HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/22/2005 Work Session
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City of Springfield
Work Session Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2005.
The City of Springfield council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth
Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 at 6:33 p.m., with Mayor Leiken
presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Fitch, Ralston, Lundberg, Woodrow and Pishioneri. Also
present were Assistant City Manager Cynthia Pappas, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Recorder Amy
Sowa and members of the staff.
Councilor Ballew was absent (excused).
1. Intergovernmental Agreement with Lane County, Springfield Utility Board and Lane Transit
District for the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway Proiect.
Project Manager Carole Knapel presented the staff report on this item. In July 2004, the City of
Springfield agreed to an 86 foot width for the southern segment of the Martin Luther King Jr.
Parkway Project. This width allows for a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane in the southern part of the
Parkway. The City Council directed staff to work with Lane Transit District (LTD) to require that the
added costs for this lane be paid for by LTD.
In February 2003, the City of Springfield and Lane County entered into an Intergovernmental
Agreement for the funding, general implementation, joint approvals, coordination, design and
construction of the parkway project. Under the terms of that initial Agreement, the city and county
must jointly approve the design elements of the Parkway. This approval then allows for design and
right-of-way purchase. In July 2004, the city agreed to the county's proposal to provide an additional
10 feet width along the southern segment of the roadway in order to allow for a bus rapid transit
(BRT) lane. At that time, the council indicated that all added costs for this lane should be paid for by
LTD. The attached IGA identifies these costs and indicates LTD's obligation for payment. The IGA
also establishes the obligations of the city, county, Springfield Utility Board (SUB) and LTD in order
for the project to proceed with design and construction in accordance with the approved project
schedule. The LTD Board of Directors has approved funding, and the city and county staff have
determined that this funding must be from local sources rather than federal funds.
Ms. Knape1 noted that last week, L TD said they would like to use federal funding for their portion of
the project. They agreed, however, that using it for the construction portion of the project would
bring the full project under the federal umbrella. This would require that the full project would have
to comply with federal requirements which would be costly, time consuming and would not allow the
local entities to manage the project. She said LTD asked if they could use federal funds for the
purchase of the right-of-way or the relocation of the utility lines. Ms. Knape1 said she was not sure
what the federal ruling would be if funds were used for that purpose. She recommended that in order
to allow that, written authorization would need to be given by the Federal Transportation Agency
stating they would not require the entire project to be under federal guidelines.
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Discussion was held regarding the written authorization and problems that could occur if the federal
government changed the requirement partway into the project.
Councilor Lundberg asked if L TD had other funding if the federal funding was not available under
those conditions.
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City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
February 22, 2005
Page 2
Ms. Knape1 said LID did suggest in an email that they could use local funds if it was an issue.
Councilor Lundberg had concerns of this project ending up under the federal regulations leaving the
city very vulnerable. She does not want that to occur.
Councilor Woodrow thanked Transportation Manager Nick Amis and Ms. Knape1 for meeting with
him earlier and answering his questions regarding this project.
Mayor Leiken thanked staff for their work on this and in developing the IGA. He acknowledged the
difficulty in working out details when other agencies are involved. This is another great project by
the city.
2. Review Proposed RiverBend Master Plan and Zone Change Applications (PeaceHealth).
City Planner Colin Stephens presented the staff report on this item. The applications before the
council are substantially similar to the Master Plan and Zone Change applications reviewed by the
Planning Commission and City Council in 2003 and 2004. The City Council voted March 8, 2004 to
grant tentative approval of the applications but withheld fmal approval until the results of the appeal to
the Oregon Court of Appeals of the amendments to the Metro Plan and Gateway Refinement Plan
were known. Because the plan amendments were remanded to the city, the applicant withdrew the
earlier Master Plan and Zone Change applications and resubmitted new applications after the council
readopted the plan amendments on January 10th. At the request of the applicant, the records from the
previously reviewed applications were placed into the records for the pending requests.
On January 25,2005, the Planning Commission opened the public hearing on the applications. The
written record was then held open until February 1,2005. On February 8, 2005 the hearing was
reconvened and the commission voted to recommend that the City Council approve the applications
with conditions. Staff suggested several changes to the March 8, 2004 conditions of approval to
comply with the revised plan amendments and to respond to new information. The suggestions were
accepted by the commission and are listed in Attachment 1 included in the agenda packet. The
commission also chose to amend the parking structure condition to remove the option of utilizing off-
site parking lots (#29) and add an additional condition to limit the height of the hospital to the height
agreed to in the settlement between PeaceHea1th and the Jaquas, former opponents to the project
(#29.5). The text of these two Planning Commission conditions is shown in Attachment 1, included
in the agenda packet.
Mr. Stephens referred to a set of maps that were sent to council to accompany their agenda packet.
He explained the conditions, how they were changed and why and what the changes would mean for
the construction of the hospital.
Mayor Leiken addressed Condition #29 and options available for additional parking. Now that
PeaceHea1th has purchased the Sony property, it might be a possibility for them to use some parking
at the Sony site and shuttle employees to the hospital rather than building additional parking. There
would still need to be a trigger for building a parking garage. He asked if that language could be
included in Condition #29. He also discussed the good relationship that PeaceHealth has with Lane
Transit District (LID). The Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Parkway will be constructed and utilized
by the time the hospital is built. He would encourage PeaceHealth to build on their relationship with
LID to encourage people to use the BRT which will run on MLK Parkway. The hospital will
eventually need a parking garage, but if they could utilize the Sony property as part of this, it would
alleviate some of the current problems. He discussed the condition that related to the height of the
hospitaL Putting a limit on the height in 2005 when the hospital will be around until at least 2075, is
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
February 22, 2005
Page 3
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not a good condition. There should not be a time limit because things change and the area will
change. There is an agreement with the Jacua's, but the city may not need to address that issue.
Mr. Stephens said the council would be asked to extend the public record for this public hearing and
return on March 21, 2005 to deliberate. He said he could have staff available to discuss at length how
to respond to that issue.
Mayor Leiken asked to first hear council's comments on these issues.
Councilor Fitch said she liked the original wording on the parking condition because it allowed the
hospital to look at alternatives. The city has professionals who can look at what might trigger
building a parking garage. The hospital may fmd alternatives such as the BRT, bike lanes and
carpooling. She said she is not aware of the details of the agreement between PeaceHea1th and the
Jacua's regarding Condition #29.5 and whether or not it needed to be included in this application.
Ms. Kieran said the agreement with the Jacua's is for 137.3 feet.
Mr. Stephens said the agreement did not state that the height had to be incorporated in the land use
decision.
Ms. Kieran confIrmed that it is an agreement between PeaceHealth and the Jacua's, but the city felt it
was a good idea to incorporate as much as possible into our conditions as a demonstration of our
support.
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Councilor Fitch asked ifthe language in the condition would prohibit the hospital from requesting to
build another story onto their building fifty years from now.
Mr. Stephens said the master plan is only good for fifteen years.
Ms. Kieran said the height provision in the settlement with CHOICES has an expiration date of
twenty years.
Councilor Pishioneri asked if the wording on Condition #29 could be changed. He suggested stating
that the parking structure could not exceed the original footprint of the plans. This would allow them
to build up if they chose.
Mr. Stephens said the language in Condition #29 is not related to any of the settlement agreements, so
council can agree to any language.
Councilor Woodrow said he was fme with Condition #29.5. He asked Mr. Stephens why the Planning
Commission wanted to change Condition #29.
Mr. Stephens said the use of Campus Industrial for parking was their primary concern.
Councilor Woodrow asked if there were prohibitions on how much parking and the type of parking
allowed on Campus Industrial.
Mr. Stephens said parking is not an outright permitted use, but there is no limitation on number of
parking spaces. A developed site could overbuild in parking.
. Councilor Woodrow asked if it could serve the same purpose if the council were to go back to the
original language on Condition #29 and modify it to include not being able to use Campus Industrial
(CI) for parking. They could use the Sony site.
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City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
February 22, 2005
Page 4
Mr. Stephens said he understood that the Planning Commission was including the Sony property in
their discussions because they were concerned that PeaceHea1th now owns that and other vacant CI
property.
Ms. Kieran said that Commissioner Beyer particularly brought the CI issue to the Planning
Commission because he did not want to see CI become a sea of parking. The code would not prohibit
employees of PeaceHea1th from using either parking lot, but a stand alone parking lot would not be
authorized in CI.
Councilor Lundberg said she agrees with the original wording for Condition #29 because she does not
want to be prohibitive. There are time limits on all of this. She referred to Condition #5 regarding
planting of cottonwoods. She does not want any cottonwoods planted anywhere near any paths. They
are unstable, messy and dangerous. They would be acceptable in the riparian area, but not anywhere
near paths or pedestrians. She asked Mr. Stephens to point out the twelve acres off the end of
RiverBend Drive. She discussed previous issues related to connector streets on that property.
Mr. Stephens pointed out the area.
Councilor Ralston said we need to support Condition #29.5 in the spirit of agreement with the
Jacua's. The fact the PeaceHealth owns the Sony site does not influence his decision at all. He thinks
the parking garage should be an improvement to the hospital site and is a better use of the land.
Mr. Stephens distributed the most recent settlement agreement with CHOICES. The settlement
agreement between the Jacua's and PeaceHealth necessitated several changes to conditions of
approval discussed this evening. The settlement with CHOICES does not require any of the
conditions of approval to be changed or delay the process for the master plan and zone change. He
explained the process for tonight's public hearing.
Ms. Pappas said staff could do some work on the questions the Mayor and council had on Condition
#29. !
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 pm.
Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa
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Mayor
Attest:
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City Recorder