The University’s arena project hit a big hurdle on Wednesday when a hearings official ruled the development must have a conditional use permit before construction can begin – a decision that complicates the project and could delay it months.
The decision overturned a ruling by City Planning Director Lisa Gardner, and it serves as vindication for the neighbors who have battled to have more say in the arena project since the site was first targeted in 2003.
At a glance
The Fairmount Neighbors Association will meet again at 6:30 p.m., on June 10 at the Laurelwood Golf Course Clubhouse What is a conditional use permit? The permit allows the public to have more say in how the arena is built, including how well it meshes with surrounding buildings, the level of traffic the facility will produce and how many parking spots will be available. Why didn’t the University need one before? The University relied on a decision from City Planning Director Lisa Gardner that said the arena was considered a “University or College” use rather than an “Arena, Indoor” use in city land use codes. The “University or College” classification gives the University free range to build what it wants on property it owns. The University now needs the permit because neighbors of the arena development appealed the planning director’s ruling and won. Why might this delay the arena project? It could cause delays because the University must now submit a new application for a conditional use permit, and it will be subject to input from community members. That process could take months. Can this ruling be disputed? Yes. The University has 21 days to appeal to the State Land Use Board of Appeals. |
“This should have been a conditional use permit process from day one,” said Jeff Nelson, former co-chair of the Fairmount Neighborhood Association. Nelson currently serves on the neighborhood association’s arena subcommittee. If it had been, “we would have had all these issues resolved by now.”
It’s unclear whether the ruling will hinder the University’s ability to open the $227 million arena before its intended goal of the 2010-11 basketball season.
If it chooses, the University has 21 days to appeal the decision to the State Land Use Board of Appeals.
University spokesman Phil Weiler issued a statement saying that “While the University of Oregon is disappointed by the Hearings Official’s recent ruling, the decision in no way diminishes the UO’s commitment to or enthusiasm for the arena project. We remain fully committed to moving forward with construction as quickly as possible.”
The University is reviewing the decision to determine whether it will pursue the appeal.
“We’re not wanting to throw a wrench into the University’s process,” Nelson said. “But in my mind the University threw a wrench into its own process by not taking” the conditional use permit route from the beginning.
The conditional use permit allows the public to have more say in how the arena is built, and it might add months to the development process because now the University must undergo public meetings. Those meetings allow residents in the area to evaluate the arena’s compatibility with its surroundings, its operational characteristics and its mitigation of traffic impacts and parking demand, according to the ruling.
“The proposal will encompass most of the 7.4 acre site, will accommodate up to 12,500 spectators, will require approximately 300 additional parking spaces, and will significantly change the traffic circulation in the area during major events,” Hearings Official Anne Corcoran Briggs wrote in the ruling. “By any measure, these impacts are far greater than most other uses that are permitted outright in the zone, and are more similar to uses that require a conditional use review.”
How they got here
The University was previously able to develop and construct the arena without the special permit because before the University bought the Williams’ Bakery lot, where the arena is set to be built, the company successfully removed a site review overlay from the property. The site review overlay would have required any new developments on the property to undergo a public review.
Without the site review overlay, the University was allowed to build the arena without the permit because city planners classified the development as a “University or College” use, a provision in city land use law that allows the University to build whatever buildings it desires.
But neighbors protested.
The same provision that allows the University to build whatever it chooses also includes mandates that developers of an “Arena, Indoors” must undergo a conditional use permit process.
The neighbors argued that the “University or College” use applied primarily to classrooms and libraries, not 12,500-seat arenas. City codes didn’t offer much guidance, though, only that “University or College” uses are for “Education, Cultural, Religious, Social and Fraternal” purposes.
Initially, City Planning Director Lisa Gardner ruled that because an arena is a major part of a university’s operations, the development should be classified as a “University or College” use, and thus does not need the permit.
“It appears clear that an arena such as that proposed by the University of Oregon is a customary part of a university campus setting,” Gardner wrote in her March 14 interpretation letter. “Universities and colleges often have an arena that not only serves students, but that also holds regular athletic events and non-sporting events.”
Members of the Fairmount Neighborhood Association appealed Gardner’s decision to Hearings Official Anne Corcoran Briggs, who ruled in favor of the neighborhood association.
“While the question is a close one, I conclude that the more correct interpretation … is that the proposal fits into the “arena” category rather than the “university or college” category,” the ruling states.
The conditional use permit will be under the purview of the Eugene Planning Commission.
The University is expected to receive final approval to sell the $200 million in bonds from the Oregon State Board of Higher Education this Friday.
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