Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/14/2010 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, JUNE 14,2010 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, June 14,2010 at 5:40 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Ralston, Lundberg, Wylie, and Simmons. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Joe Leahy, Clerk III James Larson, and members of the staff. Councilors Leezer and Pishioneri were absent (excused). 1. Downtown District Plan Update. Planning Supervisor Linda Pauly presented the staff report on this item. Over the past 13 months, Development Services staff had conducted a Downtown planning process. A Downtown Citizen Advisory Committee was appointed to work with the City's consultant team (Crandall Arambula and Rick Williams, Inc.) to prepare a renewed vision and strategy for revitalizing Downtown Springfield. At upcoming work sessions on June 28th and July 12th, the Committee's recommended concept plan and set of implementation actions would be presented to the Council. The concepts recommended by the Committee had been reviewed periodically by a Technical Advisory Committee and an Oversight Team consisting of City department managers. Work products included and addressed: 1. A vision plan that builds upon past successes and anticipates accommodation of significant future growth; 2. An implementation strategy which identifies short and long term initiatives and catalyst projects; 3. A comprehensive parking management plan and identification of the appropriate locations for downtown parking facilities; 4. Consideration of potential future infrastructure and utilities improvements and modifications; and 5. Identification of proposed revisions to the Downtown Refinement Plan, Development Code, and other planning documents as needed to implement the plan. Ms. Pauly presented a power point presentation on this topic. On July 7,2008, the Council initiated the Downtown District Plan project and directed staff to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for downtown consulting services. Ten fmns responded to that RFP, which indicated to staff that Springfield had a viable downtown concept. From that process, a project team made up of Crandall Arambula and Rick Williams Consulting was chosen. Ms. Pauly said the Downtown District Plan (vision plan) was one of the products from the work done over the last year. This plan built on what the City had already done in downtown and looked at how to accommodate new growth in downtown. The other product was the Implementation Strategy, which once approved by Council would become a work plan to establish community expectations and priorities and facilitate redevelopment. The Parking Management Plan was a separate piece' but had been integrated with the other downtown plan work. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes June 14,2010 Page 2 Ms. Pauly said the Downtown Advisory Committee would be presenting their recommendations to the Council during the work sessions later in June and in July. Allor some of the committee members would be in attendance during those work sessions so Council could ask them about their work if they chose. The Parking Study would be the fIrst thing Council would see. Ms. Pauly referred to the Downtown Urban Renewal Advisory Committee (DURAC) members, who were selected to serve as the downtown advisory committee for this process. They had been actively engaged, holding six work sessions, four of those with the consultants. The DURAC started their process in June of 2009 and fInished their process a week ago. She referred to the project purpose and the project goals of the committee. The project area was identified in a slide and Ms. Pauly explained the area further. Ms. Pauly discussed the process and schedule for this project. The committee had been in consensus throughout this process and worked through the issues step by step. The consultants were preparing their fmal report based on the study and the input from the committee. During the four meetings the DURAC held with the consultants, they talked about what made a great downtown and the elements lacking in Springfield's downtown that were needed to make a great downtown. One of the things discussed was the need to have a good core of retail. The other uses downtown were wonderful, but it was retail that brought people and kept them downtown. She discussed parking issues in downtown and noted that a parking study was going on concurrently with the downtown district plan. Mayor Leiken asked if the consultants had an idea of what kind of retail would be beneficial downtown. He felt our downtown needed to be a niche and wondered if the consultant had an idea of what would be a good fit. Ms. Pauly said the style of buildings downtown, many of which were historical, limited the type of businesses that could open in downtown. They felt it would be beneficial to have a mix of national and local businesses. More opportunities needed to be created for different sizes of businesses downtown. They needed anchors at each end of the district, similar to how they are set up in a mall. The kinds of businesses would include places to eat and places to purchase items. Offices and banks were not retail and would not bring people in and engage them. One of the recommendations was to have a focus retail group. It was hard work to recruit retail businesses. There would be some specific ideas coming forward. There were key elements in order for retail to be successful, including a mix of housing, offices, restaurants and entertainment venues, and retail. Springfield had a good start on the cultural district part of that formula. One of the images the DURAC had was that downtown was a safe place for families with a lot of activity. Springfield already had some of the elements that made up a traditional town on Main Street and that was a benefit. She further discussed the parking component of the plan. Ms. Pauly said the committee was given response sheets to fill out during the meetings with the consultant where they voted on concepts. That allowed the consultants to determine significant issues the committee might have that needed some work. Ms. Pauly spoke of the' hot spot' for downtown, which was west of our existing downtown core between City Hall and Island Park by the river. That area was chosen based on its location with ' Pioneer Parkway and Glenwood. They believed that area had the best potential for new development. That new development would not impact the existing Main Street, local, small scale feel in downtown, but would be creating a different set of opportunities. She discussed a public plaza that the City could City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes June 14,2010 Page 3 participate in to entice development interests in that area. There was a lot of precedent for that type of thing. She noted the area the consultant had identified for that type of plaza. Ms. Pauly spoke regarding prote_cted bike lanes that came into downtown that were separated from traffic. The work Council would see when the consultant came to meet with them would include diagrams showing build out for new development in downtown. Those diagrams would allow Council to see potential numbers in terms of square footage, tax revenues, cost of public funds devoted to certain areas, etc. Another vision of the DURAC was to have Main Street a two-way street. She understood that Council had heard many of these ideas in the past, but they had now been more fully developed. She referred to a map showing both Glenwood and Downtown developed. It was beneficial to see both districts on one map to really see the potential. She referred to other diagrams of the area. Ms. Pauly spoke regarding catalyst projects, including the plaza area. The implementation strategy would be a set of all the projects that had a direct relationship with the City's ability to get things going in downtown; It would also include a schedule of how these things could be rolled out over time to keep the momentum going and possibly garner grant funding. The reports would also show how much the potential improvements would cost the City and how much private investment could be expected. from those improvements. Ms. Pauly referred to Attachment 1 of the agenda packet, which outlined the proposed plan review and adoption process. Council would receive a presentation by the parking consultant and the committee's formal recommendations on June 28. No formal action would be requested at that time. On July 12, Council would receive a presentation by the downtown consultant and the committee's recommendation. Staff then planned to come back before Council for a work session in September for about two hours to discuss the study and recommendations in more detail. At that time, Council could decide if they were ready to initiate the initial rollout, plan amendments, zoning work, and Municipal Code amendments if needed. That meeting could be held as early as July 26 if the Council chose. Ms. Pauly said staff was proposing that Council adopt the implementation strategy and action plan by resolution to make it more tangible. Staff would need to do some internal work to figure out how to manage some of the work, but would do that once given direction from Council. Council could also adopt the concept/vision plan by resolution. The vision would not require public hearings, but Council could hold public hearings on that if they chose. After Council initiated the zoning and plan amendment work, staff would be proposing to adopt some of those things in the Downtown Refmement Plan by going through the normal public review of open houses and public hearings. Mayor Leiken said the idea of Main Street as a two-way street had been discussed in the past. He asked Transportation Manager Tom Boyatt if they would need to do a jurisdictional transfer of that stretch of Main Street in order to have that happen. Mr. Boyatt said that was correct. Mayor Leiken said that if they wanted to do that jurisdictional transfer, he believed ODOT would require they took over all of Main Street, not just the downtown corridor. Mr. Boyatt said ODOT did not like the incremental system. Mayor Leiken said during the last legislative session, this issue (State systems through cities large and small) was the nutp.ber one issue of the City Councilors and Mayors he had talked with. There was a Transportation Policy Meeting on June 24 and he would ask ODOT once again about phasing the jurisdictional transfer. It would make sense from 14th to the river, and eventually to 21 st Street. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes June 14,2010 Page 4 Mr. Boyatt said as a result of conversations with ODOT regarding Franklin Boulevard and McVey Highway, they discussed the possibility of entering into a jurisdictional exchange agreement that didn't bind the City to the actual transfer of the facility until certain triggers were met. That createq assurances on the State's part of the City's intention. It created assurance on the City's part to ensure we didn't have to take it until it was improved. He explained further. They had been having discussions. Councilor Wylie spoke regarding Main Street as a two-way street. She said she didn't want two-way traffic with trucks going through the businesses and retail. Mayor Leiken said if the City had jurisdiction over Main Street, we would not have to allow the trucks to use this section of Main Street. Councilor Wylie said using a by-pass street seemed to make sense, leaving the traffic downtown only for those using downtown. The planning had to be there. One of the things the City could offer potential retail businesses was a package of loan business possibilities and information on who to talk to regarding those loans. It could also include a 'how to' package on what they needed to do during the first year of putting together a new retail business. The main three things that included was bookkeeping, taxes and employee management. Those could be shared among new businesses. She felt that would help businesses stay in business longer. Mr. Leahy said he thought Lane Community College (LCC) had a program like that and the City could possibly partner with them and save on the cost. Mayor Leiken said both LCC and Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) were good resources. Steve Dignam from LCOG was very knowledgeable regarding small business loans. Since the City already had a contract with LCOG, it could be sometlring we expanded that contract to include. Councilor Wylie said people that started small businesses had good ideas and were willing to work hard, but didn't understand all that they were responsible for and needed to do. Councilor .Lundberg said she was very happy to hear the DURAC had been working together so well. There had been many downtown plans over the years, many of the elements the same as the current plan. Retail was the key and having the plaza was important. She was a proponent of having the two- way Main Street with the truck traffic on another route. She liked the idea that ODOT was willing to consider allowing an option to take jurisdiction incrementally. That would be a big piece to this process. She was all for moving forward in a timely fashion because of all the work the DURAC had done and citizens were ready. She felt that doing the public hearing process during the Refmement Plan process was appropriate. She agreed that a movie theater would be a benefit to downtown. A movie theater in Hood River also was a place to eat so people could eat dinner and watch the movie. There was room for a movie theater that could draw people in to downtown. Good work so far. Councilor Ralston said Main Street should be two-way. He thought South A could also be two-way and could be the thoroughfare for the trucking until they could take on the whole street. Councilor Simmons said Main Street had been two-lane many years ago. When South A Street was constructed it was changed. There was a good opportunity to make that work now. There was a practical effect of two-way streets on both transit trucks and downtown traffic. He noted that a lot of the parking complaints from downtown businesses were a direct result of City employees losing their City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes June 14,2010 Page 5 parking lot with the construction of the Justice Center. The City needed to do something to make the parking work. Twenty years ago, parking was adequate. Now the parking was not working well. He . wasn't sure how they could address the truck traffic; He hadn't seen any recent traffic analysis in this area. He felt the downtown was going to return and was moving in the right direction. We had an excellent opportunity. Councilor Lundberg said she was unclear about Main Street and truck traffic. She asked how the trucks were moved around and away from Main Street. She wondered if they could be moved to routes that were already in place. She asked if it was a federal or state decision. She wanted ideas of what could make sense. Councilor Ralston said most of the truck traffic went down 28th Street, but the only way to get there was from the interchange at 42nd Street or from Pioneer Parkway. An off-ramp at 28th Street would be helpful. Mr. Boyatt said they had started the process of gathering that data and determining destinations. Trucks did make deliveries downtown. They needed to find out where they were coming from and where they were going before telling them which route to take. That was information they didn't have, but would start gathering. One of the proposals that would be brought to Council would be to do an analysis of a two-way Main Street and what the projections were for the trip splits to a two-way South A from a two-way Main Street, and how they would deal with intersections. Councilor Ralston said he still felt an interchange should go in at 28th Street from Highway 126. Councilor Simmons said that was not going to happen because Highway 126 was an expressway. Highway 105/126 was built to alleviate traffic from the downtown. He noted the issue of getting the products and materials to the downtown businesses. If they were going to be selling items, it would have to be delivered by trucks. Mayor Leiken asked if Council was comfortable with the time line presented by staff. Yes. He appreciated the work done by the committee and he thanked Ms. Pauly for her work and the work of staff as well. There was a lot of enthusiasm from the DURAC. This was a great opportunity and he hoped it would all gel at once. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:30 p.m. Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa Attest: ~.~ Amy So City Recorder