HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/20/2004 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, JANUARY 20, 2004.
Minutes ofthe Work Session of the Springfield City Council held on Monday, January 20,2004,
at 6 p.m.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Sid Leiken, Anne Ballew, Tammy Fitch, Tim Malloy, Dave Ralston,
Christine Lundberg, John Woodrow.
STAFF: City Manager Mike Kelly, Assistant City Manager Cynthia Pappas, Planning Director
Greg Mott, Colin Stephens, Linda Paulie, Fire Chief Dennis Murphy, Public Works Director Dan
Brown, Transportation Manager Nick Arnis, Gary McKenny, Ken Vogeney, Al Girard, Bob
Brew, Assistant City Attorney Meg Kieran.
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Sid Leiken called the meeting of the Springfield City Council to order.
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ROLL CALL
The minutes' recorder called the roll. All members were present.
1. Request for Master Plan and Zone Change Approval-PeaceHealth
Mr. Malloy recused himself from the item due to a conflict of interest. ,
Mr. Stephens joined the council to review the process for the public hearing that would occur at 7
p.m. He reminded the council of the work session it held on the conditions of approval on
January 5, 2004. At that time, staff informed the council there were still outstanding issues
related to the conditions of approval to be worked out between the applicant, PeaceHealth, and
Springfield staff. Following the work session staff held several meetings with the applicant, and
subsequently determined that 13 of the conditions of approval could be modified. Those
modifications were approved by the Planning Commission. Mr. Stephens indicated there were
still some outstanding issues that he anticipated that PeaceHealth would address in its testimony
during the public hearing. He indicated staff would respond to the testimony during the council's
deliberations.
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Mr. Stephens reported the Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve the application as
modified by the staff-recommended conditions of approval and with two additional conditions of
approval, one requiring the proposed parking structure to be in place at the time of hospital
occupancy (Condition 29). The commission also forwarded a new Condition 11.5, which revised
the zoning proposed by the applicant for the site. The applicant had requested 66 acres of
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Medical Services (MS) zoning, and 33 acres of Mixed-Use Commercial (MUC). Mr. Stephens
said the commission proposed to increase the MS zoning on the site by approximately 13.5 acres
and reduce the MUC zoning accordingly. He invited questions.
Ms. Lundberg determined from Mr. Stephens that Condition 77 had been eliminated because of
the modifications made to Condition 22.
Ms. Ballew asked Mr. Stephens to discuss the Planning Commission's rationale in reducing the
MUC acreage. Mr. Stephens responded that the commission wished to preserve additional
opportunities for the MUC zoning allocated in the Gateway Refmement Plan to the Medium-
Density Residential (MDR) area for more neighborhood commercial aspects of nodal
development. The uses proposed to be located in buildings C, D, and E on RiverBend Drive
across from the hospital were also uses allowed in the MS zoning district. Those uses were the
basis for the transportation modeling.
Mr. Stephens reviewed the order of the proceedings, noting that all new testimony would be
allowed. He indicated the record would remain open at the close of public testimony.
Ms. Kieran asked the council to keep the record open for a sufficient time to allow staff to
prepare findings of compliance with State goals. She recommended that the record close on
February 10,2004. She noted the applicant would receive a week for rebuttal (February 17), and
staff would have a week to prepare a summary for the record. The next public hearing would be
on Monday, March 8, 2004, at which time the public hearing would be reopened for
deliberations.
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Responding to a question from Mayor Leiken, City Manager Kelly suggested that the applicant
could request a change to the time line if it did not find it acceptable. Mayor Leiken thought it
imperative that the City communicate clearly with both the applicant and the public about the
time line. Mr. Stephens said that staff would make an announcement regarding the time line at
the public hearing.
Responding to a question from Ms. Fitch, Mr. Stephens indicated that written public testimony
would likely be forwarded to the council in several separate packets.
Mr. Stephens reported that an investigation of the onsite storm water capacity produced additional
evidence not in the Planning Commission's public record. He deferred further comment to Mr.
Vogeney. Mr. Vogeney said that storm water capacity in the area was a concern for staff. He
noted the related conditions of approval, particularly Condition 73, which required additional
investigation of downstream capacity, and Condition 74, which laid out a means to allocate the
capacity, whatever it might be. Staff had been working with PeaceHealth's to determine the
actual capacity and learned there was less storm water capacity than was represented in the
application. He indicated he would prepare a memorandum for the council that discussed actual
conditions, proposed revisions to the findings, and offered a specific modification to Condition
74.
Responding to a question from Ms. Fitch, Mr. V ogeney indicated that storm water capacity in the
vicinity was approximately half that originally anticipated.
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Responding to a question from Mayor Leiken, Mr. V ogeney indicated the reduction in storm
water capacity was based on actual surveys of pipe alignments and sizes. PeaceHealth's
consultants had discovered the problem in their research.
Mr. Ralston asked if a list of outstanding conditions would be provided to the council. Mr.
Stephens anticipated that PeaceHealth would identify those issues iri testimony and staff would
respond to that testimony during council deliberations.
Ms. Ballew noted the recommendations related to road alignments in the area and asked if those
were acceptable to the applicant. Mr. Stephens indicated that the City and PeaceHealth had
reached resolution on conditions 34 and 35 following consultation. He believed the conditions in
question could be refined even more, noting that they were tied to the language in the annexation
agreement between PeaceHealth and Springfield, which called for the northern extension of a
collector street to the intersection at Deadmond Ferry Road and International Way. He
anticipated further meetings between staff and PeaceHealth prior to council deliberations.
City Manager Kelly complimented staff and the PeaceHealth team for working to reach
agreement on the development application. He said that the council would hear about a relatively
small number of areas of disagreement. He believed a balance had been reached between the
interests of the public and the interest ,of the applicant.
Mayor Leiken determined from Mr. Stephens that there were approximately 88 conditions of
approval.
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Ms. Ballew asked how the conditions of approval would follow the residentially zoned parcels on
the site. Mr. Stephens said the master plan was recorded against the deed, and any applications
for development would be subject to the conditions of approval and must comply with the master
plan.
Mr. Ralston requested that staff list the revised conditions of approval so he could feel more
comfortable that a balance between the public and private interests had truly been reached. Mr.
Stephens indicated he would provide the council with the information that had been provided to
the Planning Commission.
Mayor Leiken encouraged councilors to contact Mr. Stephens with any questions they had via e-
mail.
2. 2006-2009 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program
Mr. Arnis was present for the item. He indicated the item was a review ofthe City's Statewide
Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) priorities for funding. He reviewed the public
process that led to the development of the STIP project list. He noted that the Metropolitan
Policy Committee (MPC) was scheduled to review the prioritized project list forwarded to it by
the Lane Board of County Commissioners at its March 2004 meeting. The list approved by the
MPC would be forwarded to the State for further review and prioritization.
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Mr. Arnis reported there was approximately $19 million available in State funds for 2008 and
2009. Traditionally, Lane County received about $2 million. In addition, there was about $300
million in modernization funds, some of which would be used by the State as matching dollars for
the federal transportation reauthorization process. Mr. Arnis noted that the I-5/Beltline project
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was one of the nine projects identified by the State for the matching dollars. He hoped to secure
some of the remaining modernization funds for Springfield projects.
Mr. Arnis reported that the State legislation allowed cities such as Springfield to seek State
funding for street projects that benefit the State system. He noted the City's success in securing
project funding in the 2004-2007 STIP, reporting that the City's three top projects had been
funded.
Mr. Arnis reviewed the staff recommendation for the 2006-2009 STIP funding priorities, noting
that staff recommended a "small" project list and a "large" project list to give the City's MPC
representatives and Springfield staff flexibility when considering project priorities.
Ms. Ballew asked if an off-ramp from Interstate 5 onto Franklin Boulevard was included in the
project priorities. Mr. Arnis said that funding for an environmental impact statement (EIS) was
being considered for inclusion in the United Front federal lobbying priorities. He suggested that
the cost ofthe project could be covered by State funds and matching federal funds.
Responding to a question from Ms. Fitch, City Manager Kelly emphasized the importance of
starting to work now on funding for the ramp project to have influence on the I-5 replacement
bridge design in the future. Mr. Arnis said it did not hurt to include the ramp as a City project,
and that it had as much viability as some of the other projects on the list.
Ms. Lundberg suggested that the City could never get into the funding queue too soon. It was
important to get projects onthe table so that people could begin to think about them. She
supported the project list, acknowledging the uncertainty of funding.
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Ms. Lundberg asked how the proposed off-ramp at 1-5 and Franklin Boulevard related to the
TransPlan project list, what cost was envisioned, and if Oregon Department of Transportation
(ODOT) had any interest in the project. She recalled the safety concerns that impelled ODOT's
interest in the improvements at GatewaylI-5 and asked if any similar concerns existed at 1-
5/Franklin. Mr. Arnis said staff had rougWy estimated planning costs but he had no construction
costs. He was aware that ODOT had expressed concerns in the past that increased development
in the vicinity would exacerbate poor safety conditions at the I-5 interchanges to the south. The
existing ramp to 1-5 was reaching capacity. While it was not a high-crash area, he was aware of
what he termed "near misses."
Mayor Leiken said many people in both Springfield and Eugene expressed interest in an off-ramp
from 1-5 at Franklin. He thought the bridge replacement project gave the community an
opportunity to look at the issue. If the new bridge did not include the off-ramp, it could be many
years before it could be discussed again. He thought the idea made sense for the long-term and
suggested that the impetus for the project could be capacity as well as safety. He believed that
access to Glenwood would be a key to future development opportunities in the vicinity. He
supported the inclusion of the project on the project list. Mayor Leiken pointed out that
Congressman Peter DeFazio and Lane County Commissioner Bill Dwyer were very supportive of
the idea, and he thought there was a way to make it happen.
3. Library Board Application Review
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Mr. Russell joined the council for the agenda item. He reviewed the process employed by the
Library Board to fill a vacancy on the board, and reported that the board recommended that the
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council fill the existing board vacancy with Mark Danburg- Wyld. He commended the quality of
the applications received, and noted that the other two applicants be encouraged to join the
Library Foundation.
Mayor Leiken adjourned the meeting at 6:52 p.m.
Minutes Recorder - Kim Young
~
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-51dney-W. . en--- Tamalyn Fitch
~ft~ Council President
Attest:
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Amy So
City Recoraer
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