A public hearing before a joint meeting of the Eugene City Council and the Lane County Board of Commissioners Wednesday evening pitted residents against west Eugene business owners — including representatives of Hyundai — over proposed amendments to the city’s wetlands plan.
At issue are three ordinances, each requiring separate action from the council and the board, which would forbid the semi-conductor plant from further development on its 205-acre site near Willow Creek because the city’s planning and development department has called for restoration and protection of the wetlands on the site.
A vote on the amendments is scheduled for the June 1 council session and the June 28 commissioners meeting. Hyundai could appeal an unfavorable decision to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has the final determination under federal wetlands protection laws.
“This is corporate bigotry,” Bethel resident Eric Hall said in support of Hyundai. “I urge you to find creative steps toward a solution. Anything less is no way to treat a valuable member of our community.”
“Hyundai is not a citizen, the people who work there are,” argued Jan Spencer of Eugene. “I think the integrity of this process is on the line with misconceptions like that.”
When Hyundai negotiated the property purchase before breaking ground in 1995, it was intimated that they would not need to expand into the already-designated wetlands area. Now, however, the corporate headquarters has said it wants to expand and build two more plants at the west Eugene site.
Hyundai spokesman John Lively was on hand with several maps outlining the two auxiliary plants the company wants to build to the south of its current plant location.
“What we’re talking about is an additional eight acres moving southward from the existing site,” he said. “We are concentrating our development to the north as much as possible.”
But local residents want the land protected instead, and they made their point clear en masse at Wednesday’s forum.
“The environmental uniqueness of this area requires our stewardship,” said Debra Michaels. “This needs not to be framed as anti-business or pro-environment, but as the inheritance we’ll pass on to our children.”
Retired University biology professor Bayard McConnaughey said 99 percent of the Willamette Valley’s wetlands have already been lost to population growth and development and that the remaining 1 percent must be preserved.
“Wetlands-species animals require continuous land to successfully survive,” he said. “The wildlife area they propose to keep is totally inadequate.”
After several years of struggle between community members, environmental groups and the South Korean-based manufacturer — as Wednesday’s forum exemplified — the company has recently suggested it may no longer be feasible to continue operations at the 830-employee Eugene plant.
In response to this, Edward Aster, owner of Westech Rigging on West 11th Avenue, said the company’s presence here is crucial in attracting more businesses to the area.
“It acts as an important magnet for others to settle here,” he said, noting that five national companies are looking at west Eugene sites for expansion.
“It was big business that helped build this city,” he continued. “Let’s not shoot ourselves in the foot on this. I implore you to look very, very hard at the future of job opportunity and growth for the families in Eugene.”