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Minutes - 08/13/2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING 0001 DATE. COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, CITY OF WOODBURN, COUNTY OF MARION, STATE OF OREGON, AUGUST 13, 2001. CONVENED. The meeting convened at 7:00 p.m. with Mayor Jennings presiding. 0010 ROLL CALL. Mayor Councilor Councilor Councilor Councilor Councilor Councilor Jennings Bjelland Chadwick Figley McCallum Nichols Sifuentez Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Staff Present: City Administrator Brown, City Attorney Shields, Public Works Director Tiwari, Community Development Director Mulder, Police Chief Null, Park & Recreation Director Westrick, Public Works Manager Rohman, Management Analyst II Kerwin, City Recorder Tennant 0033 ANNOUNCEMENTS. A) Walt's Run - 5k RunlWalk, 1 Mile Jaunt: This event will be held on Saturday, August 18th, 8:00 am, at Centennial Park. Sign-ups for this event are underway at the Aquatic Center. B) Music in the Park: Upcoming musical events at Library Park are as follows: August 14,2001, 7:00 p.m. - Aebi-Coulson Jazz Band August 21, 2001, 7:00 p.m. - Poodle DeVille, original material, folk and blues August 28,2001, 7:00 p.m. - Allesandro's Jazz Quartet and Bill Hughes Band 0097 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE REPORT. Kristi Olson, representing the Chamber Board, reminded the Council of the upcoming Chamber events: 1) Chamber Forum will be held at the Woodburn Family Medical Center on August 14th at 12:00 noon which will include a free barbeque lunch compliments of Silverton Hospital. Guest speaker at this event will be State Legislator Cliff Zauner. 2) Business after Hours will be held on Thursday, August 16th, at Hire Calling Staffing Solutions, located at the comer of Hwy. 214/ Hwy 99E, between 4:30 pm and 6:00 pm. 3) The annual Chamber Auction will be held on Saturday, August 18th, between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm, at the Woodburn Crossing Shopping Center. The Chamber has received a lot of participation from the business community this year and she urged the public to attend this event. Tickets for the barbecue can be purchased at the Chamber office. Page 1 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING 0158 MAYOR'S GOLF TOURNAMENT REPORT. Mayor Jennings stated that this year's event was successful and he thanked this year's 3 corporate sponsors: 1) Big 3 Auto Dealers (Hillyer's Ford, Miles Chevrolet, Hershberger Motors), 2) Woodburn Company Stores, and 3) Silverton Hospital. 0238 CONSENT AGENDA. A) regular and executive session Council minutes of July 23, 2001; B) Planning Commission minutes of June 28, 2001 and July 12, 2001; C) Community Center Committee minutes of July 19,2001; D) Livability Task Force minutes of May 10, 2001; E) Claims for the month of July 2001; F) Police Department Activities Report for June 2001; G) Planning Project Tracking Sheet dated July 17,2001; and H) Building Activity Report for July 2001. FIGLEY/SIFUENTEZ... adopt the consent agenda as presented. The motion passed unanimously. 0270 PUBLIC HEARING: WOODBURN URBAN RENEWAL PLAN. Mayor Jennings declared the public hearing open at 7: 11 p.m.. Councilor Figley stated for the record that she is owner of property located at 171 Grant Street which is within the proposed Urban Renewal area. She has sought oral advice on several occasions on this Urban Renewal process in order to determine where she is not only not crossing the boundaries of the law, but is staying well within the boundaries. She stated that she now has a written opinion from the Ethics Commission indicating what she can do at this meeting and what she can do in the future in the event this proposal passes as a member of the Council and a member of the Urban Renewal Committee. For purposes of this meeting, she is unable to determine from their opinion whether the possibility of this project, if passed, would make her property more value such as a certainty, a possibility, or a probability. Since she does not know, and since it makes the difference between a potential and actual conflict of interest, she declared an actual conflict of interest for this meeting and stated that she would not take part in the discussion or in the vote. No other conflicts or declarations were made by the Mayor and Council. Administrator Brown stated that there were a number of items he needed to cover with the Council in order to thoroughly complete the staff report for this hearing. He stated that the purpose of this hearing is for the Council to consider the Urban Renewal Plan and the Report on the Plan that was provided to the Council and have been recommended by the Urban Renewal Agency earlier this evening. This same Plan has been recommended to the Council for the conduct of a public hearing by the Planning Commission and this is the same Plan that was recommended to the Council for approval by the Urban Renewal Page 2 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING Planning Committee that assisted City staff and the City's consultant in preparing this Plan. In his discussions with members of the community over the last nine months regarding what the City would like to accomplish with Urban Renewal, the plan describes the areas that the Committee is attempting to address as being areas of unrealized economic and social potential. There are a number of areas in the City that, in a worse case, have fallen into deteriorated conditions and, in a better case, areas that are not seeing the kind of private investment needed in order to support going concerns, in order to create neighborhoods that people feel safe and secure in living in, in order to create the kind of property tax values that a healthy community needs in order to move forward, and in order to create the kind of atmosphere and environment that is inviting to both residents to participate in and tourists to come visit, and business to potentially come and invest in. The Council has recognized this set of problems and has attempted to address it over the course of the last decade. Examples of work done include the 1994 Downtown Conservation District that established and designed guidelines but did not really promote development, the 1997 and 1998 Downtown Development Plan that was conducted with the assistance of a citizen's committee and that committee recommended a number of goals and objectives that, at that time specifically for the downtown area, the Council accepted in 1998 but chose not to budget for due to the excessive capital costs. At the time, it was recommended that approximately $800,000 worth of improvements be focused in the downtown area and a funding source, at that time, was not available other than the General Fund. He stated that when he was hired in 1998, the Council's direction to him was to find a way to try to address the problems in the downtown area and the physical deterioration of the area, the physical deterioration of the infrastructure, the lack of commercial viability of the area in general, and the safety and security concerns and perceptions of safety and security that people have that prevented them from going to the area on a regular basis. Urban renewal has been looked as an opportunity to find the money to do the work that needs to be done and, in the course of looking at urban renewal, staff has looked at areas outside of the downtown area. The Young Street corridor has serious problems with some of the housing and some commercial structures as well. Another area is Highway 214 and Highway 99E where there are problems with congestion, undersized facilities, lack of pedestrian facilities, and safety concerns particularly on Highway 214. Another area involves the main corridors that come into the downtown area, North and South Front Street, and find that they are narrow, not particularly inviting to the tourists or those who are looking to do business in the downtown area, and overhead lines create a very cluttered appearance. In general, all of these areas need a great amount of improvement in order for them to present the kind of positive image that Woodburn is trying to portray and to create the kind of environment that is inviting to private investment. Realizing that urban renewal is a tool in order to address these problems, it provides a long term planning opportunity to identify a series of goals and objectives to achieve and to tie those to a stable based a funding source that Page 3 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING will allow over a period years to improve the conditions in the area and to pay for those improvements with the increase in value generated within that area. The Council had asked the City staff to evaluate the feasibility of urban renewal in the City and this was completed last summer. The Council was presented with a feasibility analysis conducted by the City's consultant last October. The analysis indicated that, based on a preliminary project boundary area and the kinds of projects that might be considered and feasible as a means of correcting the problems that need to be addressed, it was feasible to move forward with the establishment of an urban renewal district and the Council so directed staff to proceed with getting the Plan and the Report on the Plan prepared which is now before the Council at this hearing. The Plan was prepared with the assistance of a 16- member Urban Renewal Planning Committee. This group was appointed by the Mayor and was intended to represent a wide variety of interests who are directly affected by the formation of the district. This includes business owners, property owners, the affected taxing bodies other than the City as well as interests including economic development, tourism, and recreation and the arts. That group began working in earnest about 8 months ago on this Plan and has made a number of changes through the course of its consideration of the matter which he will talk about when he talks about the Plan itself. The committee meetings were conducted in public and members of the public were allowed to participate to the degree that there was public comment held at the end of each of these meetings, a public workshop was also held where everybody in the City was invited by some means of public notification to talk about what the design and the uses of the downtown ought to look like so that people could get some kind of a sense as to what was being talked about by the committee and what it might look like when it was done. About 100 people participated in the February 2001 workshop and, when you strip away those who were appointed to one committee or another or City staff or members of City commissions, there were approximately 70 members of the public who actually attended those 2 meetings and provided some input. Information gathered, including input that he had received as he has gone out to members of the public, service agencies, different neighborhood groups, members of City commissions, etc, was put together in the Plan that is before the Council at this meeting. He referred to the map which has been available in his office since the public hearing notices went out for this hearing. He stated that, about 3 weeks ago, every property owner of record in the City was provided with a synopsis of what the City was trying to accomplish with this public hearing and the contact names and telephone numbers. A number of people have come into City Hall to look at the map and there have been a number of telephone calls both in inquiry and persons voicing their opinion both for and against the proposed projects. The initial boundary proposed last October was somewhat different than what is now before the Council. Referring to map, he stated that everything within the orange boundary lines is what is representative of the proposed Urban Renewal District. In the left-hand comer at the top, it is an expanded view of what the downtown area looks like. As it is proposed at Page 4 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING this point, the boundaries of the Urban Renewal District incorporate the entirety of the downtown, they incorporate the Young Street corridor which is both the street itself and properties to both the north and south of the street, incorporates a small portion of the commercial businesses on Highway 99E on both the east and west sides immediately adjacent to Young Street, incorporates the right-of-way on Highway 99E a little to the south of town and clear to Highway 214/Highway 211. There are two parcels at the northerly end of Highway 214/Highway 211 which is currently undeveloped land and have been included within the project boundary areas in order to increase the overall valuation of the project area. Moving from the downtown area itself, included are both North and South Front Streets since both of those streets are in extremely deteriorated condition and represent opportunities for corridors into and out of the downtown area. North Front Street connects to Highway 214 and, at that point, it is proposed that a new interchange to the highway as well as highway widening improvements and additional work at the intersection of Settlemier and Highway 214. Also included is the Fire Station house and it comes out as far as Evergreen Road and Highway 214. From there, the boundary follows along Evergreen to another parcel of raw land, approximately 50 acres zoned commercial, which has been included in the boundary to bring up the base value of the area. The majority of the work intended to be done over the course of the project life is in the downtown area and the Young Street corridor area, a small commercial piece on Highway 99E, and along Highway 214. Referring to the Plan (Option 2 revision 3), he stated that the original bounds were somewhat larger than what is proposed and there were a number of undeveloped parcels that have been taken out because it was felt that it was not necessary to the overall valuation of this district. The Committee attempted to include no more in the district than necessary in order to provide for the value that it takes to do the work that is being recommended to be done, and in only those areas that would be benefitted from urban renewal. The urban renewal area represents about 9% of the overall land area and, at the time of preparing the feasibility study, about 3% of the City's valuation. On a value to area ratio, it is about one-third of that of the surrounding areas outside of the urban renewal district which indicates that it is under value and a prime candidate for some level of assistance. In reference to the plan goals, the Urban Renewal Plan provides the goals and objectives, the activities that are planned to be undertaken, the costs of the activities, a map of area, description of the legal meets and bounds, and the zoning currently in existence within the area. The objectives that have been included in this plan were those developed in 1997 and 1998 for the downtown area and were validated at the public workshop in February 2001. The plan would promote private development, rehabilitate the commercial and residential building stock, improvements to streets, streetscapes, open spaces, utilities, parking, public facilities, housing, and providing for public art. All of these goals and objectives are consistent with the City's existing Comprehensive Plan. There will need to be transportation system plan amendments in order to make all of this in concert and staff is working on this now Page 5 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING through a Transportation Growth Management (TGM) grant. It is consistent with a Woodburn Downtown Development Plan that was done in 1997 and part of a periodic review exercise, therefore, the City is staying consistent with all of the planning documents that the State is asking that the City stay consistent with which includes zoning uses within the area. As part of this hearing, another requirement is to talk about the activities or the projects that need to be undertaken in order achieve those various goals. On page 7 of the Plan, the public improvements are enumerated which include street, curb, and sidewalk improvements. This would include not only widening but also putting in facilities that do not currently exist to renovate and recondition facilities that are in deteriorated shape; streetscaping projects; pedestrian, bicycle, and transit facilities; public parking facilities; public open spaces; public safety improvements; and public art. All of these projects together total about $23 million and, as indicated earlier in this presentation, those are calculated in calendar year 2001 dollars. Calculations have not been made forward for the cost of money of future value projections. The $23 million, when multiplied by 2.5% interest annually, gets the City to the maximum indebtedness number that is included in the report of $29.3 million. The maximum indebtedness number is also calculated in today's dollars. It is highly likely that, at some point during the course of the life of this plan, we will run out of money since $29 million in today's dollars is not going to last 24 years. This has been done on purpose rather than listing a higher number since it makes sense for people to look at today's dollars and the activities that are being done, and it builds in a safeguard whereby if the job is being done right, the public will be asked to increase the maximum indebtedness at that time otherwise the work will be done at the current maximum level. The plan itself has been built in order to address the blighting conditions previously brought forth. The plan itself has been prepared consistent with ORS 457 which is the State statute that dictates how urban renewal plans need to be put together and the process to be followed. Staff is comfortable that what has been given is a document that meets the statutory requirements for the plan. He reiterated that the project costs total $23 million and the largest single share of this cost are the public works projects. This includes major contributions to highway widening on Highway 214. That would provide for the City's share of the 50% match towards the cost of that project. ODOT seems to be more sympathetic to communities that are providing some level of match to highway improvements rather than asking them to come up with the money on their own. In calculating costs as part of the City's match, it would provide for sidewalks and signalization. The costs also include water, sewer, and storm drain improvements that are necessary in the various areas of the district, money for the undergrounding of utility lines to improve the visual appearance of areas and to allow for the better operation of various utilities. Beyond that, the plan includes $2.7 million for structures and facilities which is the renovation of the commercial structures. This would provide for the ability to acquire property, if necessary, and to do facade improvements, create a better looking downtown and Highway 99E environment, Page 6 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING and to do any major structural renovations or rehabilitations that need to be done. There is an equal amount provided in the plan for housing which amounts to about 5% of the total plan. It will provide for property acquisition, rehabilitation of both multi-family and single family structures primarily in the Young Street corridor but it could be anywhere within the district bounds depending on the viability and desirability of a particular project. The money also includes any relocation needs that may arise as a consequence of doing work on structures where tenants primarily are residing and they need to be relocated because of the work. Another $ .5 million is included in anticipation of general rehabilitation which includes property acquisition, small business assistance in the form of loans and small business incubation in order to generate some entrepreneurial investment primarily in the downtown area. In anticipation of the impact on the fire district which is one of the taxing entities that would forego revenue growth during the life of this plan, included in the plan is $1,135,000 of the total to provide for improvement to the existing fire facility. This will address the impacts of area growth on the fire district over the course of time. Another $2.7 million is included for administration which represents about 10% of the overall project costs and, for example, as in looking at administration of grants, it is typical to see administration costs between 11 % and 20%, therefore a modest amount is in the plan to take care of daily operations of the urban renewal agency and the conduct of these activities. Also included is 1 % for public art which amounts to $227,000 with the intention to improve the visual appearance of the downtown area, not only through the buildings and streetscapes, but also by providing some public art. These pieces will be strategically located in places where it is anticipated that the public would meet. The downtown development plan also recommends open space areas for cultural and market events, and the art has been included to help make those areas look more attractive and appealing to not only residents but also to tourists. The Report gives the Council a background on the physicallblighting conditions and the specific activities that are anticipated to be engaged in and, are at this time, activities that need to be done along with associated costs. In the course of year to year evaluation of the Urban Renewal Agency's budget and the Urban Renewal Agency's capital budget and capital plan, the Agency would be evaluating and prioritizing those particular projects, looking at the money available, and deciding year to year, and in 6- year blocks, what will be accomplished and in what order it will be accomplished in. The activities have not been listed in a priority rating but rather are things that are known that could improve the physical condition and the economic viability of the area. There are approximately 260 acres of the City included in the plan area which is just under 10%. An outline of the project costs, detailed within pages 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 of the plan, shows exactly where the money would be spent. He reiterated that it includes storm sewer projects, water projects, streetscaping, undergrounding utilities, providing assistance to small businesses and private investment, sanitary sewers, a number of street projects, administration, and assistance to fire and public art. It is anticipated that it will take 24 Page 7 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING years to complete the program. Urban renewal is financed through the tax increment that is generated on the growth of value on properties within the district bounds. There have been a number of questions raised as he has talked to people over the last couple of weeks about how this plan will affect their property tax or their properties. The answer staff has been giving citizens is that this plan will not affect their tax rate and the tax rate will not change as a consequence of urban renewal being implemented. Urban renewal transfers that growth of revenue from the agencies that are currently the recipients of that growth to the Urban Renewal Agency. It does that for the specified period of the plan, for the life of the plan, or for such time as the plan may be extended or shortened depending on how well the plan works in the future. A number of taxing agencies are affected by this plan with the City of Woodburn being the most greatly affected. The City will forego approximately $10.8 million of revenue over the life of the plan. In smaller amounts foregone by districts, the School District will lose about $8 million of revenue growth from the area in the bounds, the County will forego a little over $5 million, the Fire District will forego about $3 million, Chemeketa College will forego about $2 million, the regional Library system and the educational services district will also lose lessor amounts than Chemeketa. One of the requirements in developing this plan is to work with all of the taxing agencies. A number of the agencies were represented on the planning committee. The document before the Council has not been voted on by most of those taxing agencies but their representatives did serve on the planning committee that recommended this document. A letter from the Fire District was received in May 2001 indicating its support of the Urban Renewal District. The Administrator stated that he had met with the Marion County Commissioners last Thursday and, while they did not support the Urban Renewal Agency, they did not oppose it either. They indicated concerns with the impact of urban renewal on their budget, and, beyond that, the failure of the State to provide funding for mandated activities in addition to many other cuts that they are experiencing. The City's proposed urban renewal district would be one more problem for them but they were basically in agreement that work needed to be done in Woodburn. All of the other agencies have been contacted for the opportunity to consult and to receive their comments and recommendations on this plan with letters sent via registered mail on July 13, 2001 and, 30 days later, the City has not received any formal comments from the agencies. Therefore, it is assumed that no serious opposition is being voiced otherwise the City would have heard from those agencies by now. The Administrator reiterated that the Plan and Report complies with all of the provisions of ORS 457 and he stated that he has covered, in summary, what is in the Report, why it is in there, and all of the various statements that needed to be made for the record. He also stated that the City's Urban Renewal consultant, Charles Kupper, is present at this meeting and will be available to assist in answering technical questions. 2177 Councilor McCallum questioned if the School District loss of $8 million was a true loss of funds over the life of the plan. Page 8 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING Administrator Brown stated that it is not a true loss of funds. The State will provide, through its average student allocation, the amount necessary to keep the district's student allocation up to where it is at this time. Right now, it is a combination of the district's property taxes and state revenues. The State's revenue share will go up and the property tax share will go down. The net effect on the operating budget of the School District is a push. The Mayor stated that money is available at the State level and if it does not get allocated to the City, then it will go to another district since it has already been laid aside by the State and it will get spent. Councilor Bjelland questioned if the Urban Renewal plan expenditures are locked into the amounts assigned to each of these particular areas or if there is some flexibility in changing dollars from one area to another area if the need appears to be greater or are there other sources of funding some of the projects designated in the plan as long as it is within the maximum indebtedness. Administrator Brown stated that there is flexibility within areas provided that the project is on the list. If the project is not on the list, the document could be amended at a later date. Recognizing that the plan is looking at this year's costs and projects that have had preliminary engineering but no bid specifications have been put together, the agency will be able to make amendments in future years when more definitive costs have been ascertained. Any significant amendments to this plan require that essentially the same process be followed that has been done this last year to build a plan, hold public input hearings, and noticing property owners. 2461 Mayor Jennings stated that a letters were received from Mr. & Mrs. R.E. Kuerien and Dorothy Senatra urging the Council to refer this issue to the voters. The letter from the Kerien's had been photocopied and distributed to each Councilor while the letter from Dorothy Senatra was read into the record by the Mayor. 2537 Mike Sowa, 865 Gatch, stated that he is currently the President of the Board of Directors of the Woodburn Rural Fire Protection District and is speaking in support of the boundaries and the idea of the urban renewal. The Board feels that it is to their advantage since it will give them an opportunity to receive additional help on facilities that will be forthcoming one being the building renovation on the existing headquarters building on Hwy.214. The Board also feels that this program will enable them to work closer with the City and a chance to combine with the City to come up with ideas that will benefit the community. As far as losing money for fire protection, there is a potential of losing $3 million, however, they do not feel that it should cause the taxpayers any panic since, outside of the proposed urban growth boundaries, there is plenty of growth in progress one being the new expansion of the mall. The mall will generate a considerable amount of money in which they will get all of the tax monies. The primary reason for the Board's Page 9 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING decision was that they could work closely with the City more and the fact that they could possibly get the extra help with the building of their new facility. They see this program as a positive and they want to work closely with the Urban Renewal District. As a point of interest, there was a fire at the Grant Street apartments last year and the infrastructure that would be change, such as putting the power and telephone underground, would keep the 9-1-1 from being at risk. At that time, provisions had been made to move the 9-1-1 Center completely out of City Hall since those wires ran down that alley. If the wires had been dropped, the Center would have been moved, which included the Police and Ambulance services, out to the Fire Hall. This did not happen, however, this is one of the things the Board sees as a positive. Another one is that if there is renovation to those buildings downtown, fire protection sprinklers would need to be installed in those buildings which is an aide to the Fire Department. The number 1 priority of the department is safety of people with the second priority is protection of property. If help can be obtained without losing a great deal of their own income, which is primarily property taxes, they will be able to accomplish what they can and work more closely with the City. 2809 Anthony Veliz, 449 S. Front Street, stated that he is a Woodburn resident, chaired the Urban Renewal Planning Committee and is a member of the Woodburn School Board. In addition, he is a parent and a third generation community member, therefore, he feels that he personally has a vested interested in the community. He participated in this process because the downtown area and the City are very important to him. His grandparents came to this community in the 1950's and, with his parents here and his children there are 4 generations now residing in the City, they have seen it change and grow. During this planning process, there was a diverse group of community members from all walks of life, different interests, but, by in large, there was a lot of opportunity for participation. Additionally, there were community forums, meetings, and committee members surveying the residents to see what they wanted for this community. There was general support for a downtown area that the community can be proud of that is safe, family oriented where a diverse group of people can come and gather and have a sense of place. All across this country, communities, whether they are large or small, are struggling with the issue that the City is struggling with today. If the downtown area is lost, the City will lose its identity as a community and, in the long run, it will really hurt the City. There are issues about what is going to be done, how it will done, and what area is going to be affected, but there is a need to look at the bigger picture. He stated that any downtown is a foundation and backbone of any community and, right now, the City's back is hurting and it is necessary to take a look at what can be done to make the downtown area a stronger place. He stated that he and his wife live on Front Street and walk downtown during the day. They feel very safe and the Police Department, Woodburn Downtown Association, the people that work downtown have done an excellent job if making it that way. There was a time when it was bad but he feels that it is now better and it can get Page 10 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13, 2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING even better than what it is now. In his opinion, it will not get better in the future if the urban renewal planning process is stopped. Instead, the community will talk about it for another 10 or 20 years and we will end up where we started. He also stated that he has had an opportunity to be involved in a lot of professional leadership organizations that brings a lot of people from all over the state to the downtown Woodburn area. These individuals love the diversity and come downtown but questions they always ask are "What happened to the buildings, how long has it been liked that, and what are you going to do about it". He stated that those comments stick with him since he is a proud a person and, when you talk about where you live, you want to be proud of your community. Overall, he feels that negative comments about Woodburn are turning around. The Schools are doing a good job, the college is expanding, and the work the City has done is making an impact. Urban Renewal is part of a bigger plan. He believes the fundamental question is what kind of a community does an individual want to live in. To the south is Centennial Park, to the north is the golf course, to the west is a shopping center mall but the question now is what is going to be done about downtown. Chemeketa Community College has invested in the downtown area and he feels that the community should also make an investment. He reiterated that the City cannot afford to veer off the course and he urged the Council to continue the Urban Renewal Planning Committee and see this project through. 3206 Don Bear, 375 Columbia Drive, stated that the members of the Senior Estates Golf & Country Club Community Relations Committee and the officers of that Committee do not necessarily reflect his views and he was surprised to here earlier at this meeting that a member of this Committee was neither for or against the Urban Renewal Plan. He stated that, as a resident of Senior Estates, he was disappointed that their Community Relations Committee has become a political action committee against urban renewal. In his opinion, certain members of the Committee take pleasure in criticizing City administration and the urban renewal project. He stated that it is an embarrassment to some residents of Senior Estates to have their Community Relations Committee continue to appear as a very negative entity. He suggested that it be a positive force within the community. He also suggested that if the principal representatives of this Committee would extend their energy towards cleaning up and solving some of the problems in their own area much more would be accomplished in Senior Estates. In his opinion, Woodburn is fortunate in that the administration now serving the City can more than compare with any other in the State of Oregon and, if anyone can make urban renewal work, these officials can and will since they are dedicated to this project. A majority of the taxing entities have endorsed the plan and, even though the urban renewal district is not a perfect solution, no other viable option has been brought forth that offers long term financing that an urban renewal district can produce. He encouraged the Council to give this project a chance to succeed. Page 11 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING Leslie Greear, 700 Gatch Street, stated that she was in favor of urban renewal and would like to see a new face on Front Street and the slums cleaned up on Young Street. Willis Grafe, 1328 Dogwood Drive, stated that he has seen the City change over the last 75 years and he has often wondered what has happened to the downtown area. Based on the City Administrator's presentation, he now realizes how much struggling has been going on over the last several years. He appreciates the vision that the City administration has and that the plan seems to be exceptional. Even though the plans are not perfect, he is in support of the action taken to date in moving forward with the urban renewal plan. 3645 Pam Kilmurray, 2536 Roanoke, also spoke in favor of the urban renewal district. She stated that she had been a City Councilor and on the urban renewal Task Force. She stated that the comments made by Mike Sowa and Anthony Veliz are similar to what she had planned on saying. She stated that she has been a resident of Woodburn for 22 years but traveled to Woodburn every year prior to that in order to visit family members. She also remembers what the community looked like many years ago and, in order to revitalize the City and make it livable, the urban renewal plan is a means to accomplish the rehabilitation of the areas included in the plan. Jerry Wheeler, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce, spoke on behalf of the business community of Woodburn in support of the urban renewal project. He echoed a comment made by Anthony Veliz earlier in that a downtown area is the heart of a community. He stated that he had come from the mid-west and his last community was a town that had an actual town square. By cutting out the heart of the community, you lose almost everything even though you have plenty of outgrowth in the area. He suggested that Woodburn has a unique opportunity in which so many people are working towards the same common goal by recognizing a problem and coming together to solve the problem. He stated that this plan would improve the pride of the people existing in the downtown community and create a public/private partnership that has not existed in the downtown area for a long time. He suggested that this is a win-win situation for all since tourism will benefit, more businesses will be located downtown, and it will increase the livability and quality of life in the community. He stated that the Chamber endorses the urban renewal plan before the Council. 3968 Nancy Kirksey, 1049 McKinley, stated that this is an opportunity that may not be available again. She recounted her prior experience from 30 years ago in which the citizens were against school funding and, after a lot of hard work and talking to the local residents, there was never a school closure in Woodburn. She feels that, over the past years, Senior Estates has become more involved in the Woodburn community and more caring about the community than the area people move here from. She agreed with Mr. Bear that the City needs to move forward. She reminded the Council that the City is at the gateway of the Oregon Gardens and tourists will be traveling through Woodburn to get to Silverton. The City needs to improve the downtown area in order to improve the Page 12 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL ,MEETING MINUTES Angust 13, 2001 TAPE READING whole community. She stated that everyone who owns a piece of property in Woodburn needs to be for urban renewal. As property values decrease in certain areas, all of the properties in the City suffer because W oodbum then becomes a location people do not want to move to. She stated that when the City Administrator was hired, the Council wanted the Administrator to help them improve the downtown area. Now that a plan has been put together with the vision of the Council and the leadership of the Administrator, she encouraged the Council to move forward with the plan. 4291 Larry Kleinman, 1790 Landau Drive, stated that he has been a resident for the last 19 years and is the Secretary-Treasurer of the Farmworker Union (PCUN) with their headquarters office located on Young Street which is within the urban renewal district. He stated that his organization is in support of the plan and he thanked the Council for their hard work in bringing it about since there are hundreds of their members that will benefit in many of the ways others have articulated. He expressed his opinion that this plan will bring about not only physical improvements but demonstrates a commitment to growing equitably. He felt that this has been an issue for the City especially over the last decade of growth at the higher economic end. He stated that this plan will make a long term commitment to that equitable growth which he feels lives up to the historic responsibility listed on the City seal. Many people and businesses have invested their time and money in the buildings and properties within the urban renewal boundary and he feels that it is very fitting that the taxpayers make an investment in improving the area and matching that effort. He also expressed his appreciation of the inclusion in the plan of allowance for dislocation effects because whenever there are improvements, dislocations can occur. In an urban renewal area, it is possible that dislocations happen to those who can least afford to be dislocated. 4552 Bob Day, 1032 Stanfield Rd., stated that he currently serves as Vice President of the Senior Estates Golf & Country Club and Chair the Community Relations Committee. He thanked the Council for sponsoring the Urban Renewal program viewed Sunday night on Channel 5 and he complimented the Mayor, Council President Figley, and other presenters for, in his opinion, an interesting, informative, and food for thought presentation on urban renewal issues. He also stated that he want to clear up what he perceives as misinformation. The Senior Estates Community Relations Committee has sponsored several forums dealing with the critical issues facing their community and the City. One of those issues has been urban renewal. The forums have been, by design, informational in nature with individuals representing a wide variety of interests and presenting information to those in attendance. The Community Relations Committee will continue to sponsor such informational forums for the citizens of their community. To date, the Committee has taken no position to support or oppose the urban renewal issue and it is doubtful that a position on this issue will be taken in the future. As an Page 13 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING individual, he has a few concerns regarding the urban renewal plan. First of all, taxes will not be increased but the money will be shifted to meet the costs of the urban renewal plan. Money will be taken from service agencies thus, in his opinion, having a negative effect on the services given to the residents by those agencies. With the large number of dollars involved and the source of these dollars, it would be appropriate for the citizens of Woodburn to have an opportunity to approve or disapprove this plan. He is also concerned over the priorities such as when will the work begin, how will the dollars be allocated to a given job, and what will happen with the money runs out and work still needs to be done. He stated that he hoped to be around long enough to see the improvements that are being contemplated with this program. Speaking for himself, he gave the Council his blessing to see this plan move forward. 4960 Keith Woolen, 259 W. Clackamas, stated that the plan includes Hwy. 214 improvements that is needed to relieve traffic congestion and he questioned what type of 1-5 interchange improvements would be made as a part of the overall improvements. He expressed concern with the potential installation of a median strip from 1-5 east to Country Club Road and the loss of business to those businesses in that area. He reminded the Council that he had, for many years, suggested that an arterial street be constructed from the Butteville overpass to connect to Hwy. 99E on the east. He stated that traffic is so heavy on Hwy. 214 that he sometimes has to wait 10 minutes in order to get onto the highway. Additionally, Wal-Mart will be doubling the size of their store which, will in turn, increase the traffic. The outlet stores will also be expanding and Hayes Street will experience more traffic since motorists will be using Hayes Street to skirt the traffic. Mayor Jennings stated that Barbara Lucas gave the Mayor, Council, and City Recorder each a copy of a statement that she would be reading into the record. 5500 Barbara Lucas, 214 E. Clackamas CI, stated that she had been following urban renewal planning since October 2000 and there have been many changes since then. In her analysis of the activities of the plan totaling $29.3 million, there is $6.8 million will be spent downtown on Young St. and Front St.; $5 million will be spent on housing and commercial redevelopment; $780,000 would be spent to build a new street connecting Hwy. 214 and Front St.; $6.9 million would be spent to widen Hwy. 214 from Evergreen to Park; $227,000 would be spent for art; $2.3 million for administration; $1.1 million for fire protection upgrade; and $6.2 for inflation. She stated that taxes would be diverted to the urban renewal district from the taxing districts for the next 23 to 24 years. A breakdown of the taxes include $5.3 million from Marion County; $10.7 million from the City of Woodburn; $2.8 million from Woodburn Fire District; $144,000 from Regional Library; $8 million from Woodburn School District; $493,000 from the Education Service District; and $1.1 million from Chemeketa Community College. She stated that urban renewal can create benefits but the benefits should be weighed against the costs Page 14 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING borne by the taxing districts which usually cover operating expenses. She reiterated that for the next 23 to 24 years, the taxing districts will see a reduction in their revenues and will have less to spend while calls for their services will increase. Additionally, Woodburn will need more classrooms, fire protection, police protection, libraries, parks, and county services as the population increases and these agencies will be proposing increases in fees and/or taxes. She stated that she was not arguing against urban renewal rather to point out the tax losses which will be suffered by taxing districts over the next 23 to 24 years. She reminded the Council that funds spent on urban renewal cannot be spent by those taxing districts that should have received the dollars and the Council has to choose if the urban renewal district or the other taxing district receives the funds. She expressed her hope that the Council will refer urban renewal to the voters and let them decide if the taxes should be spent for urban renewal or for schools, fire protection, police protection, parks, libraries, and county services. 5985 Leonard Wanner, Crosby Road, stated that he was not speaking specifically on the urban growth boundary but he did want an explanation from the Mayor as to what he meant in a recent newspaper article that Crosby Road did not go anywhere. Mayor Jennings stated that the intent of his statement goes back 15 or 20 years in that the Oregon Dept. of Transportation (ODOT) had referred to Crosby Rd in that respect since Crosby Road goes from Arbor Grove Rd to Front Street and there is no way to connect Crosby Road from Front Street to Highway 99E. Mr. Wanner agreed with the Mayor, however, he stated that Crosby Rd does connect to Front Street, Boones Ferry, Butteville, and Arbor Grove Road. 6244 Evelyn Young stated that she has decided not to make a statement on this issue. H. Arthur Kohn, 1330 Rainier Rd., stated that he has been a resident of Woodburn for approximately 3 months and he has enjoyed listening to the comments and presentation made on this subject. He stated that he was formerly a resident of Eugene, OR which has an Urban Renewal District. This District has not been able to make it work and they have been running in a deficit. He did state that the District has done marvellous things over the years, however, people in Eugene resent the urban renewal district because it has increased their taxes quite a bit. He questioned if there was anyone in the audience actually against the formation of an urban renewal district since he would like to hear comments on both sides of this issue. He stated that he is not opposed to an urban renewal district but would like to have an opportunity to vote on the issue. Mayor Jennings stated that, prior to Measure 50 (property tax measure), urban renewal would cost the taxpayers money. With the passage of Measure 50, the tax rate will remain the same to the property owner. Mr. Kohn also questioned what effect this loss of tax revenues would have on the local schools. Mayor Jennings stated that the State is required to maintain a per student fee and there is a fund established at the State level which guarantees that the student fee level will be Page 15 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING met by each school district. If the local revenues do not meet the student fee level, then State funds increase to the district to meet the student fee level. Councilor McCallum stated that it is the City's understanding that the School District will be held harmless over the life of the plan. Tape 2 0073 David Christoff, 671 Ironwood Terrace, stated that he was on the Urban Renewal Committee and has served on several committees for the City, County, and Chamber. He recounted a similar situation that he went through on the Cleveland Street improvement several years ago. At that time, there were a few well-meaning individuals in the community that single-handily defeated a local improvement district effort to improve the street. He could not recall the number of years it took or the thousands or millions of dollars difference to improve Cleveland Street simply because a few people thought it was a bad idea. In time, it proved that it was a good idea and the citizens in that part of town, through the local improvement district process, did pay for that improvement. This urban renewal project is like that situation in that it is very easy to create doubt and to give a person a reason to vote no on any issue that involves funds. It is more difficult to educate and enlighten individuals on a very complex issue such as urban renewal. As a Committee, they were not uninformed individuals but it took them awhile to grasp the complexity of it and understand the issue but, once they did understand it, they saw it as a very viable, reasonable, and most logical way to improve an area of town that not only the citizens of Woodburn want to see improved but others that come into our community. He reiterated that everybody in Woodburn benefits from this program and we owe it to the citizens to move forward with this urban renewal district. It can be said that funds are being lost and it will increase the cost of service, however, Fire Chief Hendricks provided an explanation at a Senior Estates meeting that was very enlightening. For example, he stated that it costs more money to service old buildings than it does new buildings. The new buildings in this urban renewal project will create less service and the District will be able to focus on another area in town that demands more service than it is receiving now. He expressed his opinion that the urban renewal plan is a wonderful project and if it is referred to a referendum, his concern is that a few well-meaning people, through smoke and mirrors, can misdirect an excellent project and it would be a real pity to miss this opportunity to improve an area of town that really needs it and improves the livability of the entire community of Woodburn. 0290 Harvey Franklin, 120 E. Lincoln, stated that he is speaking as a representative of Chemeketa Community College but not necessarily for the college or the Board. He stated that the urban renewal district is a fantastic opportunity for Chemeketa since they will be building a new building adjacent to downtown. During the last 5 years, they have held public input hearings to determine where to locate the new campus because the citizens of Woodburn and the surrounding communities did vote for a bond levy for new Page 16 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING facilities. During the hearings, they heard overwhelming that they wanted the facility in downtown Woodburn and to be a part of the revitalization of downtown. Chemeketa has been working diligently over the last 3 years to develop the plans for the building and, with the inclusion of partner agencies that will be located at the facility, the project has grown from $3.2 million to over $4.6 million. Chemeketa, along with all of these other agencies, are all betting that downtown will look different in a few years. The urban renewal district itself will have a small impact down the road, however, that possibility is greatly outweighed by the social good that it is going to do to the community. To raise the assessed value of the properties in the future will generate more income from the properties if a future bond levy is approved. In summary, the social good has greater value and the benefit of the impacts that come with revitalization include better businesses, people wanting to locate and reside in the community, better wages, standard of living increases and they in turn pay more taxes, and it helps all of the community. He urged the Council to support the urban renewal district. 0491 Nancy Kirksey, 1049 McKinley St., stated that it was her understanding that the new Woodburn factory outlet addition will put new property values on the tax rolls in an amount that is similar to the values proposed within the urban renewal district. If that is the case, the revenue from that project alone will offset the revenue loss which is something everyone needs to be aware of. 0551 Mayor Jennings declared the public hearing closed at 8:45 p.m.. Councilor Nichols stated that he was on the Council when the Cleveland Street issue was initially brought up and, at that time, some residents were not willing to trust the administration as to what work needed to be done in order to do the project correctly. He suggested that this is a similar case in that people do not really want to trust the administration, staff, and the Committee who have spent hours going over this project. He did not think that revitalization is something that the City thinks should be done rather it is something that needs to be done. Years ago, the City had an opportunity to revitalize the downtown area but the same type of problem occurred when a couple of people did not want improvements made and they said some half-truths and false information which resulted in the downtown area staying pretty much the way it was until recent years when the alley way was improved. To date, the downtown area has still not been improved to make it a livable place. He has visited two different renewal districts and, at one of them, the people could not praise it enough because it brought in new industry, took the slum buildings out and brought in large condos and motels, restaurants, a new museum in the area, and it is now a tourist attraction. He stated that he could not, in all conscious, say this is a bad project. Instead, it is for the benefit of all of the community as well as those in his constituency. To date, he has only heard two people arguing against the district and all others have been in favor. He will be going along with the majority of those who have Page 17 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING talked to him about wanting the urban renewal district formed and will vote in favor of the plan. Councilor McCallum stated that he was very appreciative of all those who gave testimony at this meeting and it has been very enlightening. He stated that he has been a member of the community since 1966, except for 3 years, and he has seen the Woodburn of old, and the Woodburn that is growing. In some areas, it has been fantastic while in other areas it has not kept up. It was his pleasure to serve as Co-Chair of the Livability Task Force which was formed about 2 years ago. This committee found that there are times when Woodburn residents do not appreciate what they have or they do not feel good about Woodburn. The one area that came to the Task Force's attention unanimously was downtown. He feels that there are a lot of nice homes in the downtown area and some businesses have been changing on their own, however, the solutions of the Livability Task Force was to look at clean-ups, tree planting, and cooperating with the Downtown Association. In his opinion, this is an opportunity to have a revenue source that will help the downtown area and the identified areas. There may be some difficulties for some taxing districts although they see things differently and they see the benefits to the community. He reiterated that Woodburn is a great City and this is a great opportunity to improve the area. It used to be said that Woodburn is one of the best kept secrets around but that has changed since people are seeing that this is a great place to be and a great place to work. He feels that the Urban Renewal Plan and project, as long as it is flexible, well-managed, monitored, and adjusted as time progresses on, is a tremendous thing for Woodburn and now is the time to move forward with this opportunity. 0941 Councilor Bjelland stated that he has been a resident since 1945 and he has seen Woodburn grow from a very small community to where it is today. It is at a critical juncture as it relates to future development. When he served on the Council 25 years ago, Woodburn experienced another critical point in time and the Council, at that time, helped to set Woodburn were it is today. The City Hall, Library, Fire Station and Wastewater Facility were built at that time which set the infrastructure that has allowed Woodburn to grow and achieve where it is today. He feels that the City is at another crossroads. In regards to the proposed district, he stated that it is important to recognize that the proposed area of the district represents 3% of the tax base in the community today and funding for the proposed district only involves the additional dollars that the properties would have. He reiterated that dollars already being paid to the agencies at the current tax value would continue to be paid to those agencies. If the 3% can be leverage and the other 97% of the property increases in value, or can bring in other opportunities to grow, your tax bases and ability to fund projects will not be decreased. In fact, he feels that they will actually be increased which is why the Fire District, School Districts, and agencies other than Marion County are not opposed to the district. In the case of Marion County, they have taken a neutral position because they recognize the needs that Woodburn has and the key role Woodburn plays in Marion County since we are the focal point, other Page 18 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13, 2001 TAPE READING COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 than Salem, for much of Marion County. He stated that urban renewal dollars are seed money for investments into opportunities which can bring in other sources of dollars to enhance the community. The City is not investing 100% in a lot of these projects but hope to leverage those dollars. Without those urban renewal tax increment dollars, the City will not have the ability to leverage those dollars to address the needs of Woodburn. Infrastructure is key to a City's growth and much of the dollars in urban renewal are going to increase the infrastructure in the City which is very crucial to making Woodburn the community we hope to have in the next 15 to 20 years. Transportation has been the number issue in Woodburn and how it is solved will dictate what Woodburn can do from both a livability standpoint and attracting industry that can help to make the type of wages we would like to have in our City. In the Woodburn Economic Opportunity Analysis and Development Strategy report that the Council has just received, that has been identified as one of the critical areas that the City needs to address if we hope to attract the type of industry and to enhance our economy over the next 10 to 15 years. The infrastructure is the transportation system. He stated that he is the City's representative on the Mid Willamette Valley Area Commission on Transportation (MW ACT) which is the advisory group to the Oregon Transportation Commission on how transportation dollars in Oregon are spent. Currently, MW ACT has a very important task before them at this time in that the legislature passed the Transportation Improvement Act of 2001 which provides $400 million in transportation funding opportunities over the next 4 to 5 years. He expressed his hope that Woodburn will be able to attract money from that $400 million to address its transportation needs. He will continue to fight for the improvement at the 1-5 interchange and widening of Highway 214 as funding for that project. This is a one-shot opportunity and, if successful in getting this project funding, it will save Woodburn millions of dollars over the next 5 to 10 years because the City will get access to funds that will deal with our transportation problems from outside of our taxing agency. One of the criteria that is being looked at in order to prioritize the projects that will be funded out of the $400 million is the amount of local investment that will be put up to help address those transportation problems. The City has about $6 million identified for the widening of Highway 214 which pays for only a portion of the current estimate of $12 million. Between the anticipated cost of improving the 1-5 interchange and the widening of Hwy. 214, the potential cost is $25 million which is not funds the City can pay over the next 15 to 20 years unless there is a creative way of financing the project. By using urban renewal dollars to help leverage that type of investment, he feels that the City has a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to seriously address the most significant problem facing the City that being transportation and Highway 214. Therefore, this is one additional reason that he strongly encourage, and would be voting for, the formation of the Urban Renewal District. He stated that it is important that there are checks and balances so that projects are not started unless funding mechanisms are in place. The property tax climate is different than what it was prior to Measure 50 and some cities Page 19 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING have had problems as a result. He reiterated that as each problem is addressed it is necessary to have funding sources available and relatively secure. He assured the public that, as long as he is involved in the process, it is one issue that he will be looking to make sure the checks and balances in place since he does not want to mortgage the future of the City. Since the area identified only represents 3% of the current tax base, and by looking at the increase incremental value that the tax base can generate over the next 24 years, he feels that Woodburn will be far ahead by undertaking this type of project. 1404 Councilor Sifuentez stated that she endorses this project 100% and she thanked the citizens for their input and attendance at this hearing. She reminded the public that hours of work have been put in by citizen committees to gather and disseminate information before a document comes before the Council. These citizens are so involved into what happens to Woodburn and that they work at giving the taxpayers the best that can be given. In listening to the comments made, Woodburn is a great place to live and the urban renewal project will enhance the community. She recounted a recent tour bus trip to Oregon Gardens and, at the time of taking this trip, there was little to say about the downtown area but, if urban renewal does occur, there will be a lot of things that can be said about downtown on tours thereby generating more tourists in our community. Councilor Chadwick stated that of all comments she had received from a number citizens, she was really surprised to hear that only 1 person spoke against the renewal district. She agreed with comments made by the other Councilors, especially with Councilor Bjelland on the transportation system, but also on the downtown improvements that would encourage tourists to stop in our downtown area on their way to the Oregon Gardens or other local areas. Councilor Bjelland also stated that there have been a couple of requests to put this issue before the voters and, while it is nice to put tax related issues to the voters, he feels that it would not be appropriate at this point in time. He reiterated that the City is in the middle of meeting deadlines on a transportation project proposal to improve the interchange. The Oregon Transportation Commission has to select the projects to be funded out of the $400 million by February 2002, and the MW ACT has to make its recommendation as to which projects to be funded out of the MW ACT region by October 5, 2001. He stated that he needs as much leverage as possible to take to MW ACT to lobby for transportation improvements at the interchange which will effect transportation flow through Woodburn to other surrounding communities. Delays to the formation of the Urban Renewal District could tie his hands in trying to get the interchange improvements since he would not have future dollars available to help offset other transportation improvements along Hwy. 214 to the east. Councilor Nichols stated that public comment at this meeting has been almost all positive and, with the advertising that was done prior to this hearing, the Council would be amiss if a recommendation was not made at this meeting to approve this project. Page 20 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING Mayor Jennings stated that Marion County does have a financial problem but it is a lot bigger than the City's urban renewal process. He also stated that the City receives minimal services from the County in relation to the dollars that are by City property owners to the County from the tax rolls. In his opinion, the County has a lot of problems to solve and the small amount of 3% that would be affected is not enough over the next 25 years to impact their budgetary process. He also reminded the public that nobody's tax rate will increase as a result of the formation of the urban renewal district. As far as going to the voters, he has always been an advocate of letting the voters speak, however, the City is looking at 10% oftheir geographical area and 3% of assessed valuation. The bulk of the people inside of that area are businesses and not necessarily residents. Taxes collected that are from city property owners outside of the identified area will not go to urban renewal, therefore, he does not feel that a vote on this issue is necessary. He agreed with the Councilors that, if no action is taken right away, the window of opportunity will missed by our community. He stated that he has been a resident since 1943 and the City has come a long way over the years. He is a strong proponent of checks and balances to this system and annual budgets are required. Projects are also reviewed annually as part of the public process and there will be flexibility in setting priorities and changing the priorities as needed. He also stated that there may be a time in which the Council may want to create an Urban Renewal Agency that is not the Council but, as elected officials, the Mayor and Council are accountable to the public. Some people may feel that there are downsides to the formation of this district and he respects people who do not agree with him, however, when you talk about a district size of 10% consisting of 3% of the assessed value, it is reasonable to expect that the Councilors elected by their constituents would make the decision that they feel is in the best interest of their constituents. BJELLANDINICHOLS.... Adopt an ordinance approving the Woodburn Urban Renewal Plan and directing that notice of approval be published. Mayor Jennings questioned if Councilor Bjelland was referring to the draft Council Bill that is part of staff report in the agenda packet. Councilor Bjelland stated that this is the document he is referring to and he questioned if this is the correct stage in which the City needs to be in order to approve the plan. Administrator Brown stated that the initial plan was to come back at the next meeting with a ordinance in final form. There is a copy of an ordinance in the agenda packet, and, if the Council is satisfied with the language in that document, the Council could vote on it at this meeting. He suggested that he be given a few minutes to look at the Council Bill to see if it could be brought before the Council at this meeting. While staff was reviewing the Council Bill, Mayor Jennings made a public apology to Bruce Thomas and the Skate Park Committee in that he had inadvertently skipped over the Report section on this agenda so the Committee did not have a chance to give their report and information on the skate park. He also made a public apology to those who Page 21 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING had read the Woodburn Independent and, in the paper it was reported that on the night of the redistricting meeting at City Hall, he had made some disparaging remarks about a particular political party and apparently used profanity. He stated that it is something he does not do in public and does not use the bench, but the letter to the Editor was there. He stated that he called that gentleman and apologized to him, he accepted that, and he apologized to the public. He did not remember using the profanity but, if he did, it was conduct unbecoming a Mayor of the City. The Mayor also reminded the public that their was an informational program on Channel 5 regarding the urban renewal issue. Representatives of the Council and administration, taxing districts, and Committee members were involved with sharing information on this program which has been playing twice each day. Administrator Brown stated that the draft ordinance has 3 blanks that need to be filled in before it is introduced for the readings. The motion and second were withdrawn. Mayor Jennings declared a short recess in order to give staff a few minutes to complete their review of the Council Bill. The meeting recessed at 9: 18 p.m. and reconvened at 9:30 p.m.. 2563 COUNCIL BILL 2337 - ORDINANCE APPROVING THE WOODBURN URBAN RENEWAL PLAN AND DIRECTING THAT NOTICE OF APPROVAL BE PUBLISHED. Mayor Jennings stated that the City Recorder is to make Exhibit A and Exhibit B a portion of this ordinance. Additionally, the Council Bill will be numbered as 2337. Councilor Chadwick introduced Council Bill 2337. City Attorney Shields suggested that this Council Bill be read in its entirety for the first reading and by title only for the second reading. Recorder Tennant read Council Bill 2337 in its entirety for the first reading and, since there were no objections from the Council, the second reading was read by title only. On roll call vote, the bill passed 5-0 since Councilor Figley had previously declared a conflict of interest. Mayor Jennings declared Council Bill 2337 duly passed. Attorney Shields stated that Council Bill 2337 will be presented to the Mayor in its final form tomorrow (August 14th) and, once signed by the Mayor, the City will have taken its action for adoption. Mayor Jennings thanked all of the individuals in attendance at this meeting who spoke on this issue. He also thanked Councilor Figley for her straightforwardness in declaring her conflict of interest even when she really did not know if it was a true conflict. Councilor Figley also thanked everyone who spoke at this hearing and she reiterated that every point of view is valuable. She also thanked her colleagues for their thoughtfulness Page 22 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING and ability to communicate how much thought and soul searching they have devoted to making the decision to adopt this plan. 3390 PUBLIC HEARING: WATER MASTER PLAN. WATER TREATMENT PROJECT. AND WATER RATE AND SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT CHARGE STUDY. Mayor Jennings declared the public hearing open at 9:42 p.m.. Public Works Manager Rohman stated that the Master Plan was completed in 1997 and the Council appointed a Water Master Plan Committee in 1998. Over time, the committee developed some of the recommendations on water treatment, reviewed water rates and system development charges, and developed the proposals that will be brought before the Council at this hearing. If the plan continues to move forward as recommended, the design of the project would start in 2002 with construction in 2003 and operational in 2005. He stated that the first presentation would be made by Bryan Black from HDR Engineering who will cover some of the water treatment project technical issues. The second presentation would be made by John Ghilarducci on the water rate and system development charges. Bryan Black stated that the water treatment project is needed to water quality, comply with federal and stated regulations, increase the water supply for a growing population and to provide reliable fire protection. Pilot test equipment was installed at one of the wells to determine how the treatment process would effectively work to remove iron and manganese and to make the water supply clear. A Water Master Plan Committee was formed to address the needs outlined in the master plan and they worked to develop preferred alternatives which included the number of treatment plants, storage facilities, the location of the facilities, and the phasing of the plan. A computer model was used to simulate fire demands and it was found that the distribution system was adequate but there were several locations that needed improvements and the recommendations from the committee includes those improvements. The primary need for fighting fire is to have sufficient water storage. Currently, the City has less than 1 million gallons of storage capacity and the Committee has recommended the addition of 4.4 million gallons at 2 sites. The reason for increased storage is to fight fires, supply water during emergencies, and keep the size of the treatment plants to a minimum in the well system. Ground storage tanks are recommended based on lower cost and for appearance purposes. He briefly reviewed the recommended treatment process which involves the addition of a chemical, potassium permanganate, which oxidizes iron and manganese which are then filtered out of the system at the well. The pilot test effectively removed the iron and manganese and it partially removed the arsenic found in the water. It was noted that the Environmental Protection Agency (EP A) has not issued final regulations on the maximum permissible level of arsenic in drinking water and once the level has been established, the addition of another chemical can be included in the treatment process if it Page 23 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING is necessary to further reduce the arsenic level. It was noted that this treatment process does not use chlorine, but if future EP A regulations or other monitoring suggest the use of chlorine, it can be easily accommodated. The primary benefit of this process is to meet future regulations since the wells are piped to central treatment locations. The Committee recommendations include 3 water treatment plants, 2 storage reservoirs, 2 wells, and 3 pipelines. The treatment locations would be at Country Club Rd, Parr Rd, and National Way. The storage reservoirs would be located at Parr Rd. and National Way. The estimated cost for this project is $19.3 million over the next few years. Councilor Figley stated that, during time periods of high water usage, there seems to be a fluctuation in water pressure and she questioned if that will be mitigated with the storage reserVOIrs. Mr. Black stated that there will be adequate storage, supply, and pumping which should take care of the fluctuation in pressure. 4900 John GhiIarducci, Financial Consulting Solutions Group (FCS Group), stated that his organization worked with the Committee over a period of many months on examining several different options on rates, rate structures, and system development charges. He stated that the main revenue sources for water operations are water rates to consumers and system development charges which are one-time fees paid at the time of development by new development or growth as it occurs. Water rates can be used for operational and capital costs while system development charges can only be used for capital costs. Additional revenue will be needed not only to meet projected future operational costs but to pay for planned system upgrades and expansion. He reviewed the Committee's recommendation to increase water rates by 27% in 2002 and 2003,20% in 2004 and 2005, and 8.05% in 2006. He reviewed the cost allocation summary which shows that approximately 11 % of costs are associated with providing customer service; 30% of costs are associated with the meeting of average water demands; 44% are costs associated with meeting peak water demands; and 14% are costs associated with meeting fire flow requirements throughout the system. This division of costs is used to build customer class distinctions in a rate structure for fixed versus volume charges. The Committee has recommended a rate design that, for single family residential, features a 3 block volume rate. He reviewed how the water bill would be calculated based on this rate structure. He stated that the second piece of the revenue source is system development charge and he reviewed the method for arriving at the recommended charges which is based on a reimbursement fee, improvement fee, and administrative cost recovery. In the case of a single family residence, the recommended charge is $2,085.00 whereas the current charge is $1,452.00. 6240 Scott Burlingham, Chairman of the Citizen Water Master Plan Committee, stated that the Committee had reviewed the Water Master Plan and developed a preferred alternative to accomplish the goals of the plan which included water treatment to remove iron and manganese, a water rate and system development charge study, and a treatment process Page 24 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING pilot study. A public involvement process was followed by the Committee to gain input prior to making a recommendation to the Council on upgrades and implementing the funding plan. The Committee realized that rate increases are necessary to make the improvements and they recommended a phased process on improvements based on growth with rates being increased at a higher level in the beginning so that the funds generated can be used to pay for incurred debt rather than borrowing the funds. Mayor Jennings thanked the Committee for their work on this project. Tape 3 Public Works Director Tiwari stated that there are some similarities between the Wastewater Treatment project and the Water Treatment project. There is a real desire by staff to deliver a product that will be in the price category and within the time frame which has been included in the plan. He also stated that water pressures will sometimes vary based on when a well comes on since it is directly connected to customers and this new system should equalize out the pressure. Additionally, the 27% increase mentioned in the presentation amounts to approximately $3 or $4 per month for 1,000 cubic feet. 0142 Pam Kilmurray, 2536 Roanoke, stated that she was speaking on behalf of her husband who was on the Committee but unable to attend this hearing. She reiterated that the Committee followed the process, worked hard on this project, and it was a very difficult decision for this Committee to come up with a recommendation as they worried about raising the water rates to customers who are low and fixed incomes. She stated that the improvements are needed for the community and it fits in with the City's livability. Brenna Wiegand, reporter for the Woodburn Independent, questioned how much it would cost the average homeowner to install their own water softener system. It was noted that prices vary from as low as $700 to over $3,000. It was also noted that there can be a health care issue involved depending upon how it is installed because of sodium content. Director Tiwari stated that the system proposed removes not only iron and manganese but it brings to 3 central locations where treatment can take place for disinfection and/or arsenic removal. He stated that there is a big difference between the two approaches and a water softener system cannot meet water quality regulations set by EP A. The public hearing was declared closed at 10:25 p.m.. 0387 FIGLEY/SIFUENTEZ... direct staff to bring back for approval ordinances and resolutions required to implement actions recommended by the Citizen Water Master Plan Committee. The motion passed unanimously. 0410 COUNCIL BILL 2336 - RESOLUTION ENTERING INTO A WALKWAYI BIKEWAY PROJECT AGREEMENT NO. 19084 WITH THE STATE OF OREGON FOR CONSTRUCTION OF SIDEWALKS ON HIGHWAY 214. Council Bill 2336 was introduced by Councilor Chadwick. The bill was read by title only since there were no objections from the Council. Mayor Jennings stated that this project has taken a long time to get to this stage and it has Page 25 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING taken a combined effort of the City, School District, and many interested citizens to get the funding assistance to install the sidewalk along this major highway. On roll call vote for final passage, the bill passed unanimously. Mayor Jennings declared Council Bill 2336 duly passed. 0534 CONTRACT AWARD: HARDWARE AND PROGRAMMING OF RECIRCULA TION V ALVES AT MILL CREEK PUMP STATION. Bids were received from the following contractors: Technical Systems Inc., $10,253.00; and MID Control Systems, Inc. $12,811.00. Staff recommended the acceptance of the bid to Technical Systems, Inc.. FIGLEY/SIFUENTEZ... award the contract for hardware and programming of Recirculation Valves at Mill Creek pump station to the lowest responsible bidder, Technical Systems, Inc., in the amount of $10,253.00. The motion passed unanimously. 0566 MOBILE COMPUTER SOFTWARE - CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM EXPENDITURE. Staff recommended the transfer of funds to NORCOM for the purchase of 7 mobile computers to be installed in patrol vehicles. It was noted in the report that NORCOM has the licensing agreements for the software and they will be taking the responsibility for procurement, installment, and training on the additional software component. FIGLEY/SIFUENTEZ... approve the transfer of $46,725.00 from the Police Department's Capital Improvement Fund to NORCOM for the purchase and installation of Mobile Computing Software. The motion passed unanimously. 0600 PLANNING COMMISSION ACTIONS. A) Approval of Site Plan Review 00-25 and Conditional Use 01-02: Parking lot extension to provide an additional 28 new off-street parking spaces for Nellie Muir Elementary School at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 1800 W. Hayes and 1560 W. Hayes Street. B) Approval of Variance 01-08: Lot coverage requirement to allow an existing shop building on property located on the north side of Aztec Drive (Promised Land tentative subdivision). C) Approval of Site Plan Review 00-18 and Variance 01-09: Request to construct Phases 2 and 3 of Woodburn Company Stores, 1001 Arney Road. No action was taken by the Council on these Planning Commission actions. 0626 ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT. Administrator Brown stated that he completed the 54 mile We1ches to Hood River bicycle ride on July 28th in 3 hours and 20 minutes. He expressed his appreciation to all of his sponsors (individual and businesses) who contributed $1,354.00 to the American Diabetes Association. Page 26 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING 0703 MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORT. Councilor Nichols stated that he had enjoyed the ride in the Fiesta Mexicana parade. In his opinion, the event demonstrated good community support. Councilor Figley also thanked the Latin American Club for sponsoring the 3-day event and organizing the parade. Councilor McCallum stated that he had also visited the Fiesta and the surrounding area a number of times on Saturday and Sunday. He was amazed at the crowd in attendance and, in talking with some of the neighbors in the area, they were pleased with some the improvements that were made this year. He also thanked the Mayor and Chief Null for letting him go with them on the National Night Out visits even though they only visited 5 or 6 neighborhoods compared to the 35 neighborhoods that participated. Councilor Bjelland commented briefly on the August 2nd MW ACT meeting and reminded the Council that October 5th is the critical date in which the City needs to have a proposal submitted to ODOT for funding of improvements to the interchange. He reiterated that there will be many different players in this process of recommending projects and it would be to the City's advantage to contact as many of players as possible to put forth Woodburn's project as a highly ranked project to be funded out of the $400 million program. He will be promoting our project from the Community Solutions Team and at MWACT. Councilor Sifuentez stated that the boys at MacLaren School are building toys for the Love Santa project, however, they are in need of wood for these toys. Contributions of either wood or money are being accepted by the School to help continue this program which supplies toys to children in the Woodburn, Hubbard, and Gervais areas. Councilor Chadwick stated that she enjoyed the parade and is looking forward to participating in it next year. 1194 EXECUTIVE SESSION. Mayor Jennings entertained a motion to adjourn to executive session under the authority of ORS (l)(i). Attorney Shields declared a conflict of interest and that he could not represent the City on this matter since it is his evaluation. He has also been advised that he can have the evaluation conducted in a meeting open to the public but he would waive that right. FIGLEYINICHOLS... adjourn into executive session under the authority cited by the Mayor. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned to executive session at 10:40 pm and reconvened at 11 :36 p.m. 1264 Mayor Jennings stated that no decisions were made by the Council during the executive seSSIon. Page 27 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001 COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 13, 2001 TAPE READING FIGLEYIBJELLAND... retain the City Attorney's salary at its current level but he be granted an increase of 3% which will take the form of the City paying 5% of salary in deferred compensation rather than 2% as is currently the case. The motion passed unanimousl y. The Mayor stated that the deferred compensation increase was at the request of the City Attorney and he will still receive a COLA adjustment when that increase is granted. 1323 ADJOURNMENT. FIGLEYIMCCALLUM... meeting be adjourned. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 11 :38 p.m.. APPROVED~k RIC ARD JENNIN S, YOR ATTEST /!(~~ Mary Ten t, Recorder City of Woodburn, Oregon Page 28 - Council Meeting Minutes, August 13,2001