Parking, housing, traffic congestion and construction costs were the chief concerns raised at a meeting Wednesday night for residents and business owners affected by future neighborhood development east of campus.
City and development officials hosted a fourth meeting to study three alternative drafts of the Walnut Station Mixed Use Development Plan, which outlines renovation and development of retail and housing along Franklin Boulevard.
The plan emphasizes encouraging development and growth through high density stores and housing and through expansion of transportation and pedestrian-friendly environments. The plans show the University building a basketball arena on the Williams’ Bakery property acquired in 2005 and Franklin Boulevard expanded to accommodate traffic.
Officials said the meeting’s purpose was to answer questions and encourage residents and business owners to submit their comments to developers on the proposed plans for neighborhood development.
“What we are really looking for is a fourth alternative that includes the elements you all like,” said Marcy McInelly, president of Urbsworks Inc., an architecture and urban design firm in Portland.
Some people at the meeting still had many questions and concerns about the different ways the development would affect the neighborhood.
“It was informative, but I’m still not sure about how the new housing would affect costs,” said Fairmount resident Doris Burkland. “I can’t tell whether older residents would still be able to afford homes in the area.”
Businesses would also be affected because the plans encourage high-density development for retail that would be open for both national and local businesses. The three alternatives suggest expanding the Market of Choice and Hirons Drug Store and relocating the building farther east on Franklin Boulevard in order to accommodate the University’s arena.
Richard Wright, Sr., whose family owns the Market of Choice, said he would prefer not to move store locations but he would do so if residents decided to go along with the plans.
“We are committed to the residents and to the city of Eugene,” Wright said. “We’ll be there, one way or another, whatever they decide to do.”
The Walnut Mixed Use Development Plan was identified in a regional transit plan sevearl years ago because it is located on the Franklin EmX corridor and its “general redevelopment potential,” according to a city document announcing the meeting. The University has since purchased the land for the arena, the UO Foundation has purchased the former Joe Romania car lot and the State of Oregon is considering building off-ramps from I-5 onto Franklin Boulevard, pointing to “imminent change in the area,” according to the document.
McInelly said the plans are not complete, and she hoped residents and business owners would submit their comments about the project.
“These are visions intended to stir imagination for the future, and of course to get a reaction,” McInelly said.
 

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