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Home My WebLink AboutMiscellaneous Miscellaneous 1/29/2008 r-Q5uarh E.... 1 29, 2008 itian Wihtol .terguard.com VEl I w days, winter's lerland lppery walkways, 1e limes that try ;oles. And any liy enongh to dtg tlOW that arrived Christmas pres- ' isplar 'a la I the lther 'r. (Two families ,knowledged as outdoor Christ. .dn't been taken sht!) lcidence that as ,unday, I found, a stack of books, cookie cutter I'd king stuffer for mber? eather. gods were Ilogical interpre- las Vacation's" Is hts wrapped- l-the-attic .pres- avtng forg;Nten to n cookie cutter 1 of irnnv. ~n !.. r .,'~ ~. ]"- . . }- . l' c. ~. r. ~ ,.' -; L. , ..owes e; Youth jOIlCE,vEi~ female-only facility;E3 t ",iel, ~' '" ; I Springfield's council upholds a planning commission decision that the developer must make street improvements By JACK MORAN The Register-Gu~rd SPRINGFIELD - For Nevada developer Jeff Belle, the good news ts that the City Council on Monday didn't reject hts plan to build homes, shops,and a Lowe's home improve~ ment center on a IOO-acre north Springfield parcel. The bad news is that before any of that construction can begin, Belle must spend $2.5 million to make upgrades to Marcola Road that city officials say are .needed to protect existing neighborhood residents and ensure smooth traffic flow into the new development. Councilors voted 5-1 to uphold a December planning commission deci- sion endorsing Belle's project, pend- ing completion of various street improvements. Councilor Christine Lundberg voted no, saying she was generally opposed to the. develop- ment proposal. In a formal appeal med earlier this month, Belle asked councilors to. waive some of road requirements imposed by the planning commis- sion. The upgrades in question ~nclude constructing a roundabout at the main entrance of Belle's proposed JAN 292008 Villages at Marcola Meadows devel- opment, and an access lane on Mar- cola Road's south side that allows people living there to enter their driveways without dodging traffic headed into the new subdivision. Belle, president of JHB Inc. International. of Reno, Nev., ini- tially wanted to Install traffic sig- :nals, instead of a roundabout, at the development's main entrance, Belle's representatives on _Monday Introduced an alternate design that called for construction of an oval- shaped "elliptabout" that he pre- ferred to the city's plan. But neither of Belle's propos- als included construction of a road designed to shield existing Marcola Road residents from the project's Pleose turn to LOWE'S, Page E3 hlside Obituaries E2.3 For The Record E2 Calendar E2 STEPHANIE BAJLR.Ow/111e Register-Guard i4 , BRIEFLY METRO Man dies of injuries from Jan. 17 accident . An 82-year-old man died Saturday of injuries suf- fered when he was hit by a car while retrieving his mail north of Eugene earlier this month. Howard E. Rickard had crossed Irvington Drive at about 6 p.m. Jan. '17 when he was struck, his daughter Tamara Guisado said. He fell to the ground and his legs were run over. It appeared that Rickard had suffered only minor injuries and he declined to be trans- ported by ambulance to a hospital. His condition wors- ened and his family took him to Sacred Heart Medi- cal Center later that night. Lane County sheriff's deputies interviewed the driver, 77-year-old Cora Lee Whiteley, who said she didn't see Rickard before hitting him, Sgt. Clint Riley said. It was dark and Rick- ard was wearing dark cloth- ing. No citations were issued, Two men hold up Springfield gas statio~ SPRINGFIELD - Two men held up a gas station early Monday and made off with cash, cigarettes, chewing tobacco and DVDs, police said. One of them was armed with a gun. . Police were searching for the pair who robbed the Shell station at 5737 Main St. about 1:20 a.m. The men entered the store with stock. ing caps pulled over their faces and demanded cash from the clerk. Both men were white and of medium height and build. One wore a green shirt; the othe~ a white T-shirt. Man robs 10.year.old girl during store holdup . A man with a handgun robbed a Darl Mart, as well as a lO-year-old girl who happened to be in the store Monday night on Highway 99 North in .Eugene. According to the Eugene Police, shortly before 7 THE REGISTER-GUARD CI', Lowe's: Plan calls for construction later this year. Continued from Page El traffic impact. Speaking on behalf of Belle at Monday's meeting, Eugene land use consultant Rick Satre argued that the city should pay for a frontage road if officials feel it is necessary. "We don't see it as a prac- ticai solution, and it's not pro- portional to the impact the applicant is proposing," Satre said. In the end, councilors agreed with the planning commission's decision that the improvements were a fair solution to a traffic- volume problem the new devel- opment would create. "One thing 'really struck a chord with me," Mayor. Sid Leiken said. "Our planning com- mission did vote 7-0. ... That's a huge, huge signal." Six people besides Belle appealed the commission's ruling. Some doubted that the city's suggested road upgrades were fair to south-side Marcola Road residents. Others, such as Springfield resident, Donna Lentz, simply hoped the City Council would deny the proj- ect altogether. "I don't think it suits our city's needs at this time," Lentz said. Belle's plan calls for con. struction to begin later this year on several homes and the 171,000-square-foot Lowe's store. About 11 acres of public park and open space also would be built as part of the project's frrst phase. Bi 2014, Belle expects that more than 500 homes and apart- ments will take up about half the property. Vartous retail and office buildings would be constructed on the remaining acreage. The .timing of those projects would depend on market conditions. Belle's frrm purchased the vacant, lOO.acre property on , Marcola Road's north side from the local Pierce family in 2006 for $8 million. State says union nonprofit not violating campaign laws Complaint alleges Our Oregon should have to disclose more data THE AsSOCIATED PREss SALEM - A complaint lodged against an organization , funded by two of Oregon's larg- est public-employee unions was found to have no merit. Richard Leonetti, a retired furniture manufacturer and longtime critic of the pUblic- pension system, alleged that the unions violated state law by using Our Oregon as a con~ duit for their polltical contribu- tions, but never registering it as a political committee or fIling reports that itemized donations and spending. But Elections Division Direc- tor John Lindback determined the group was not required to register as a political commit- tee. Our Oregon, a public-ben- last year that it receives money from other sources. The group spent more than $800,000 on programs in 2006. More than $200,000 of it was . spent on candidates, measures and political parties. . "As the law exists, we con- cluded that Our Oregon did nothing wrong in the way they conducted their organization," said Scott Moore, a spokesman for Secretary of State Bill Brad- bury. "They disclosed all of the money they spent on their cam- paign activity." Leonetti criticized ','the deci- sion in a statement to the States- man Journal newspaper. "Bradbury's decision blows a giant hole in Oregon's cam- paign fmance' reporting laws, a hole so big that it destroys the entire system," he said. "Any person or grotip can Simply form a nonprofit corpora- tion 'to receive unlimited cam- paign contributions from secret sources, spend the money on REGION TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2008 Accident: Driv Continued from Page El "E on go 8t: the st causu into t Li ens Eugel chick. iforni who comrn with) a Mar via ce Be: state along zippe( from' Th crates to 60 eight I them ment tenant to Li. Three drivers ran into the crates and called 911 at about 7:45 p.m. io report debris in the road. None of the vehicles suf- fered lllajor damage, according to state police at the scene. The driver who was haul- ing the chickens, Xin Li, 39, was issued a ticket for a loose and sifting load for $242. According to state police, Li, driving a white pickup truck loaded with 24 chicken crates and pulling a double- axel trailer loaded with 160 more crates, noticed that he had lost some of his load. Li drove on to Creswell, where he stopped at a gas sta- tion to check his trailer before attempting to continue south- bound on 1-5. A Good Samari- tan stopped him from leaving, according to. trooper Clay l:;ole, who arrived at the gas station a short time later to ensure that Li stayed put. . State to 0] facility fOJ The action reverses a long policy housing boys and girls together "They lot of abusec sure t- not be tion a: Op' Indus! Hillcn Facilit 1972. ] ages] have I cottagf school Be! Febrw offend, Oak C Facilit males Oal less t mostly tionai before the stf time. been u young OaJ THE AsSOCIATED PREss SALEM - Reversing three decades of coed corrections for young people, Oregon plans to open a female-only facility next . month. Putting young offenders of ,both sexes in the same correc- tional faCility was once praised as a way of creatuIg a more normal, homelike atmosphere for troubled yoUng people. But Oregon officials say experience and national research taught that boys tended to fare better than girls. "What we are understand- ing more is that it's a positive aspect for boys to be housed with girls, that it kind of nor- malizes relationships and helps them understand what appro- priate behaviors are," said Phil