01/26/1989 - Minutes CITY CENTER PLAN TASK FORCE
Thursday, January 26, 1989
Town Hall Conference Room
7:00 p.m
MINUTES
Memberts Present: Stuart Cohen, Mike Marr, Pam Juarez, Richard Morley
Council Members Present: Valerie Johnson
Consultants Present: Bart Gutherie, Don Stasney, Bob Moore
Others Present: Ed Murphy, Liz Newton, Duane Roberts, Peggy Weston Byrd, Dan
Dolan
Called to order by Chairman Cohen at 7:06 p.m.
Minutes were approved as written.
1. REPORT ON NPO MEETING:
Mike reported that about 40 people attended the NPO presentation. The
questions asked were described as "enlightening. " Broad support was indicated
for the direction the Task Force has taken.
2. REVIEW OF REVISED DESIGN PLAN:
Bart indicated that all the illustrations and been updated and legends added.
Street furnishing illustrations are not included to reduce printing costs.
Richard noted that two of the illustrations showed different designs for Ash
St. He and other committee requested that the illustrations be changed to be
consistent.
Text changes requested: p. 11, add as another concept goal the maintenance of
existing businesses; and pp. 16,17, certain changes in the transportation
element.
Bart mentioned that the design district guidelines had been expanded "in form
and language." The capital improvement projects list has been enlarged.
Purely private projects have been eliminated. Deleted also was all budget
information. This will be included in Bob's report.
Don overviewed the design districts. He attempted to avoid the use of
technical lingo. Aim was a public document written in plain English. Pages
28-35 were moved to the implementation section. No content changes were
made; only the sequence was altered.
Mike and other committee members complimented the consultants for doing a good
job of "assembling the committee's concepts. "
Bart handed out a packet of printed material on street furnishing. He advised
the task force to select high quality, durable products, but did not recommend
a particular product line. Don advised the task force to stick with a similar
theme in choosing furnishings be it classical, modern, or some other theme and
to do something that is unique to Tigard. Also, the selection of furniture
should be part of the _ al design of street improvemen,
Stuart stated that furnishing selection was not the function of the task force.
But the handouts would provide excellent reference material for the group
eventually responsible for more specific design decisions.
DEVELOPMENT PLAN:
Bob Moore went through the rough draft. The plan conforms to the very
specific legal requirements set forth in Chapter 45 of state law. The plan
defines conditions of blight in terms of the street network, incompatible and
inconsistent uses of land, small parcels under separate ownership.
The process used in forming a district is as follows: the Council makes a
fings that there is blight in the area and adopts the plan which is very
general and includes no dollar signs. It does identify programs and projects
to be implemented to address blighted conditions. Accompanying the plan is
the report. The report differs from the plan in that it goes into more detail
regarding specific dollar costs of projects and programs and realistic revenue
resources to pay for them.
He needs to clarify with the city attorney the level of plan amendment
triggering a vote of the people as required by charter. Waiting for a legal
interpretation regarding the definition of major and minor changes.
The redevelopment agency prepares a budget every year. Its contains detailed
listing of revenues and project funding.
As proposed in the plan, the Council will appoint an advisory commission that
will take over the role of the City Center Task Force and set priorities for
projects and expenditures. Bob advised that part of the commission should be
from the ranks of the downtown business owners; others should be citizens at
large. Council will act as the development agency.
Stuart asked how big the report would be. Bob answered that it would be about
the same size as the plan. The salient feature of the report is that
anticipated revenue has to match the estimated costs of projects included in
the plan. Unlike most other cities forming renewal districts, so far no big
private development is waiting to come into the downtown. This makes it
difficult to point to a proven revenue stream. The proven revenue sources at
this time are the transportation bond and the parks levee, assumming it passes.
The report estimates the value of property in the area at 35 million.
In response to another question, Bob noted that the plan is complete except
for the expansion of the goals and obligations section and the addition of the
land use element, which city staff is preparing.
The plan recommends that the City Council become the agency. The reason is to
provide better consistency and overall coordination. Valerie mentioned that
the leaders of the recall against the previous urban renewal plan had objected
to this same feature in the previous plan. If a agency consisting of a
majority of private citizens were created, however, she is concerned that
Council would not have sufficient control over their actions.
Mike stated that he favored an agency under the control of private citizens
who were appointed based on their unique qualifications and ability to devote a
considerable amount time to the activities of the agency. He expressed that
he could could not support the the recommendation that Council appoint itself
as the agency.
Valerie noted that regardless of the compositon of the agency, Council must
approve the agency but
Stuart stated that heliked the accountability feature of Council being the
agency.
Peggy discussed the possibility of an agency including both Council and private
citizen members along the lines of the Budget Committee.
Mike stated that he could support such a model provided the majority of members
were private citizens. Ideally these would be persons with business experience
and the competence and know how to oversee the operations of the agency.
Bob noted that the function of the commission is to serve as a communication
tool to the Council and to the people in general.
Peggy felt that the report should include the complete text of the vision
statement.
Liz mentioned that the goals and objectives section is being rewritten and sent
out to members for their review. The projects and programs section is not
listed in priority order. Mike's view was that this fact should be clearly
stated in the report. Peggy suggested that the projects and programs should be
listed in alphabetic order as a way of emphasizing that the list was r7c a
prioritization.
The consensus of the task force was that public restrooms should be removed
from the list.
Valerie recommended against the inclusion of mini-parks, because of their 11 gh
maintenance costs.
Ed stated that the list should be looked upon as permissive and long term, so
as not to preclude anything. The agency is not required and may choose not to
do any or some of the projects on the list. He also suggested the addition of
a marketing and business recruitment program.
Pages 18-30 spell out ways and purposes for acquiring property. Bob sai,: ; hat
it is common to leave this fairly vague. It is understood that any land
assembled by the agency must be sold at market price.
On relocation activities, Mike questioned whether the agency has the burden to
help a displaced businessperson to find a "good" location. A marginal business
may not be able to survive the higher rents that may be required by
relocation. Bob explained that assistant would include relocation help and
moving expenses, but would stop short of implying a subsidy.
Stuart stated that, unlike Tualatin, the overriding intent of the land assembly
section was not to use it to accommodate "superduper development."
Ed pointed out that the section does not include all the rules governing
relocation. These will be included in a separate material to be developed
later on.
Mike indicated that he saw the need for an outside administrator to run the
renewal program. According to Bob, the report allows for a City staff or
private sector manager.
Provision 607 will be clarified to read that the agency will selectively
administer the low-interest loan program.
Bob stated the market determines or sets limits on bond issues. There is no
mechanism other than this. Agency cannot add to projects unless they are listed
in the report and there is a market for the bonds.
The time frame of the plan is 15 years. No increment is anticipated to be
created by big private development for at least five years. This is the
reason for a longer time frame.
The meeting was adjoured at 10:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Duane Roberts