Eugene voters approved a measure Tuesday to build the West Eugene Parkway by a margin of 644 votes, with 50.9 percent supporting the project. Springfield voters were also voting “yea,” with 65.5 percent voting in favor of revising the city’s 1893 charter.
The unofficial final results showed Eugene’s Measure 20-54 with 17,864 votes in favor and 17,220 opposed, while Measure 20-53, which proposed transportation alternatives to the parkway, was losing by 7,612 votes.
Voters were casting their ballots up to the last minute, and Eugene’s turnout was greater than 40 percent. The election’s overall return hovered near 36 percent.
“There’s been a good turnaround since yesterday,” elections supervisor Annette Newingham said. “Voter turnout is related to what’s on the ballot.”
The Eugene vote marks the latest attempt to find new transportation options for West Eugene. In 1986, voters passed a measure that asked whether a parkway should be built in West Eugene. Ground was never broken on the project because of citizens’ concerns that 50 acres of wetlands would have to be paved and $88 million would have to be spent. Last December, the council voted to block development on the parkway but decided in August to place two measures on the ballot.
“We wanted to make it clear to the voters that there was more than one way to work on the transportation problems in West Eugene,” said Councilor David Kelly, Ward 4. “We tried to put a multiple-choice question before the voters.”
Other city leaders felt that putting two conflicting measures on the ballot was unnecessary.
“The council majority did everything they could to confuse voters on this issue,” said Mayor Jim Torrey. “I had senior citizens call me because they didn’t want to make a mistake.”
Kelly said the council will be discussing how to implement 20-54 in the coming weeks.
“We need to decide which TransPlan (project) to postpone,” Kelly said.
Eric Jones, public affairs manager for Public Works, said it’s unclear which projects will be shuffled around.
“That’s a political decision that hasn’t been made,” Jones said last week.
Springfield voters appeared to be approving the measure to repeal the 1893 city charter, with 65.5 percent in favor and 34.4 percent against.
The new measure in Springfield replaces the 1893 charter with a general grant of power for the city. It keeps the current council-manager form of government and makes municipal court powers conform to state law. The existing system of a council-manager form of government in Springfield would not change.