After having 20 years to build along the riverfront, the University is now seeking an extension of a permit granted in very different times and excluding students and the public from participating in a discussion that will deeply affect the city.
It took the University four years in the 1980s to be granted a conditional use permit to build on the south bank of the Willamette River. A 20-year permit issued in Oct. 10, 1989, stipulated all of the construction had to be completed by Oct. 10, 2009.
Twenty years, one month and three days later, construction has not yet begun. But the University is asking for another three years to build on its expired permit, though original plans for building along the river are not being followed and land use laws have changed.
The Campus Planning Committee, which serves an advisory role in University construction matters and includes only two students, was not properly consulted about building on the site, according to a resolution that passed a preliminary vote of the ASUO Senate this week.
A group of students is working to get the University to slow down and rethink its plan for the riverfront. The students are not anti-development or opposed to the environmentally friendly tenants of the Riverfront Research Park, the Oregon Research Institute and the Education Policy Improvement Center. The students are simply asking the city to not renew the plan so some collaboration can take place before the riverfront is harmed. 
Current plans for the site diverge from the original master plan, which included bike paths connecting the river to East 8th Avenue and Alder Streets. The current plan also builds right to the edge of the river with imposing three-foot walls that will be the mark of private property, not a public space that belongs to the city.
The idea of keeping an open passage to the river and having a responsibly built civic space is as appealing as this opaque process is distressing. The city is accepting public comments until Nov. 20 on whether the permit should be renewed. By the second week of December, a decision will be released, which is likely to be appealed regardless of whether the city decides to renew the permit.
The city should not renew this permit. If, as the research park’s director Diane Wiley says, the plan for riverfront construction includes natural landscapes, bike paths, minimal amounts of parking and is ecologically safe, it would seem to be a worthy candidate for a new permit issued under today’s land use laws and with an eye toward the future of the city.
Sustainability and the accessibility of the river are so valuable that more time is necessary to determine the next step for this development.
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