The University, the Willamette Science and Technology Center and city officials might soon resolve a conflict over the use of a city-owned parking lot near Autzen Stadium that has threatened to stall the stadium’s expansion and close the museum.
City code requires the stadium’s expansion, which will accommodate 12,100 more fans, to include 1,375 additional parking places. The University has been working to circumvent that requirement by building a bus transit station near the stadium, and the University has proposed placing that station on a parking lot adjacent to WISTEC on Leo Harris Parkway.
WISTEC, however, sells parking passes on that lot to football fans, and museum officials say WISTEC would be forced to close if that revenue is lost.
After months of negotiations, city planners and University officials discussed in a closed meeting Friday a plan that would place the station on a 42-acre parcel of land on the east end of Alton Baker Park, according to Eugene senior planner Allen Lowe.
This proposal would allow WISTEC to continue selling passes to the lot adjacent to the museum and would meet the city’s transportation requirement. The Eugene City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposal Jan. 22.
“I see this as a win-win situation for however many players are involved,” WISTEC Executive Director Meg Trendler said of the new proposal. “It’s the best possible outcome.”
But the plan isn’t without its detractors.
Andrea Riner, city parks planning manager, said the proposal would strip Alton Baker Park of a piece of land that is slated to be a parking lot for a canoe ramp.
“Frankly, it has quite a few drawbacks from a parks perspective,” she said. “It has significant impact on that portion of the park. I favor the original proposal and not taking more land.”
Dan Williams, vice president for University administration, said that although the new plan would meet the University’s needs, it comes late in the construction process. Further, he said an interim transit station would have to be placed on the WISTEC lot to bring fans to the stadium during construction of the final station.
“We certainly see some advantages, the biggest of which is that it moves the station closer to the stadium, but it also presents some new challenges,” he said. “One of the disadvantages is that it’s coming at the 11th hour. It’s going to cost us more money.”
Williams said he would prefer WISTEC accept the monetary compensation the University offered the museum for the use of the lot. WISTEC officials say the museum makes one third of its annual revenue selling parking passes to Duck football fans. WISTEC stands to lose one third of its parking pass revenue, totaling $26,000, without use of the lot. The University offered WISTEC $220,000 in compensation, but WISTEC officials rejected the offer, saying that it didn’t cover long-term revenue the museum could make selling passes.
City, UO, WISTEC find agreement on parking dispute
Daily Emerald
January 7, 2001
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