City of Eugene and
Eugene Urban Renewal Agency
Budget Committee Meetings Notice
The City of Eugene and Eugene Urban Renewal Agency Budget Committee is preparing
to review the proposed budget for fiscal year 2017-2018 (FY18) and to provide its
recommendations on the budget to the City Council. The Budget Committee wants your
help in setting funding priorities for our community. Please join the Budget Committee at its
upcoming meetings to learn more and to speak about your priorities.
City Manager’s FY18 Proposed Budget Presentation
This presentation consists of both the City and Urban Renewal Agency (URA) budgets, as
well as the Unfunded Needs Assessment.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017 • 5:30 p.m.
Budget Committee Public Comment and Deliberation on FY18 Proposed City Budget
Proposed discussion items for this meeting include the remaining Comcast revenues and an
update on City preparations for the 2021 World Championships.
Wednesday, May 3, 2017 • 5:30 p.m.
VIEWPOINT
BY M AT T MCR A E
Building
Resilience
WILL OUR NEW SCHOOL BUILDINGS
PASS THE TEST?
Budget Committee Public Comment and Deliberation on FY18 Proposed URA Budget
Wednesday, May 10, 2017 • 5:30 p.m.
Budget Committee Public Hearing, Deliberation and Action on FY18 Proposed Budget
Wednesday, May 24, 2017 • 5:30 p.m.
All meetings will be held in the Eugene Downtown Public Library
Bascom-Tykeson Room, 100 West 10th Avenue.
How You Can Get Involved
Members of the public are encouraged to express their views on the FY18 proposed budget. Public
testimony will be taken at 5:30 pm at the May 3 Budget Committee meeting, at 5:30 p.m. at the May 10
Budget Committee meeting and at 5:30 p.m. at the May 24 Budget Committee meeting. Public testimony
can also be submitted by sending a written statement to the Budget Committee or City Council, c/o
City of Eugene Finance Division, 100 W. 10th Ave., Ste. 400, Eugene, Oregon, 97401; submit a written
statement at the meeting or public hearing; or via the Budget Committee contact form at www.eugene-or.
gov/budget. At the bottom of the webpage, click the “Contact the Budget Committee” button.
How to Get More Information
The FY18 proposed budget is available on the City of Eugene website at www.eugene-or.gov/budget
starting on Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Hard copies of the FY18 proposed budget are available for public
review at the City of Eugene Finance Division (100 W 10th Avenue, Suite 400, Eugene, Oregon 97401),
Downtown Public Library reference desk (100 W 10th Avenue, 2nd floor, Eugene, Oregon 97401), and
at the City Manager’s Office (Lane County Public Service Building, 125 E 8th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon
97401), starting on Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Budget Committee meeting materials and webcasts are
available at www.eugene-or.gov/budget by selecting the “Budget Meeting Materials” link.
Please contact the City of Eugene Finance Division at 541-682-5512
if you have any questions or need additional information.
This notice was published on Thursday, April 13, 2017 at the City of Eugene’s website, and
may be viewed at www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/32068
T
he Eugene 4J School District is preparing to issue a bond measure
to fund building construction. Voters in either the November 2018
or May 2019 election would determine passage of the bond.
While the list of projects isn’t finalized, if the bond is approved,
funds may be used to replace North Eugene High School and
Edison Elementary School and to build additions on McCornack and Gilham
elementary schools, among others. As a community, we are looking at invest-
ing tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in replacing and upgrading school
buildings. We should take this opportunity to make sure our investments last.
As a taxpayer and father of a middle schooler, I support wise investments in
school buildings and trust our school board to carefully weigh relevant factors.
Two important decisions will influence the sustainability of these investments.
The first is the planned lifetime of new school buildings. Right now 4J de-
signs school buildings to last 50 years. We should reconsider this practice sim-
ply because it is expensive.
It’s true that more than a dozen of our school buildings are 50 years old, but
the reason they require replacement now is because they were designed to last
only 50 years. Durability, upgradability and flexibility were not essential de-
sign criteria given to the architects who designed these buildings. Rather than
funding only upgrades or additions, we are instead on the hook for replacing
entire school buildings in the coming decades, at much greater cost.
Let’s not saddle the next generation with the same financial burden. Let’s
challenge planners and architects to design extremely energy efficient build-
ings made to last 100 years or more.
The other critical decision is the seismic standard for these buildings. For
readers new to western Oregon, here’s the skinny: Geologists tell us the seis-
mic risk in Eugene is real. While Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquakes don’t
happen frequently, they are powerful and long lasting (some five minutes of
shaking!), and occur approximately every 300 years. The last one occurred 317
years ago. Bluntly, there is a 30 percent chance of a Cascadia Subduction Zone
earthquake in the next 50 years.
When it comes to seismic performance, 4J buildings (and nearly all pub-
lic buildings) currently meet the building code standard of “life safety.” This
means occupants should be able to exit the building without it falling on their
heads. That’s an extremely valuable safety standard.
Unfortunately, structures built to this standard are not expected to remain
usable after the ground stops shaking. Many will require huge repairs before
they can be safely used and still others will be so beyond repair they will be
torn down (and replaced — if, or when, we can afford it).
This means that at precisely the moment when our world is turned upside
down, when we need every possible advantage, it will be unlikely our school
buildings will be useable. This also means that in the next 50 years there is a 30
percent chance that our investments of millions will be extensively damaged
and require expensive repairs or demolition.
There is another way: New 4J school buildings (and really, all public build-
ings) should be constructed to an “immediate occupancy” standard. This
standard means buildings will be structurally sound and usable as soon as the
ground stops shaking. The power may be out and water may not work, but the
roof will be solid and won’t threaten occupants during aftershocks.
Yes, there is an additional cost to this upgrade, but in the city of Beaverton
it has been estimated to add less than 1 percent to the price tag of a new build-
ing. Analysis done for construction of Beaverton’s high school at South Cop-
per Mountain showed this increased level of performance is estimated to cost
$500,000 for a $90 million building. That’s cheap insurance that will lower
the cost of post-earthquake repairs and make the building useful for sheltering
when it’s needed most.
The crux of sustainability is broadening the factors that go into our de-
cision-making, including extending our sense of responsibility beyond our
own lifetimes. We should act in the best interest of those Eugeneans, like my
11-year-old daughter, who will be here in 2067. I guarantee they’ll be grateful
that we took the long view.
Matt McRae has worked for eight years addressing sustainability, climate change and natural hazards at
the local level.
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A pril 20, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com