City councilors and the Urban Renewal Agency are in the process of adding amendments to the West Broadway redevelopment plan that add even more complexities to the project.
“It’s already a confusing enough process for the public to understand. I was surprised that the staff brought this forward,” City councilor Alan Zelenka said.
With a 6-2 vote Tuesday, the councilors adopted to move forward with a new proposal that would increase the city’s maximum debt limit to $128 million, a $95 million increase; an extension of the termination date of that debt to June 30, 2030, a six-year increase; and a boundary expansion, a 14 acre increase.
“I thought, ‘Wow, what are those people smoking down there at City Hall?’” City councilor Bonny Bettman said. “It’s an admission that the KWG/Beam proposal that we’re pursuing off West Broadway is not going to be the end-all cure for downtown as it’s being sold because we’re already anticipating more urban renewable projects at astronomical cost to the city.”
The increased debt limit and the extended timeline for settling that debt are needed because the Urban Renewal Agency must increase its financial capacity to fund the West Broadway redevelopment, according to a city report.
The spending cap on debt was set at $33 million in 1998, and about $26 million has gone toward the Eugene Public Library.
The adoption of the new $128 million spending cap does not authorize or obligate the city to reach such a high level of debt, but allows the URA to have the ability to fund projects over time.
Three plans to expanded the redevelopment area were proposed to the city councilors. One area includes the site where the Eugene Clinic is located at 12th Avenue and Willamette Street that has largely been cleared of buildings and is now used for surface parking. The second area was the County Annex building at 135 East 6th Avenue that houses the Lane County Health Department, but will become vacant when the county department moves to a new location. The third option was to include both of these locations into the West Broadway plan.
“A finance plan like this is going to have to evolve over time…we haven’t got all the answers and it’s going to be something that is going to happen over the next few months and even probably over the next couple years,” said Sue Cutsogeorge, a financial analysis manager.
The vote was not to amend the West Broadway plan to accept these three proposals, but to obtain information and input about the feasibility of a possible amendment. Although the vote favored moving forward with the proposal, many city councilors voiced their concerns.
“If you want to kill the momentum that we so carefully crafted in this downtown revitalization, this is probably the way to do it,” Zelenka said. “I think we should just go forward with doing the minimum to do the West Broadway project.”
The City Council and URA’s West Broadway redevelopment plan is an attempt to give downtown Eugene a facelift in one of its more dilapidated areas. West Broadway, between Willamette and Charnelton Streets, has two old and run-down buildings, very limited parking and two massive holes in the ground from where buildings once stood.
The URA asked to begin the process for making the substantial amendment to the Downtown Urban Renewal Plan because the amendment will take about 100 days to complete. The plan must be amended before the URA can enter into any borrowing agreements to accomplish the West Broadway project.
“(I wanted) to say to the public and to reiterate that whatever sides you put out here, whatever choices you decide to support, you’re not signing on the dotted line,” Mayor Kitty Piercy said. “The deed is not done, but it’s trying to prepare for whatever deed is going to be done and we don’t know what that is yet.”
Contact the city and state politics reporter at [email protected]