With a public comment period about the University’s proposed Northside Parking Lot ending on August 4, some University students and Eugene residents have vocalized safety and sustainability concerns about the University’s planned 153-space lot along the Willamette riverfront.
At the proposed lot’s land use hearing Wednesday evening, hearings official Jeff Litwak heard testimony from city planners Steve Ochs and Gabriel Flock, as well as from University planning consultant Colin McArthur about the project’s progress.
The 1.66-acre lot is slated for completion in January 2011 and would be built north of the University on a vacant property owned by the city west of Millrace Drive. The School of Architecture and Allied Arts’ Urban Farm abuts the property to the west, and the Millrace Bike Path will form the lot’s southern boundary.
When Litwak opened the floor to audience response, community activist Timothy Shinabarger briefly criticized the lot’s plans because they overlook pedestrian and bicyclist safety.
“There needs to be a professional analysis of this project’s impact on the intersection of Riverfront Parkway and Millrace Drive,” Shinabarger said. “This is a dangerous intersection for bicyclists, and increased traffic will increase traffic problems.”
As evidence, Shinabarger mentioned a 2002 traffic collision at the same intersection where a cyclist was struck and killed by a car. McArthur responded by saying the University does not believe such an inspection is warranted based on vehicle use statistics.
The Campus Planning and Real Estate website lists the Urban Farm as a beneficiary to the construction on its website, saying that the construction will allow the farm to add native edible landscape and save apple and other orchard trees. But some of the farm’s volunteers wonder if the benefits will outweigh long-term ecological costs.
Katrina Simonsen, an environmental science major and one of the farm’s volunteers, said the opportunity to plant a native landscape along the lot’s western boundary does not justify the almost two acres of asphalt set to be poured close to where food is grown.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” Simonsen said. “I’ve read foraging books that say you shouldn’t pick food grown next to roads and cars.”
The lot’s riverside location is ideal to the University because of its close proximity to Matthew Knight Arena and the center of campus compared to other available plots of land. But the fact that Northside is being created partially to make up for spaces lost because of the Arena’s construction makes Simonsen even more frustrated.
“The University had really conflicting values; it has a priority to be an athletic school yet values sustainability,” Simonsen said. “I hope that it would not sacrifice its healthy landscapes for mere parking convenience.”
Vice President for Finance and Administration Frances Dyke said the storm water drainage and treatment systems, along with other innovative landscaping and construction techniques, in the parking lot’s plan will not create excess pollution of the surrounding area.
“Most people don’t realize how much oil product goes onto surface parking lots,” Dyke said. “This is why we are requiring bioswale and treatment facilities.”
Before construction begins, the city must approve the site for a Willamette Greenway Permit, a Type III land use application requiring special consideration of natural scenic, historical, agricultural, economic and recreational qualities of lands along the Willamette River.
Wednesday’s public hearing discussed whether the permit, among others, should be granted. Such strict buildings standards will likely support Dyke’s contention that every step of the lot’s planning took into consideration the fragility of the Willamette and Millrace ecosystems.
At the hearing, Litwak chose to hold the record open for seven more days to let the public submit any final pieces of evidence speaking to safety, sustainability and other concerns.
University Government and Community Relations Associate Karen Hyatt said the Litwak will make a decision from 10 days to two weeks after the record is closed. A two-week appeal period will follow the decision, and if no appeals are filed, the University will be cleared to submit building permit applications.
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