Loading...
Minutes 06/09/2003 URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY MINUTES JUNE 9, 2003 TAPE READING 0000 DATE. COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, CITY OF WOODBURN, COUNTY OF MARION, ST ATE OF OREGON, JUNE 9, 2003. CONVENED. The Urban Renewal Agency meeting convened at 6:45 p.m. with Chair Figley presiding. 0007 ROLL CALL. Chair Member Member Member Member Member Member Figley Bjelland Cox McCallum Nichols Sifuentez Veliz Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Staff Present: City Administrator Brown, City Attorney Shields, Recorder Tennant 0034 MINUTES. MCCALLUM/SIFUENTEZ... adopt the minutes of April 14, 2003 as presented. The motion passed unanimously. 0059 PUBLIC HEARING: 2003-04 URBAN RENEWAL BUDGET. The public hearing was declared open at 6:45 p.m.. Chair Figley stated that she is the owner of a piece of property within the urban renewal district and this may, in some cases result in a potential conflict of interest, but nothing on the agenda for this meeting would result in an actual conflict of interest. Member Veliz also declared that he is a homeowner in the urban renewal district and nothing on this agenda would result in an actual conflict of interest. Administrator Brown stated that the budget presented to the Agency is the budget which has been recommended by the Urban Renewal Budget Committee on May 28,2003. Recommended for fiscal year 2003-04 is a budget of $1 00,000 in the debt service fund which will be used as match money to City funds to complete the downtown plaza project. Also recommended is the 6-year capital improvement plan which lists the projects that would be funded through urban renewal monies in the years 2004-05 through 2008-09. No one in the audience commented on the proposed urban renewal budget for 2003-04. The public hearing was declared closed at 6:50 p.m.. NICHOLS/SIFUENTEZ... authorize staff to draft a budget ordinance based on the Urban Renewal Budget Committee's recommendation. Page 1 _ Urban Renewal Agency Minutes, June 9, 2003 o~_<.._~_,~.~_____._......--.,_~~_",......,_._.",,~__,_ I URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY MINUTES JUNE 9, 2003 TAPE READING Administrator Brown stated that when the capital plan was reviewed by the Budget Committee, there was discussion regarding the North and South Front Street project for year 2004-05 through 2006-07 and whether this project was the best use of urban renewal monies during the course of those three years. During Committee discussion, it was also brought up that the Committee or Board had the current fiscal year in order to make a final decision as to whether or not to pursue this project. Administrator Brown stated that staff intends on starting this project if this Capital Improvement Plan budget is adopted. The City budget includes $75,000 for year 2003-04 to begin with engineering and coordination work that needs to be completed to get this project to a point where it will be deliverable. If the coordination work is not done a year in advance of the project, it will further delay the start of the project. If the coordination work is done in 2003-04 and the project does not move fOlWard in 2004-05, it will be more difficult to get utility companies to grant the City the various permissions needed and for those companies to assign their work crews to work with the City when the time comes. He reiterated that he wanted the Board to understand that if the CIP is adopted, staff will be moving fOlWard to get ready for this project so that the work can begin soon after the start of 2004-05 fiscal year. Member Cox stated that the Budget Committee was told that this improvement project could be revisited next year as to whether or not the entire Front Street project is the appropriate next capital improvement project. Since the Administrator is now saying that the project is locked in stone, he stated that he will be voting no on this budget since he does not think that this project has been discussed enough to determine if the improvement should go the full length of Front Street. He stated that he has no objection to improving Front Street between Hardcastle and Oak Street but has concerns regarding the rest of the street improvement. He stated that urban renewal of the core area was the basis in which urban renewal was sold to the people and he felt that more money should be put into the downtown area earlier in the urban renewal process. He did not feel that the urban renewal district should be a vehicle by which street capital improvement projects are completed. He also felt that the agency needs to look at what is the best use of funds in renewing the urban area. Member Bjelland questioned as to where the $75,000 engineering expense would be paid from in the City budget. Administrator Brown stated that Street funds will be used for this purpose. Member McCallum stated that it was his recollection that the comments on waiting a year to make a decision came from the ex-Mayor rather than staff. He felt that the infrastructure should be developed before the businesses in an urban renewal area can improved. Even though you can develop businesses and buildings, ifpeople have a difficult time getting into the area or it is not conducive for travel into an area, then people will not come into the business district. He also expressed his willingness to hear more discussion on this issue. He stated that Chemeketa will soon be ready to open their Page 2 - Urban Renewal Agency Minutes, June 9, 2003 .,....~~.".~----,._._.~,......_., ,...".""'.."."....~"..--~.""'".,,..,._"' URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY MINUTES JUNE 9, 2003 TAPE READING new building which will bring more people into the area and another building for State and social agencies will be built in that same area which will bring even more people to the downtown area. He also felt that the businesses needed some time to make their own decisions on upgrading their businesses. Member Cox agreed that the comments on waiting a year to make a decision came from the ex-Mayor. He also stated that he is willing to listen to more viewpoints which may then change his opinion, however, he feels that this issue has not been fully discussed since he has been in office. Chair Figley stated that she was appreciative of Board member Cox's desire to upgrade the business district since the area needs substantial improvement and it currently detracts from any possible good impression that the businesses could make. She also felt that it makes no sense to make cadillac level Front Street improvements in the business core and then have primitive connections to the north and south ends. If truck, business, and direct traffic steer clear of one of the arterials to the downtown area (North or South Front Street), then this is a problem that needs to be corrected. She felt that this project needs to be on the front of the improvement list within the next 3 or 4 years since the needs has been there for many years and urban renewal is a method in which this project can be accomplished. Member Cox stated that he could make other arguments that would unduly extend the meeting, however, since he did not hear any support with his position, he suggested that meeting move forward. Member Bjelland questioned the shelf life of engineering plans. Administrator Brown stated that a lot of the engineering work has been done already to get the City to a point where the next step is to begin work with the other agencies that are using the right-of-way to make sure that there is a workable plan involving undergrounding and other preliminary work so that the actual street construction work can move forward without too much delay. There may not be a shelf life on the product but, from the standpoint of coordination, staff would like this process to start and move cleanly through to completion. Additionally, he stated that the entire Front Street project from Hwy. 214 to Parr Rd does not need to be done all at once but, when working with these other agencies, there does need to be a reasonable stopping point and the area that will be done first is the south end of the project rather than in the center. There may be some things for the Board to revisit one year from now but he did not want the Board to leave this meeting thinking that this project would sit on the shelf for one year and not have any further consideration since staff is planning one year in advance. Member McCallum felt that this project was already one year behind and development is in progress that has a high impact on the downtown area and the City needs to be ready. Member Veliz stated that the improvement project has been talked about for several years whether it be a City or urban renewal project. A lot of the initial discussions on downtown urban renewal began with the need to make improvements to Front Street Page 3 - Urban Renewal Agency Minutes, June 9, 2003 ."--~,_..~_.~,,.....--'_..~__--'^~~'___"'~'_~_ ....~.~...~__.._,.._"_u,.c~..,..~..""'_~..._~ .. URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY MINUTES JUNE 9, 2003 TAPE READING since it is a gateway to downtown and urban renewal and, whether it is perception or reality, beautifying the gateway to downtown will be beneficial. With the Chemeketa expansion, there will be a lot more traffic and it makes sense to move forward with the improvement project now rather than waiting until after the second phase of Chemekta has begun and even more people will be in the downtown area. He also stated that the benefits are even broader than the downtown area such as pedestrian safety since there are no sidewalks on N. Front Street. On roll call vote, the motion passed 5-1 with Cox voting nay. 1063 ADJOURNMENT. NICHOLS/BJELLAND... meeting be adjourned. APPRO '-/ ATTEST 11~ ~J Mary Ten nt: Recorder City of Woodburn, Oregon Page 4 - Urban Renewal Agency Minutes, June 9, 2003 ^",_,_,_"-~~_",,,,,_""_'^___"____'__U_~__~"'____''''''''''''''''''''~_''_'___',.._~..,---.......,,,,........--,~-'