who bring their businesses to Eugene. He said the standpoint of the small person who wanted to add something on in the backyard was that the process was frustrating and often it was simpler to build things without permits. He noted that people sometimes opined that the Mayor could build a brick fence and others could not, but the truth of it was that he had built his brick fence five years ago, prior to changes in the code that precluded the building of such walls. He thought companies who did not have the ability or finances to address some of the land use issues in Eugene fled to Springfield. He opined that the cleaner and more predictable the code could be made, the better off the community would be. Mr. Kelly agreed there was room for improvement in the current code. He recalled that he had attended several sessions at the recent American Planners Association conference on form-based codes and other non- Euclidean constructs. He said, given the opportunity, he would support this. He asserted, however, that the staff motion did not express these ideas. In response to a question from Mr. Kelly, Mr. Coyle opined the "alternate path" idea would not speak to any of the principles that were being set forth. He called it a major zoning administration question. He asserted that undertaking a performance-based zone at this time would be a complete overhaul of the code. Mr. Kelly expressed confusion at what the "alternate path" would do. Mr. Coyle replied that it would add 20 percent more predictability to the adjustment review process. Mr. Kelly requested a work session on the "alternate path," adding that he did not think the staff activity reflected the council's direction. Ms. Nathanson recognized that the council would not likely take action at the present work session. She wished to convey, nonetheless, her suggestion for a change in the wording of the second revised staff motion so that it would read, as follows: MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 9, 2004 Page 6 Work Session 2) Direct the City Manager to apply the principles noted under the Policy Issues section of this Agenda Item Summary to promote simplification of Chapter 9 of the Eugene Code over time and to provide an annual review of the Code. Ms. Nathanson stressed that the annual review should be for the benefit of the public. She expressed hope that when a work session was scheduled it would be to discuss how to get it off the ground so that staff could begin working on it and not to discuss individual sections of the code and how they should be modified. Ms. Bettman thought evidence that the code was obstructing development to be anecdotal. She conjectured that the average citizen's point of view was that there was constant development and a lot of it. She asserted that the City of Eugene had one of the lowest turnaround times for permits and joked that a person could get a permit here faster than she could get an appointment with her doctor. She felt the motion as staff wrote it did not direct staff to return to the council, but rather directed staff to proceed. She opined this was a job for an independent auditor. She commented that there was much anecdotal evidence and perceptions and she alleged that no one had actually looked at the code in an unbiased way to determine how best to promote economic development that had been identified as desirable in this community. She agreed it was necessary to provide predictability to the developers and said residents of the community also needed to have predictability. Mr. Kelly asked Mr. Coyle to clarify whether the $100,000 budget allocation was to be split between code changes and site-specific nodal development. He opined that the "alternative path" planning would increase efficiency in the permitting process by more than 20 percent. Mayor Torrey asked councilors to comment on the third revised staff motion, which would direct the City Manager to proceed with a service level adjustment to fund a business facilitator position in FY06. Ms. Bettman remarked that it was a budget issue. She questioned how the money, within the context of the broad range of options, would be best spent on this. She agreed there were some advantages, should the position be an ombudsman who would also be a facilitator for neighborhoods and residents and would represent them as aggressively as they do a developer. She felt the proposed position to be that of an advocate for the developers. Mr. Coyle disagreed with that statement. He underscored that the staff's role was to resolve the issues between neighborhoods and development. He stated that PDD did not only work for developers and the equality of treatment it provided to all parties was embedded in its charge. Ms. Solomon conveyed her support of the proposals presented by the committee. She strongly believed the committee was very diverse and representative of our community. She pointed out that the recommenda- tions had been reached in a consensus manner. She said she was willing to move forward with the recommendations and give them a try. Mr. Kelly supported the idea of having the facilitator serve neighborhood groups. He cited the East Campus Development Plan as a work of both citizens and development toward a common good. Mr. Pap6 expressed his support. He hoped that the facilitator would not substitute for the core issues the City needed to address in the permitting process. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 9, 2004 Page 7 Work Session Ms. Nathanson supported the recommendation. Ms. Taylor said she currently did not support the recommendation, but she wanted to think about it more. She thought an advocate was needed to protect individuals as well as neighborhood organizations. Mr. Poling voiced his support for the recommendation. He surmised from Mr. Coyle's words that the facilitator would help an applicant through all aspects of the process including working through any issues that could arise from neighborhood concerns. Mayor Torrey asked Ms. Smith to speak to the intent of the committee regarding the facilitator position. Ms. Smith stated that the intent was not to advocate for developers. She felt more comfortable with the word ;applicant.' She related that the committee had discussed neighborhood groups and had posited that the position would embody fairness and help with how the code would be implemented. Ms. Bettman suggested that the motion come back with the embodiment of the intent of the committee. She said her support would be predicated on the language. She referred to the minutes and asked where the funding for the position would come from. She thought the applicant should contribute for the service and that taxpayers should not subsidize it. Mr. Kelly supported the value of the position and asked staff to provide the council with a range of alternatives to fund it. Mr. Taylor responded by saying that the City needed to do many things within PDD and within the General Fund and some of the service funds. He said the motion here would enable staff to build the decision package that could be considered by the PDD director and ultimately by City management. Ms. Nathanson said if the City was getting in the way of redevelopment of an existing site or the ultimate development of another site, then it was part of the problem and needed to be part of the solution. She stated that there was a substantial majority of Eugene citizens who believed the City should be involved with economic development. As such, she felt the recommendation to be entirely appropriate. In response to a question from Ms. Nathanson, Mr. Coyle explained that in the conditional use permit (CUP) process it was the staff's role to work with the neighborhood, the developer, and the code for the best possible redevelopment of the site. He called it a balancing act. He commented that, as much as staff tried, it was impossible to identify all of the outcomes in a body of code prior to its implementation. Mr. Kelly commented that a decision package implied that it would come in the City Manager's draft budget. He felt that his request would not cause any delay. He reiterated that he was only asking staff to come back with funding options. Mr. Taylor responded that the implementation of the economic develop- ment committee's report would be a justification for a larger discussion with the Budget Committee as to funding options. He reiterated that the council would have three work sessions to fully discuss the recommendations. Mayor Torrey called for council comments on the recommendation to proceed with the application to establish an Enterprise Zone. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 9, 2004 Page 8 Work Session Ms. Taylor thought such a zone would be very dangerous. She said State legislation would have to be changed before she would support an Enterprise Zone. Ms. Bettman quoted Mr. Sheehy who said Eugene's competition was global. She opined it made little sense since tax abatement was injuring school districts, the State's General Fund budget, the County budget, jails, the City's General Fund, etc. She would support such a zone only if it was extraordinarily strategically focused on properties that otherwise had obstacles such as infill and brownfields. She said, in light of her main objective of creating living wage jobs and a sustainable economy, the zone should have a sliding scale. Mayor Torrey spoke glowingly of an industry in western Eugene and said it was the largest taxpayer in Lane County. He thought the new Enterprise Zone could help small corporations start and grow in the area. Mr. Kelly asked if it would be possible, under State law, to cap how much tax revenue to forgive from a single applicant. Mr. Pap6 thought the zone, of all four recommendations, had the potential to do the most good. He was impressed by the way the ;;diverse committee" approached the issue and arrived at a unanimous recommen- dation. Mr. Poling commented that the City missed the opportunity to apply for the zone for two years. He wished to move this particular recommendation forward so that the application could be made in a timely manner when the application period was open. Ms. Bettman asked, regarding the industry Mayor Torrey spoke of, how much the City paid per job, how much the City paid in infrastructure, and how much the City was paying in services. She recalled the hearings in front of the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) in which the schools and utilities said they had the capacity for the industry. She felt the recent bond measures for more school buildings and the fact that the Eugene Water and Electric Board had drilled several test wells to be evidence that the capacity was not adequate. Ms. Taylor agreed with Ms. Bettman, adding that the population had increased and more police officers were needed as well. She recalled another business that had not paid a living wage and had left, she thought, without paying any taxes. She surmised that the people employed by the business had caused a further burden on the human service providers as a result of the low wages. Mr. Kelly thought the Enterprise Zone could be useful and appreciated the fine-tuning work the committee did on parameters. He thought the greenfield versus brownfield delineation was worth further consideration. He asked staff to provide an outline of what would happen next, should the council vote to apply for the zone. Mayor Torrey stated that the fifth recommendation would be the last item on the City Council regular agenda and that Councilor Meisner would be available by telephone for the vote. He thanked the committee for its work. The council gave the committee members a round of applause to demonstrate appreciation for their civic contribution. The meeting adjourned at 7:19 p.m. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 9, 2004 Page 9 Work Session Respectfully submitted, Dennis M. Taylor City Manager (Recorded by Ruth Atcherson) MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 9, 2004 Page 10 Work Session