A group of University students and faculty is attempting to interrupt the University’s plan to add 4.2 acres of new buildings to the south bank of the Willamette River. The proposed buildings would be part of the University’s Riverfront Research Park, housing numerous scientific research facilities independent from the University.
Those against the construction of these buildings say it poses problems for the riverside environment and general connectivity of the area.
While the University reached the end of its 20-year lease on the building on Oct. 10, the University has requested a three-year extension to its conditional land use permit from the city, which officially owns the property. If the request is granted — a decision to be made on Nov. 20 — the University will be able to begin construction on the new Riverfront Research Park building.
All that could stop the project after its extension is requested would be a $250 official appeal to the city filed by the opposition.
A pair of landscape architecture graduate students, Christo Brehm and Rena Schlachter, lead the opposed group that aims to halt the University’s master plan before it is granted an extension.
Brehm and Schlachter took on the issue after working in a design studio in last April with two University professors. Landscape architecture professors Ron Lovinger and Mark Gillem caught the students up on the history of the Riverfront property and the potential future in store for the area.
Teaming up with ASUO Environmental Advocate Daniel Rottenberg, former ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz and other concerned students, Brehm and Schlachter spent the last year delving further into the history and politics of the lot. After meeting with the State Board of Education, city planners, ASUO members, the director of the Riverfront Research Park, University President Richard Lariviere and University faculty, staff and students, the group decided to take action.
Schlachter said the riverfront property should strengthen the University’s connection to downtown via the river bike path and create a more ecologically aware atmosphere — a concept that she fails to see met in the Riverfront Research building plans.
“The new building would essentially cut off the University’s access to the river and stand in the way of future bike paths,” she said. “We want to see a design that’s designed in a way that is respectful to the connectivity of Eugene, the riverbank riparian buffer and to current land use laws.”
Diane Wiley, director of the Riverfront Research Park, argues that the future building plans are environmentally conscious and sustainable.
“It’s been said that the building will be on a contaminated site, which is false,” Wiley said. “We have taken all precautions necessary to develop an ecologically safe and environmentally incorporated area.”
Wiley said some people have questioned whether the research park will “just be another Valley River Center,” with an expansive parking lot void of any natural settings. She affirms this will not be the case.
“We hope to construct the minimal necessary amount of parking, which will be 40 feet from the bike path and include tasteful natural landscaping,” Wiley said.
The site’s plan also promises to expand the current neighboring bike path by 14 feet and re-pave its bumpy surface.
Wiley also said the plans have been reviewed by the Department of Environmental Quality, and the proposed main building is determined to be ranked silver by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system.
Since the 1988 implementation of the original master plan, state land use regulations have been modified twice, according to Schlachter. In addition, the plans for the future buildings have been kept hidden from the public, making it difficult for the group, informally named “Connecting Eugene Coalition,”to get a grasp on what’s really in store.
Both Schlachter and Brehm hope to see a re-evaluated and thoughtful master plan that mixes economic values with ecological sensitivity. They have a strong local model: the neighboring Eugene Water and Electric Board Riverfront property.
“It’s extremely exciting to watch the public planning that is going into the EWEB master plan process,” Brehm said. “We would love to see similar community dialogue in the re-evaluation of the University’s riverfront land.”
The group is now in the process of encouraging the public to write to the city planner’s office before Nov. 20, requesting that the city deny the extension and halt the construction of the additional Riverfront Research buildings.
Associate city land use planner Heather O’Donnell said that extension requests for land use leases are a common proposal and that the city planning division has not looked into the possibility of it being denied.
“If the land use permit is extended, the University can still work with the group of students to incorporate their ideas to their plan,” O’Donnell said.
While the Riverfront Research Park director respects the students’ enthusiasm, Wilson doesn’t see feasibility in their proposed ideas.
“They brought a lot of visionary ideas to the table,” she said, “but we are dealing with real-world conditions that they didn’t seem to incorporate.”
The two future tenants of the Riverfront Research Park buildings, the Oregon Research Institute and the Education Policy Improvement Center, are not involved in the planning process.
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