Courthouse Square Internal Staff Team Minutes

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pre~}es~-ses~s all of the financial issues. While the final design process goes forward, SPOC urges the county and the transit board to address these unresolved issues: 1. The Department of Environmental Quality has yet to approve construction on the site even though $460,000 has been spent to decontaminate the soil. 2. While the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce has said the project should have, under accepted Salem standards, 472 parking spaces, the project calls for only 258 plus another 59 or 62 that might be located on or under the northern 20 percent of the block. The county, the chamber, and the city's parking board should discuss city and state policies, alternative forms of transportation, and parking availability elsewhere. The lack of short-term public parking at Courthouse Square is troublesome. 3. The committee is unclear when the county and the transit district will seek proposals for g~as~ development of the northern portion of the block. That process should be coordinated with the fmal design process. 4. The county has informed ~e committee ~-~ss~ that ~e~ its financial management skills, honed by adjusting to Ballot Measures 5 and 50, guarantee that the $631,326 annually to be assessed on county departments for Courthouse Square can be absorbed ea$i~}~ The committee finds that response,-~€ , less than persuasive and proposes that the county's budget committee publicly, candidly, and thoroughly assess the impact on county services ~ of Courthouse Square costs. ~- '~e-~eexga~-zat~er~-e~~Ia~et~-Ge~~a~age~g~~is-an~~e~-goi~g-~~e~ss;-k~~ ce~~t~a-~as-see~o. evide~ce-that--dir-ect-repo~ts-~o-~~ie-co~issioxe~a~-~ ~3~' e. 6. Construction of Courthouse Square would be followed by renovation of the Courthouse at an estimated cost of $494,000 and the Senator Franklin Building of $345,000. The courty is part of a coalition that seeks state financial support for provision of court facilities. If that initiative fails at the 1999 Legislature, Marion County will need to provide $839,000 $494, 000 in yet unbudgeted renovation money, as well as the $345, 00 for the Franklin. Respectfully submitted, SPOC At the end of the draft review the committee agreed that the final report should be finalized and released promptly. The agreed time was to release by Friday afternoon. Member John McMillan raised the issue of SPOC membership. He resigned from the committee at this time. Justice Peterson, Kathy Keene and Randy Compton followed with their resignations. ~ 4