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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-0701 REG MINMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING ASHLAND CITY COUNCIL July 1, 1986 ROLL CALL APPROVAL OF MINUTES PUBLIC HEARING "A" Street Improvements FORENSIC LAB & MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Mayor Medaris led the Pledge of Allegiance and called the meeting to order at 7:30 PoMo in the Council Chambers on the above date° Elerath, Reid, Bennett, Acklin, Laws and Arnold were present° Bennett moved to approve minutes of the regular meeting of June 17, 1986 as submitted; Acklin seconded the motion which passed unanimously on voice vote° Director of Public Works Alsing reported that all of the signatures have not been secured on the agreement relative to the payment of improvement costs because one of the principals is in Texas. Alsing requested that the public hearing be continued and Council agreed. ing The Mayor credited Dro Ralph Wehinger for bring/the Forensic Lab into fruition and asked Cynthia Ford, Director of Research Services to review findings after a short report by Wehinger. Wehinger reviewed the history of pursuing the 15 acre site at Southern Oregon State College for the combination of the Pacific Northwest Raptor Rehabilitation Museum and Forensic lab~ Wehinger said the acquisition of the site was worked through the State Board of Higher Education and introduced Director of Forensic Labs Ken Goddard of Washington, D.Co Goddard reported that he has been working for seven years to get support to provide a forensic lab which will work toward safety of endangered species as well as making the crime lab an effective tool for tracking down poachers and predators of wildlife. Goddard said the work will be done on an international scale and will be known throughout the world. Cynthia Ford reviewed impact figures the Pacific Northwest Museum of Natural History would have on Jackson County and the State of Oregon for the first four years of construction and operation phases and credited her associate as having generated the analysis° Ford noted the total direct and indirect impact would be $92,214,000 on Jackson County and $80,244,000 by the Museum. On the Forensics Lab Ford noted the estimated total direct and indirect impact would be $10,800,000 on Jackson County and $15,000,000 on the State. Ford noted that the analysis has been done basically by research with construction comparables and figures are estimates~ Ford reviewed a combined yearly impact once both facilities are operational and came up with a total direct and indirect impact of $92,064,000 on the County and $61,344,0( on the State. The Mayor introduced those involved in the team effort as Ron Boldstad, Dean of Administration at S~O~SoC. Rod Stevens, S.O.SoC. Physical Plant Director, Ben Tyran of the Economic Development Commission of Ashland and Liz Shelby, D~rector of Economic Development for Jackson County,and Larry Mattson, Architect. 7/1/86 P. 1 n_lar,Meeting Ashland City Counc~l 7/I/80 P. 2 FORENSIC LAB UNFINISHED BUSINESS Historic Application Goddard reviewed forensics lab construction saying the design will be available by October 1, 1986 and the construction funds will be available that day. He said he plans to go to bid between sixty and ninety days and the contract should be awarded by the first part of December and that groundbreaking may occur in early January 1987. Goddard said that forty countries have signed treaties with the U.S. for the cooperative effort and the U.S. will have the only crime lab. Planning Director Fregonese said staff has considered applying for an Infrastructure grant which would provide funding necessary to widen E. Main Street at the site and bring a road into the facility and that the needs seem to match perfectly the type thing such a grant was designed for. Fregonese said that the grant would be 85% of the request with a match of 15%. On Laws' question as to what will happen should the grant not be available and noted the City is not in a position to fund such a project. Fregonese said the Infrastructure grant is the first priority and should that avenue not work, other options would have to be explored. Tyran said that the Deputy Director of the State Economic Development of the State of Oregon visited the site and a meeting was held and at that time he said that an amount of $50,000 may well be available as a starting point for the proposal. Acklin moved that staff proceed with grant application; Reid seconded the motion which passed unanimously on voice vote° Laws aske~ if any further City participation is anticipated other than for the forensics lab and Wehinger said there are not plans of that nature at this point but that the Museum proposal has been set aside relative to finances at this time but that the lease is being worked out. Kay Atwood reported that she had prepared the Drescher application for the Enders building for Historic designation and will also represent the Tietelbaum request. Atwood said sh~ has r~rch on the numbe~ of requests approved and rejected/reviewed the processing used by the State Historic Preservation Office and noted that the members of the com- mittee usually check each piece of property. Atwood said that about three buildings per year are submitted for approval in the City. Atwood then reviewed the Enders Bldg., saying that it was built by Frank Chamberlain Clark in 1910 of reinforced concrete. Atwood said that change of facade does not disqualify the integrity of the building. Acklin asked Atwood why the Historic Commission had initially denied the request and Atwood said it would be easy to be subj ~ctive and that they may have been concerned over dhanges over the years. ......... continued 7/1/86 P. 2 ular_Meeting Ashland City Council 7/1/86__P~ 3 Drescher/Enders Building Historic Designation cont. Reid said the Historic Commission is not made up of profess- ionals and perhaps did not see the historic value of the building° Drescher noted he had not been notified of the Historic Commission's intention to review the application and therefore no testimony was given. Drescher said he is reluct- ant to criticize any officials of the City but said if the Historic Commission were to be faulted it would have been by the procedure used. Acklin said that the State and Federal government have no mechanism to require that certain things be done to historic buildings° Hal Cloer apologized for the Historic Commission saying that it was poor procedure which was followed and noted this was the first time the Commission had seen any documentation on the Enders Building. Cloer said he was asked to come to the Council meeting to ask that the action be delayed as the matter appears on their agenda for a special tax assessment~ Atwood offered to make sure the Historic Commission receives a copy of nomination papers and Atwood was asked by Council to review the same material she had just given Council for information° Reid said she would like to approve request without necessarily getting the Historic Commission's approval° Julie Schwartz reported on the Tietelbaum request saying that much has been done to restore the building. Schwartz said it is the same building ~t& essentially the same request. Cloer said the Historic Commission takes quite a bit of time with issues and along with being asked to request a delay on action he was also asked to get a feeling of how Council feels about special assessments. Cloer said the Commission expressed a negative view of the tax freeze saying the balance of the population must make up the lost revenue. Cloer said the City already loses taxes because of the College and school districts being exempt. Cloer said that the special assessment on property will have no effect on future restoration and noted the letter was very vague as to what kind of restoration would occur~ Arnold noted he has a financial interest in the first request (Drescher) and not in the second request~ The Mayor said the vote would be taken on each issue. Drescher reviewed the State statutes and said he would like to have had the opportunity to address the Historic Commission and said that closed door meetings or phone calls are illegal when they effect his property rights and took issue with public meetings law not being followed~ Drescher sug- gested that voluntary board members such as the Historic Commission and CPAC should have the opportunity to review questions with the City Attorney and staff for information to save them from being confronted with sensitive situations. Laws moved to have a study session with Council and the His- toric Commission to go over the process and get State law reviewed, Reid said it would be nice to have Atwood or a S~ate official on hand for meeting 7/1/~ P q ular Meeting Ashland City Council 7/~/86 P. 4 Drescher Historic Request Enders Building PUBLIC FORUM ORDIN~qCES, RESOLIr~IONS & CON- TRACTS Traffic Safety Commission Membership Transfer of Appropriations OTHER BUSINESS FROM COUNCILORS OREGON BALLET EXECUTIVE SESSION ADJOUP~YMENT Acklin moved to approve Drescher request; Reid seconded the motion. On voice vote the motion passed without opposition; Arnold abstained and the motion carried. Reid moved that Tietelbaum request be approved; Acklin seconded the motion which passed unanimously on voice vote. Allen Russell asked that his application for a liquor license be considered for La Paloma, 76 No Pioneer and Acklin moved to place on agenda; Bennett seconded the motion~ On voice vote passed unanimously~ Laws moved to approve application; Arnold seconded and the motion carried by unanimous voice vote. Public Forum closed. The ordinance to increase the membership from 5 to 7 was read in full and Laws moved to second reading; Reid seconded the motion which passed with Reid, Bennett, Acklin, Laws and Arnold voting YES; Elerath voted NO. Motion carried° Elerath said that 5 members are more effective on a committee and the Mayor explained they were having problems getting a quorum and disappointing people who came to testify. Withdrawn. Reid noted that July 1st is International Nuclear Free Day and that she is proud tha~ Ashland is a nuclear free City° Reid requested that the Oregon Ballet be placed on the next agenda with information coming~ At 8:55 P.M. the Mayor requested Council go into Executive Session to discuss litigation by authority of AMC 192.660(i)(h) Council returned to the regular meeting at 9:12 P.M. and Arnol~ moved to place the matter of the Ashland vs. Krahel lawsuit on the agenda; Laws seconded the motion which passed without opposition on voice vote. Arnold moved to instruct the City Attorney to take steps to dismiss the case against Krahel; Elerath seconded the motion which passed with Elerath, Bennett, Laws and Arnold voting in favor; Acklin and Reid opposed and the motion carried° The meeting adjourned at 9:15 P.M. Nan E. Franklin City Recorder Mayor 7/1/86 P~ 4