HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/18/2003 Regular
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MINUTES
Springfield City Council
Springfield Council Chamber-225 Fifth Street, Springfield
Tuesday, February 18,2003 7:00 P.M.
PRESENT: Anne Ballew, Dave Ralston, Tammy Fitch, Stu Burge, John Woodrow'
The meeting of the Springfield City Council was called to order by Mayor Sid Leiken.
City Recorder Kim Krebs called the roll.' All members of the council were present.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Mayor Leiken led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance.
. PUBLIC HEARINGS
1. Request for Metro Plan and Gateway RefinementPlan Amendments Jo. No. 2002- .
08-243 and Jo No. 2002-08-244 (PeaceHealth)
ORDINANCE NO.I-AN,ORDINANCE AMENDING THE METROPOLITAN AREA
GENERAL PLAN DIAGRAM BY REDESIGNATING U],> TO 33 ACRES OF LAND
FROM MEDIUM-DENSITY RESIDENTIAL TO COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL AT
THE GA TEW A Y MEDIUM-DENSITY RESIDENTIAL SITE AND DECLARING AN
EMERGENCY.
ORDINANCE NO.2-AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE GATEWAY REFINEMENT
PLAN DIAGRAM AND TEXT BY ALLOWING COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL PLAN
DESIGNATION AT THE GATEWAY MEDIUM-DENSITY RESIDENTIAL SITE TO
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DESIGNATION AT THE GA TEW A Y MEDIUM-DENSITY RESIDENTIAL SITE TO
BE IMPLEMENTED BY MIXED-USE COMMERCIAL ON THE SPRINGFIELD
ZONING MAP; BY AMENDING THE GATEWAY REFINEMENT PLAN TEXT TO
ALLOW FOR THE COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL METRO PLAN DESIGNATION
TO BE AFFIXED UPON MASTER PLAN APPROVAL; TO ALLOW FOR THE
MEDICAL SERVICES DISTRICT TO BE APPLIED TO UP TO 66 ACRES OF
MEDIUM-DENSITY RESIDENTIAL PLAN DESIGNATION; TO ALLOW FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF A HOSPITAL, ASSOCIATED MEDICAL, OFFICE, RETAIL,
AND RESIDENTIAL USES; TO PRESERVE THE POTENTIAL FOR NODAL
DEVELOPMENT; TO REQUIRE A MASTER PLAN TO BE APPROVED BY THE
CITY COUNCIL, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
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Mayor L~iken opened the public hearing.
Mayor Leiken welcorned all those present. He reviewed the order of the proceedings. Mayor
Leiken noted that the hearing would not go beyond 10 p.m. If the council was unable to
accommodate all speakers tonight, they would be called upon to speak the following night in the .
order they signed up. Request to speak forms would not be accepted on February 19.
Mayor Leiken noted that the written record would remain open until February 26,2003. The
applicant would be allowed seven days for rebuttal. The City Council would reconvene the
hearing for discussion and deliberation on March 31, 2003.
Mayor Leiken emphasized that the hearing was being conducted under the broadest possible
procedures for the purpose of public participation and information.
Mayor Leiken encouraged councilors to write their questions down and have them ready at the
conclusion of oral testimony.
Mayor Leiken called on the City Attorney for comments.
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City Attorney Joe Leahy indicated that if the council continued the hearing to the following
night, those who hl;ld to leave early tonight would be able to speak; if all the speakers were heard
and the hearing was not continued, they would be unable to speak but could submit written
testimony while the record remained open.
Mr. Leahy reviewed the council's code of conduct as it related to on-the-record hearings. He
said that if the council made its decisions prior to hearing the facts or on facts that were not
relevant to the criteria, the purpose of the hearing would be defeated. If the council made its
decision on the record, the integrity of the land use process was maintained. He urged the
council to refrain from comment until the public record was closed, and suggested a good "rule
of thumb" was to treat the applicants as councilors would wish to be treated.
Mr. Leahy said that the council should ensure that there Was no bias on the part of any member
regarding the proposal. He'defined that bias as meaning the councilor had already reached a
decision on the issue. If a councilor had made a decision and could not be fair, that individual
should recuse themselves.
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Speaking to the issue of ex parte contacts, Mr. Leahy said that councilors needed to put all the
substance of any and all written or oral contacts they received regarding the proposal so that
information was available in the public record for all those interested in the issue. That allowed
people to recognize the information the council had and to rebut it. He noted the extensive
controversy and news coverage that accompanied the application and suggested that if the
council had been lobbied on any particular element of the proposal, it should place that on the
record. General information did not have to be placed on the record because it was already in the
record, giving all an opportunity to respond to it. Mr. Leahy asked the council to consider his
remarks when it made its declarations of ex parte contact or conflict of interest.
Mr. Leahy discussed ethics and the requirements of the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS)
regarding the subject. He said that if a councilor or any member of his family would direct
benefit as a result of the decision or avoid detrim~nt as a result of the decision, the councilor
should not participate. If a councilor had a potential conflict, he or she should state so. He noted
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that no councilor to this point had indicated an ethical conflict to him with respect to the
application.
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Councilor Ballew noted she was the council representative to the McKeni:ie-Willamette Hospital
Authority. Mr. Leahy indicated that was not a conflict.
Councilor Woodrow indicated he worked for a company that did business with PeaceHealth,
which bought advertising from his firm. He said that consultation with the State Practices and
Standards Commission indicated that did not represent a conflict of interest.
Councilor Fitch said that constituents at various community events visited with her generally on
the subject but she heard nothing that was not in the record. Those e-mail contacts she received
regarding the topic were in the record.
Mayor Leiken declared ex parte contacts similar to those noted by Councilor Fitch. He noted
that he had also met with PeaceHealth's chief executive officer Alan Yordy during the
annexation agreement discussions between PeaceHealth and Springfield.
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There were no other conflicts of interest or ex parte contaf:ts declared.
Deputy City Attorney Meg Kieran reported that the hearing concerned a request to amend the
Metro Plan Diagram and Gateway Refinement Plan Diagrarn and text to allow PeaceHealth to
site a regional hospital and associated medical office buildings in the Gateway Refinement Plan
area. She noted that the site in question was currently designated for medium-density residential
(MDR) use. Ms. Kieran reported that process employed by the City was a hybrid of the quasi-
judicial procedures set out in Oregon Revised Statute 197.763 and the Type 4 procedures from
the Springfield Development Code, Article 3.100. She said that staff adopted the elements from
each procedure that provided the most opportunity for public input and due process. She noted
that the decisions for both processes must be based on evidence in the record and must be
supported by findings supporting the decision and addressing the approval criteria.
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Ms. Kieran said that the council must rnake its decision based on whether the proposal satisfied
the code criteria, which were mounted on the Council Chamber wall behind the council. She
reviewed the applicable criteria, saying that the proposal must be consistent with relevant
Statewide planning goals and it must not make the Metro Plan internally inconsistent. Ms.
Kieran referred the council to the Metro Plan amendment criteria in Springfield Development
Code Section 7.070(3), and the refinement plan criteria in Section 8.030.
Ms. Kieran said that the applicable criteria would be addressed in detail by the applicant, the staff
report, and testimony offered by interested parties. Those testifying should address the relevant
criteria or those criteria they believed to be applicable. Any evidence not raised at the council
level could not be brought up on appeal before the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). Those
raising issues must do so with sufficient clarity so that staff, the applicant, and the City Council
could address the issue. She said that the council had traditionally allowed testimony not directly
relevant to a criteria for the sake of public openness. However, it was the responsibility of the
council to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant evidence and to address the criteria in its
findings.
Mayor Leiken called for the staff report.
Colin Stephens of the Springfield Planning Division provided the staff report. He, called
attention to a map in the council packet showing all the annexed property on the approximately
200-acre MDR site. He stated that the council was considering an application for a Metro Plan
Diagram amendment to redesignate 33 acres from Medium-Density Residential (MDR) to
Community Commercial zoning. The council was also consider Gateway Refinement Plan text
and diagram amendments: one amendment was to allow rezoning of 33 acres frorn Medium-
Density Residential to Mixed-Use Commercial (MUC), one amendment was to amend the text to
allow 66 acres of Medium-Density Residential to be rezoned to Medical Services (MS) District,
pending approval of the master plan, and one amendment was to amend the text to allow for the
development of a hospital and nodal development pending approvalofthe master plan. Mr.
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February 18, 2003
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Stephens said that the application would replace the requirement in the refinement plan for a
conceptual development plan with a requirement for a master plan, would preserve residential
densities as planned for in the refinement plan and Metro Plan, and would allow for the
implementation of nodal development at the site as envisioned in TransPlan.
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Mr. Stephens said that the Planning Commission held three hearings and forwarded a
recommendation of approval with three conditions: I) the proposed master plan must include a
hospital; 2) if the hospital failed to gain master plan approval, the amendments would
immediately sunset; and 3) the third condition was to limit the height of the hospital to 60 feet.
Mr. Stephens said that staff supported the general ,?oncept in Condition 2, but recommended,
alternatively that, upon failure to gain approval for the hospital, the council would initiate plan
amendments to best accommodate development in the Gateway site, taking into account relevant
conditions at that time. Regarding Condition 3, Mr. Stephens said that if the council choose a
different height or deferred the decision to the master planning process, he wanted to be clear that
the council's jurisdiction over the height issue would be retained during the master planning
process.
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Mr. Stephens reviewed staff-recommended text changes made since the Planning Commission
took action. He said that staff recommended that Residential Implementation Action 12.1 be
revised to remove "appropriate commercial" to make it clear only mixed-use commercial would
be allowed. The other change was to Residential Irnplernentation Action 13.6, which allowed
PeaceHealth to submit a rnaster plan application prior to the.City's nodal irnplementation, but
preserved the ability to perform that implementation. Mr. Stephens noted that the applicant was
proposing alternative language, which staff was examining and would analyze prior to making a
recommendation to the council on March 31.
Mr. Stephens clarified that the decision on the plan amendments regarding whether the hospital
could locate at the site. If the decision was yes, the City would then receive and review the
master plan and make decisions related to the design and configuration of the hospital and
associated development. The decision was not about whether the hospital can or should be built
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February 18,2003
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at the site.
Mr. Stephens indicated all written testimony submitted during the Planning Commission review
process had been made available to the council. All testimony received prior to February 13 was
included in the meeting packet. He indicated that staff would forward any additional testimony
received to the council on February 27, followed by the applicant's rebuttal.
Mayor Leiken called for testimony from the applicant.
Alan Yordy, chief executive officer of Peace Health, Oregon Region, 770 East 11 th Avenue,
Eugene, thanked the staff and the council for their time and commitment to the process. He
particularly thanked City Manager Mike Kelly and Cynthia Pappas of the Development
Department and their staffs. He termed the construction of a new hospital a signature event in
the life of a community. PeaceHealth had been aware that a regional medical center could not be
built on four city blocks. Such a center required more space to house the many staff and support
services that were needed. He suggested that the council was about to make a decision about
both a regional medical center and about the level of medical service many people in western
Oregon would have in the future. Mr. Yordy expected that in reaching its vision for the new
hospital, PeaceHealth would create value for Springfield. He anticipated that property tax
, revenues from the River Bend campus would nearly double the value of the current land use
designation. A regional medical center also brought in money to the community from areas
outside the community. He cited the federal Medicare program, philanthropic foundations, and
employers outside the county as sources of those funds.
Mr. Yordy said that it would require flexibility to meet the potential of the site. He said that
PeaceHealth could not design a world-class facility in a 60-foot height limit. He said that
because nodal development was still in its infancy, he recommended a dialogue between the
hospital and the City about the issue in the context of the master planning process. Mr. Yordy
said that such flexibility would provide the greatest opportunity for success at the site.
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Mr. Yordy noted community controversy about the timing ofthe amendment and master "
planning processes, but he believed that the timing of the processes was right. The plan
amendments would provide clear direction to PeaceHealth about what was permissible before it
submitted a master plan. He noted that PeaceHealth had prepared a conceptual master plan,
which had been widely reported in the media and discussed with many people as the basis for
some of the amendments before the council tonight.
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Mr. Yordy noted PeaceHealth intended to honor late councilor Lyle Mr. Hatfield somewhere on
the campus site.
Mr. Yordy spoke of the long-time history of PeaceHealth to the metropolitan area. He said the
River Bend campus was key to that future. '
Phillip Farrington, PeaceHealth Director for Land Use Planning, 677 East 12th Avenue, Eugene
urged the council to adopt the Planning Commission's recommendations and approve the plan
amendments. He said that much information had been submitted already, and he proposed to hit
the high points. Mr. Farrington said that the application represented a dual campus strategy that .
allowed PeaceHealth to retain and remodel the existing Hilyard campus while developing the
River Bend site using the MS district. The application furthered the nodal development by
providing an opportunity for housing and employment in one location with access to transit. The
application would maintain the existing surplus of needed residential housing, conforming with
State Goal 10, and it would help reduce the City's existing deficit of cornmerciallands, in
conformance with State Goal 9. The application would establish a trip allocation plan to ensure
that transportation capacity would be preserved. It would also ensure public access to and along
the McKenzie River. The provisions in the refinement plan providing protection to the river
were also retained as part of the proposal.
Mr. Farrington asked that the council consider implementation action 13.6 and the proposed,
height limitation. He thought it premature to impose the height limitation because the council
could consider that issue through the master plan process. He thought the condition was
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unwarranted because it was intended to protect the Cobutg Hills view shed but it was imposed
without regard to point of origin. Mr. Farrington said that the limitation was also made without
making the determination that such a height limitation would actually preserve the views. He
said that PeaceHealth did photo simulations suggesting that those views would not be obstructed,
but he reiterated it was early in the process to make that determination. He said that it was also
rather arbitrary too because it was imposed without consideration of the function of the proposed
hospital and its impact on service delivery. Mr. Farmington said that PeaceHealth wanted to be
able to take advantage of the amenity values the site. He noted the improved clinical outcomes
associated with enhanced settings for medical care, information about which was submitted into
the record.
Speaking to Implementation Action 13.6, Mr. Farrington suggested that the text preordained the
location and application and of the nodal development overlay. PeaceHealth wanted to take
advantage of the flexibility the master planning process would afford. Rather than rely on a one-
size-fits-all set of standards, PeaceHealth hoped to be able to propose alternative measures to
achieve the same ends for nodal development. He noted that alternative text was submitted.
Mr. Farrington concluded by saying that PeaceHealth believed the appropriateness of applying
the MS designation had been previously established. He said that PeaceHealth also believed
there was no need for an amendment to TransPlan as a result of the application, as had been
previously argued in testirnony.
Jim Hanks, JRH Transportation Engineering, 4765 Villa Plaza Loop, Eugene, rerninded the
council that PeaceHealth agreed to provide funding for several improvements as part of the,
development of the River Bend campus. He enumerated those projects, which including funding
of the Gateway-Beltline intersection construction, funding half the construction costs and most of
the right-of-way for the Pioneer Parkway extension, and funding for capacity improvements at
the interchange of Pioneer Parkway and Highway 126. Mr. Hanks noted that all those projects
were deemed necessary in TransPlan before PeaceHealth decided to move to River Bend. He
pointed out that ifPeaceHealth was not planning to move to the site in question, none of the
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improvements would be funded.
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Mr. Hanks said that the Transportation Impact Analysis (TIA) developed by JRH Engineering
was the result of more than a year's collaboration with the staff of Oregon Department of
Transportation (ODOT), Springfield, and Lane Transit District. That collaboration resulted in
substantial changes to the plan. Mr. Hanks said that the analysis concluded that with the
mitigation outlined in the report, including a trip cap of 1,840 peak hour trips, the PeaceHealth
development would not cause any transportation facility to exceed its adopted mobility standard.
He said that the analysis was sufficient to convince 1-5/Beltline Decision Team to approve the 1-
5/Beltline interchange project. Before voting, the team wanted assurance that hospital would not
cause intersection to fail during its design life. He noted that the team included former City
Council Christine Lundberg, Eugene City Council David Kelly, and County Commissioner Bill
Dwyer. Mr. Hanks said that the traffic study and trip cap assumed full development of all land in
the vicinity of Peace Health, including full development ofMDR property that would remain after
the rezoning requested.
Regarding the letter submitted by County Commission Peter Sorenson to the council, Mr. Hanks .
indicated he had prepared a written response to address each issue raised by the commissioner.
Mr. Hanks said there was no need for a TransPlan amendment, as had been argued. All the
proposed improvements were in TransPlan and were funded. He said that the TIA was very
conservative, and did not rely on trip reduction from future nodal development. It was based on
trip generations in typical suburban hospitals in the northwest that lack the aggressive
transportation demand management (TDM) programs that PeaceHealth has. However, he
anticipated that nodal development and the hospital's TDM programs would reduce trips, and
there would be a substantial diversion of trips to the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. That
meant that future traffic conditions were likely to be better than that shown in the TIA.
Mr. Hanks concluded that the evidence would show that the application conformed to the
requirements of State Goal 12 and the State Transportation Planning Rule (TPR). It was also
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consistent with local implementing transportation policies in TransPlan and the Metro Plan. He
offered to make himself available to answer questions.
Mike Robinson, a land use attorney representing PeaceHealth, discussed Goal 12,
Transportation, and the TPR. Regarding Goal 12, Transportation, he said that the goal and TPR
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required that the City was satisfied that at the end of an application process, it would end up with
a safe transportation system that was not over capacity at the end of the application process. Mr.
Robinson noted that the applicant had to demonstrate no significant effect, or that the desired
level of service (LOS) standard would still be met. If there was a significant effect, mitigation
must occur as mandated by the TPR. PeaceHealth proposed to lirnit trips to no more than the
current designation would allow so the mobility standard would be no further reduced. Hesaid
that the result of the application would be the construction of approved transportation
improvements without generation of more traffic than the system could accommodate. Mr.
Robinson noted PeaceHealth's work to satis.,ty the TPR requirement for collaboration with
transportation providers. He concluded that Goal 12 and the TPR were satisfied.
Regarding Goal 10, Housing, Mr. Robinson said the goal was straightforward. It required that
there be adequate land for housing, and it was satisfied if the community could demonstrate it
would be rnet after the application was approved. He noted relevant case law- the Woodburn
and WaITington cases- and reported that LUBA had concluded that there must be substantial
evidence showing the goal would be met. The evidence in this case was the fact the bulk of the
site would retain the MDR designation and Gateway Refinement Plan (GRP) Residential
Element Implementation Action 12.6 required that the master plan accommodate the anticipated
level of housing on the site. Mr. Robinson offered to rnake hirnself available for question.s.
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Steve Pfieffer, 1211 SW 6 Avenue, was an attorney representing PeaceHealth. He made three
points. First, the application before the council represented a series of policy choices in
implementing the broad goals and policies established through the Metro Plan and refinement
plan. The council had choices for implementation. Mr. Pfeiffer acknowledged that changes were
proposed to the refinement plan, and said the council would hear from those who would argue
nothing should be changed. Some would argue that the council was bound to the existing
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February 18, 2003
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document. He disagreed. A comprehensive plan was a dynamic document. Mr. Pfeiffer said
what was appropriate ten years ago may no longer be appropriate today.
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Second, Mr. Pfeiffer spoke to the process issues that had been raised. He said that the process
being employed, that of the home city making the decision, was established by adopted policy,
and the council had been so advised by its legal counsel. He pointed out that the County and
City of Eugene were welcome to offer comments. However, the process was established and this
was not the venue to change it.
Third, Mr. Pfeiffer referred to the November 18, 2002, letter sent to the Planning Commission by
staff of the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD), and said the letter had
been extensively rebutted by the applicant. To date, the applicant had not heard back from the
department on the issue of the goal compliance issues the department maintained were raised by
the application. Mr. Pfeiffer noted that a subsequent letter from the DLCD raised no goal
compliance issues. He reported that discussions with DLCD staff indicated that its concerns did
not regard goal compliance, but rather the applicant's planning recommendations. The DLCD
was calling now for full nodal treatment, significant residential up zoning, and recommending
that the hospita~ be required to be in a commercial zone. Those were not goal compliance issues,
but rather site-specific planning recommendations related to whatDLCD staff characterized as
"good planning." While he questioned whether it was the role of the State to offer such site-
specific planning recommendations, he did not thinkJhe State had made a case that the ,
application would violate any State goals.
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Mayor Leiken called for testimony from the public.
Susan Ban, Director of Sheltercare, 1062 Main Street, Springfield; said that PeaceHealth had
been a good community member and partner for her agency. It provided services no other
provider could. Her agency worked with an increasingly aging and indigent population without
medical insurance, and PeaceHealth had worked with Sheltercare and other community providers
to fill and close the gap to serve those populations. Ms. Ban said that many of her agency's
clients had mental health problems and the capacity of the existing mental health system was
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February 18,2003
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inadequate. It was her hope that PeaceHealth's move to River Bend would create more access to
services for that population.
As a member of the Lane Transit District Board, Ms. Ban said the board believed that in the
future the community would need new paradigms to resolve its complicated transportation
problems. She suggested that PeaceHealth was helping to resolve those problems with its large
contributions toward the public transportation infrastructure.
Peter Sorenson, 125 East 8th Avenue, Eugene, Board of County Commissioners Chair,
submitted copies of a letter dated February 5, 2003. He said the letter, which was to the council
from the board, was prepared by County staff from various departments and adopted by the
board. Mr. Sorenson said he wanted the council to consider the letter as being from him
individually as well. He thought it important his South Eugene constituents had a voice in the
decision before the Springfield City Council as they were affected by the decision.
Mr. Sorenson asked if the proposed trip caps would be codified, verified and enforced,
particularly in relation to Project 606, the 1-5/Beltline interchange. He said that project was on
the constrained list in the 20-year TransPlan. Project 727, the Highway I 26-Pioneer Parkway
project, was not on the constrained list but was on the futures list. He said that even if the
applicant provided the funding, could the project be constructed without an amendment to
TransPlan approved by all parties to the plan to move it to the financially constrained list.
Mr. Sorenson acknowledged the difficulty of this decision, which is why the board expressed
support for and requested a rnulti-jurisdictional commission to discuss siting of new hospital
facilities.
George Poling, 1574 Coburg Road, #114, a resident of the Willakenzie area and a member of
the Eugene City Council, urged the council to approve the River Bend site for the new
PeaceHealth facility. He looked forward to the hospital as a regional facility for the fast
commute and the attention his family would receive from the hospital. He had heard from many
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February 18, 2003
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constituents who supported the rezoning ofthe site. He said that all people in the community
should work together to support progressive endeavors that improve the community's quality of
life. Mr. Poling believed the master plan process would address many of the issues that had been
raised. He thought staff was adequate to address the issues that would arise in the master plan
review. He said that the infrastructure improvements being proposed were needed by the entire
region, and they would facilitate access to care for the entire region.
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Dennis Shine, 2923 Game Farm Road, Springfield, said his road was impacted by traffic for
which it was not designed. He said that Game Farm Residents Association were told that
improvements would be done when traffic on the road reached a limit that had now been
exceeded for some time. He said that PeaceHealth's development proposal had ramifications for
the problems. Mr. Shine said that one option for relieving traffic on Game Farm Road was the
extension of Pioneer Parkway, and that he agreed that would not happen without PeaceHealth's
money.
Mr. Shine said that he had discussed the development proposal with Mr. Yordy and as a board
member of Lane Community College had thanked him for PeaceHealth's contributions to the .
college's Nursing Program. He said that he shar~d his concern that if Pioneer Parkway was
extended and traffic lights were included on the extension, Game Farm Road would have the
same problems it did now because people would avoid them and would travel on his road at high
rates of speed, endangering residents attempting to cross the street to get their mail. Mr. Shine
noted that residents along the street would have to give up part of their properties for the
extension, and wanted to know if that tradeoff was made, the problern would be alleviated.
Mr. Shine suggested that the City Council consider renaming the extension of Pioneer Parkway
extension in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
At this point in the meeting, City Clerk Kim Krebs read the ordinances by title.
Jennifer Solomon, 2005 Linnea Street, Eugene, a member ofthe Eugene City Council, spoke in
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her role as a hospital volunteer, mother, and a northwest Eugene resident. She noted her service
on the foundation board of Sacred Heart Hospital. She said that for many residents of her ward,
the new hospital would be closer and more convenient than the current hospital site. Ms.
Solomon said that Springfield's policy makers should make their decisions based on established
criteria and should resist the temptation to delve into matters beyond their control. She believed
the Springfield council would be fair and even-handed in its treatment of both local hospitals.
Ms. Solomon said that the hospital had outgrown its current campus. She pointed out that the
hospital proposed to move only a few mile from its current location. Ms. Solomon believed that
the proposed River Bend site was the best site for a centrally located new hospital and that
PeaceHealth had addressed the issues that had been raised.
Bonnie Ullman, 3350 Oriole Street, Springfield, representing the Game Farm Neighbors, asked,
the council to deny the application as she did not believe the TIA had decisively demonstrated
that a trip cap would be sufficient to mitigate the traffic impacts of a regional hospital. She asked
what happened if the hospital development without any further development exceeded the trip
cap. Did that mean there would no further development or would more zoning amendments be
submitted to supercede the trip cap? If there was no more development, where would the
residential development intended to be located on the site go. Ms. Ullman was concerned that
emergency vehicles would not be able to serve the area because of worsened traffic conditions.
Ms. Ullman said that the Commercial Lands Study suggested an increase of commercial acres to
10 to 15 specific acres to accommodate nodal developrnent. Ms. Ullman asserted that Article 41
of the Springfield Development Code regarding the nodal overlay was not meant for regional
destinations but for pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods that would satisfy the TPR. She believed
a nine-story hospital would be destination for vehicles from across the region. Ms. Ullman said
that an analysis done by EcoNorthwest of nodal feasibility suggested that Springfield could
support one node of this size. She did not want to exclude downtown from benefits of nodal
development. She further expressed concern that Springfield did not have the fire and
emergency equipment needed to fight fires at a nine-story hospital filled with nonambulatory ,
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occupants.
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Carol James, 1428 Olympic Street, Springfield, objected to the applications because of its
potential impact on the viewshed; its location near a scenic waterway; its potential impact on the
transportation system; its location on land designated for MDR; its location in an area where the
refinement plan called for neighborhood commercial development; its location near the edge of
the urban growth boundary which could increase vehicle miles traveled and negatively affect
streets local government could not afford to maintain; its location "as far as possible from those
poor, elderly and disabled in the community"; and its reliance on the yet unfunded BRT segment.
Ms. James criticized City officials, the City Attorney, and City staff for being "so open for
business that the deal was done on the day it was announced" and for failing to consider the
impact of the PeaceHealth move on the McKenzie-Willarnette Hospital. She criticized the
lllayor for suggesting that McKenzie-Willamette Hospital should be treated like any other
business. She suggested that the City and its staff had forced McKenzie- Willamette Hospital
"into the arms" of a for-profit partner, resulting in its move to Eugene and leading to increased
health care costs for all.
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Dr. Rich Hicks, 3958 Southridge Drive, Eugene, a surgeon, supported the move of Peace Health
to Eugene. He addressed several misconceptions, including that hospital automatically bring
doctors, which they do not. Doctors use safe cost-effective, safe hospitals. He said that there
were a large range of hospital types. What was being proposed was a regional rnedical center.
The community had a community hospital in the form of McKenzie- Willamette Hospital. Dr.
Hicks said that people seem to believe there was conspiracy to move the hospital out of Eugene.
That was not the case. He said that rebuilding in Eugene was not the thing to do. Dr. Hicks said
that the issue was not a contest between two hospitals; they were both needed. Sacred Heart can
provide some services that McKenzie- Willamette Hospital cannot. He asked the City to give the
. hospital the tools to do the job and the results would be a great regional medical center.
Alice Verret, 3195 Wayside Loop, Springfield, said area neighbors closely followed the
development of the refinement plan and it represented the work of many people. She asked that
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the refinement plan not be discarded and that its recommendations be followed, particularly as
they concerned transportation. Ms. Verret believed that the hospital would increase traffic
beyond what was forecast for the area. She said that the site proposed for the hospital was to be
MDR and neighborhood commercial, which was not what was being proposed by PeaceHealth. ,
She said that the intersection at Beltline and 1-5 would not be improved for several years. The
intersection at Pioneer Parkway and Highway 126 was already congested; she asked how
hundreds or perhaps thousands of more automobiles could be added to that facility. Ms. Verret
said that Springfield already had an excellent hospital. She asked the council to respect the
Gateway Refinement Plan.
Sister Monica Heeren, 3434 Centennial Boulevard, Eugene, former administrator of Sacred
Heart and former PeaceHealth president and currently executive director ofthe Volunteers in
Medicine Clinic, spoke of her experience around space planning for the hospital, and noted her
regret that the hospital had not expa!1ded onto the current site of the Valley River Center as was
previously proposed by a former administrator. In hindsight, that appeared to be a visionary
recommendation. Sister Monica endorsed the two-campus approach being proposed by
PeaceHealth. She said that the new regional facility would better serve the community. The
hospital needed the additional space the River Bend site provided, and it offered a beautiful
natural space for healing. Sister Monica asked the council to approve the application.
Sister Monica briefly discussed the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic and noted the hospital's
importance to that effort.
Anne Heinsoo, 35 LorieCourt, Springfield, said that the decision on the application should not
be a Springfield decision alone. She believed that the decision should have been considered by a
much larger group of regional decision makers that included representation from the City of
Eugene, Lane Board of County Commissioners, the neighborhood association, Willamalane
Parks District, DLCD, and local health care providers. She noted that the City of Eugene had
developed a list often potential hospital sites, and asked where those possibilities were when
PeaceHealth and the City of Eugene were differing over the Hilyard campus. Ms. Heinsoo
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February 18,2003
P age 17
objected to the fact that Mr. Sorenson's remarks were limited to three minutes because of the,
importance of the issue to Lane County residents. She called for protection and preservation of
the River Bend site as a park because of its beauty and ecological importance to the community.
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Christine Lundberg, 127 Woodlane Drive, Springfield, a member of the Beltline Decisions
Team, addressed the issue of traffic. She said that the team had voted in on a series of plan
decisions, and one such decision addressed PeaceHealth and the impact the development would
have on the area. The Beltline Decision Team unanimously approve the plans and placed a trip
cap on it so there was some control on the proposed development and the number of trips. Ms.
Lundberg said that one could discuss how the trip cap was implemented, but she and others on
the team would never have voted to approve the final Beltline Decisions Team document if she
thought that the development or a land use change in the area could not be accommodated. She
said that the team specifically considered the issue of whether a development the size being
proposed could be accommodated. The team agreed that it could be accommodated in the area.
Ms. Lundberg pointed out that the City had control over what occurred. She said that the
development could fit into what was planned, rather than the other way around.
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GregShaver, 1225 Water Street, Springfield, a member of the Springfield Planning
Commission, said he was representing himself. He said that the commission's vote had been 4:2
in favor of the application; he had voted in opposition. Mr. Shaver noted that none of the
commissioners opposed the conditions that had been opposed. He asked that the council
consider those conditions if it choose to move forward and approve the application.
Mr. Shaver said he was not anti-growth or anti-Springfield, but felt growth was good when it was
appropriate. He did not think it was appropriate in this location. He believed the process had
been "turned upside down"; normally, one evaluated a development proposal against what had
been planned for and determined whether a change would make things better. Mr. Shaver
advocated for retention of the existing refinement plan, which had been well thought-out and
tried to anticipate changes. Those changes were to be limited to three areas of neighborhood
commercial zoning, not 33 acres of mixed-use commercial. Mr. Shaver said he had submitted
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written testimony and asked that the council particularly consider his suggestions for additional
conditions.
Lauri Segal, 120 West Broadway, representing 1,000 Friends of Oregon, said a Type 1
application review was a warranted response to the pending proposals given their regional impact
and scale, as well as increased rate of change imposed on existing and future infrastructure. That
change was not planned for in any of the City's guiding policy documents, efforts which enjoyed
a high degree of community participation.
Ms. Segal said that no consideration was given to the idea of forming an advisory committee of
community members to update the refinement plan. She said that the City had initiated the
refinement plan amendment process and had the discretion to have proposed text amendments
that could have required a master plan prior to or in conjunction with the plan amendment
proposals. Staff could have recommended provisions for addressing nodal development at that
time, taking a proactive step toward preserving the City's right to establish its role in determining
both the size and specific location of uses. Instead, the effect of the application would be the
conversion of the refinement plan into a private development plan. She believed the changes
being proposed were potential threats to community livability and economic viability and those
threats had not been addressed or analyzed. . She called for the formation of a regional advisory
committee to make the decision before the council because of its potential regional impact.
Alex Bonutti, 901 Market Street, San Francisco, California, architect for PeaceHealth, said his
firm specialized in designing health care facilities and was nationally recognized. He said that
PeaceHealth's goal was to create a healing environment for patients, staff, families, and visitors
at the River Bend facility. The facility being contemplated would require approximately one
million square feet of building space and one connected complex. Travel distances to and from
and internal to the facility for all modes must be carefully considered for efficiency of operation.
Ease of access was important, and ease of access of the staff to the patients was also important.
Because of the need for elevators to reduce horizontal travel distances, vertical stacking was
essential. He said that shortening horizontal travel distances was essential to a fast response
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February 18, 2003
Page 19
time. Mr. Bonutti said that the facility was intended to serve the entire region, and its design ;
needed to reflect that fact.
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Tim Herrmann, 1965 Alder Street, Eugene, Manager of Emergency and Trauma Services at
Sacred Heart Hospital, spoke to community misconceptions ambulance transport times. He said
that time sensitivity issue related to emergency transport was when the paramedic reached the
patient, not when the patient reached the hospital. Ambulance service areas were not an issue;
they were designed for immediate response to patients at the scene. Mr. Hemnann said that the
prehospital care in the community was exceptional.
Mr. Hemnann addressed concerns that had been expressed regarding the potential ofhaviIig two
trauma centers on the east side of the 1-5 corridor. Currently Sacred Heart Hospital provided the
only Level 2 care in the area. McKenzie- Willamette Hospital was a Level 3, in compliance with
Oregon Administrative Rules, trauma patients were bypassing McKenzie- Willamette Hospital
and coming to Sacred Heart Hospital. Mr. Hemnann recalled the Thurston shooting incident,
saying it was a testament to the quality of prehosital care, and noted that transit time from
Thurston to Sacred Heart was exceptional at that time, and the distances between Thurston and .
the River Bend site were about the same.
Mr. Hemnann said that he was chair of the Sacred Heart Disaster Committee and believed the
dual carnpus approach would give the area needed emergency service capacity in the case of a
rnass disaster.
Dr. Vernon Katz, 181 West 22nd Avenue, Eugene, vice chief of staff at Sacred Heart, voiced
support for the application although he would have todrive farther. He underscored the
importance of health care and the need to expand medical facilities. He said that more
sophisticated medical services and technology were needed. Dr. Katz pointed out that more than
one-third of the hospital's patients live outside the Eugene-Springfield area. He said that during
the last year there were several times when there were no beds at Sacred Heart for new patients.
He said that the application represented a deliberative approach to the development of a long-
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term regional facility. He agreed that Sacred Heart was not a local hospital, and illness does not
stop at I-5'. Dr. Katz said that the hospital was needed where it could best serve everyone. He
believed that the River Bend site was a better site than the downtown Eugene area. It would
have the capacity to expand and would enjoy easy access from throughout the region. He also
believed that the hospital will be a recruiting tool for the best physicians in the area.
The council took a ten-minute break.
Roscoe Lawless, 7272 SW Jacktown Road, Beaverton, identified himself an architect and health
care facility specialist. He said he had managed the licensing plans review for the Oregon Health
Division, and was responsible for plans review for all Oregon hospitals. He was working as an
independent consultant at this time. Mr. Lawless said he had been asked to critique
PeaceHealth's proposal as a third-party. He was asked if the construction of a new facility was
justified given the cost of construction. He said that the delivery of health care had radically
changed over the past 20 years. Hospitals constructed 20 or 30 years ago could not have
anticipated the change or physical requirements, such as increased floor-to-floor heights; it was
difficult to get needed infrastructure in place in short floor-to-floor heights. Mr. Lawless said
that the current hospital was not up to code, and it would be expensive to retrofit it seismically as
life safety codes had changed considerably since its construction. He said that every facility had
a life cycle cost and replacement was necessary. It was good to have flexibility in such facilities.
Richard Attanasio, 2100 River Parkway, Portland, identified himself as a senior water resource
consultant. He had done the hospital's McKenzie River Flood plan assessment. He reviewed his
assessment, reporting that all Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) standards were
satisfied.
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Alice Wagner, 2250 Ducet Drive, Springfield, said she was employee at Sacred Heart and a
resident of Springfield. She supported the approval of the application. She said that she was in
charge of cleaning at the hospital and on many there were more patients than beds. She worked
hard to find other beds and arranged for bed turnover. Ms. Wagner said that the situation reached
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F ebruaiy 18, 2003
, Page 21
the point where care was suffering because of a lack of beds. She said that the hospital had been
an excellent employer and a good Eugene citizen. She believed it would be a good citizen of
Springfield as well.
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Dr. Gary LeClair, PO Box 10905, Eugene, introduced himself as the chief of the medical staff
at Sacred Heart Hospital. He provided a partial list of physicians in support of the new RB
campus. He reported that physicians were solicited for their support for the application and 73
cards of support were received in 48 hours. Dr. LeClair said that the new hospital was needed
for the technology it could provide and the residents needed that technology to attract new
physicians. He said that thehospital was operating at capacity and at long hours because it had
no space to expand. He believed that the community was blessed that PeaceHealth had the
money to construct and remodel the downtown site.
Casey Woodard, 1215 Courtney Place, Eugene, a member of the Cottage Grove Community
Hospital and the PeaceHealth Oregon Regional Board of Directors, said he was proud to be
associated with those hospitals. He thought that the proposed move ofPeac~eHealth to the River
Bend site was tremendous, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Springfield. He suggested that, .
having a single institutional use on the site meant there was a greater likelihood of maintaining
the open space that there was if the site was developed with fragmented subdivisions. He said
that PeaceHealth had committed itself to needed transportation improvements. Mr. Woodard
asked the council to approve the application. .
Artemio Paz, 86950 Cedar Flat Road, Springfield, supported the PeaceHealth proposal. He said
the application was fundamentally a question of cornpliance with applicable State laws and goals.
He suggested that the result could be a sensitive example of urban planning connecting a hospital
overlay district and surrounding neighborhoods to the river. Mr. Paz noted the many State goals
and City requirements that must be satisfied by the application. He asked the council to consider
and emphasize the nodal development elements of the application and to consider the sensitive
river front.
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Sue Wolling, 85219 South Willamette Street, a nurse at Sacred Heart Hospital, acknowledged
there was a need for a new hospital but she did not think the River Bend site was the correct
location. She said that the cost of health care was born by the patient and family, and she was
concerned that the River Bend site was a great place for a hospital on the face of things, but it
would come at enormous cost to Springfield citizens in terms of traffic and the loss of the
viewshed ofthe scenic river. Ms. Wolling said that the community was learning the value of
planning, which is to make decisions ahead of time so the community was not at mercy of things
it could not control. She believed that the comrnunity had already done that planning and it did
not include the placement of Peace Health at River Bend. Ms. Wolling said that PeaceHealth was
proposing to change those plans and was asking people to accommodate its development, which
she termed "the height of arrogance."
Roger Saydeck, 800 Willamette Street, Suite 800, Eugene, a member ofthe PeaceHealth Oregon
Region Board, said he believed the River Bend site would give the community the highest
standards of health care for the future. He said that the council would be told that Statewide land
use laws prevent the location of Sacred Heart Hospital at the River Bend site or removed that
decision from the council's purview, but there was no guidance in the Metro Plan, State goals, or
Oregon planning law regarding where a new hospital must locate. , Hospitals were frequently
sited in residential areas that were subsequently rezoned, as had happened with both Sacred Heart
Hospital and McKenzie- Willamette Hospital. The community must look to local plans for
guidance. He said the current site was too small and a new site was needed. Mr. Saydeck
acknowledged the refinement plan did not anticipate a new hospital, but neither did the Metro
Plan or any other local planning documents. The location for a hospital was not preordained by
any planning. He said that because things had changed since the refinement plan was written, the
law gave the council the ability to amend planning documents.
Tom Boyatt, 644 A Street, lead staff on the project with the OregoRDepartment of
Transportation (ODOT) noted his written testimony, which provided the council with ODOT's
comments. He summarized his testimony's main points, noting the collaborative process that
occurred between the applicant, ODOT, and the City. He said that ODOT reviewed the
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February 18,2003
Page 23
September 2002 TIA prepared by the applicant and the applicant had responded to the input
offered by ODOT staff. Mr. Boyatt said that the City of Springfield was responsible for
analyzing the traffic data provided by the applicant and determining whether the proposed land
use changes can be accommodated by the transportation system. To that end, several conditions
regarding transportation had been approved by the Planning Commission. The first condition
was a trip limit for the MDR land rezoned to MS and C; the second was a privately funded
improvement to the east-bound 126 ramp and a ramp terminal signal. ODOT and City staff
supported both conditions 1 and 2 and proposed implementation action 13.7. Mr. Boyatt noted
that ODOT reserved the right to analyze and comment on any changes proposed to those
conditions.
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Greg Harris, 1251 R Street, thanked God for an organization like PeaceHealth that was willing
to build a new hospital. He said that the state would grow and the hospital would be able to
serve the entire region and the population that lived there. He believed that better doctors would
come to the area because the hospital facilities would be state-of-the-art. Mr. Harris asked the
council to approve the application.
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John Hyland, 46840 McKenzie Highway, Vida, representing Hyland Construction, supported
the application. He said that the hospital was very much needed. He requested that PeaceHealth
be granted a variance on the 60-foot height condition as he did not think it worked for hospitals,
given the infrastructure needed between floors. He said that more flexibility in the building
height was needed. Mr. Hyland was also concerned that a height limitation would limit the green
space on the site. He praised the proposed River Bend location and said the hospital could not be
located in a better place.
Robert Walwyn, 46840 McKenzie Highway, supported the PeaceHealth proposal. He was
excited about the new hospital. As a professional engineer, Mr. Walwyn believed the height
restriction recommended by the Planning Commission was a problem. If the building height was
limited, the buildings would be pushed out horizontally, which affected the travel time for both
people and equipment. In addition, open space on the site would be lost, and the efficiency of
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operations would drop. The cost of construction would increase. Speaking to State Goal 13,
Energy, Walwyn suggested that vertical construction was more efficient and helped the
application to be in compliance with State goals.
Clark Winston Cox Jr., 1085 Patterson Street, #9, Eugene, said he was a hospital volunteer. As
a library volunteer, he would need the Bus Rapid Transit system to reach the new hospital site.
He recommended that the council review the minutes of the Springfield Planning Commission
meetings to learn more from the questions and answers of the commission and ODOT staff
regarding the trip caps and how they could be enforced. He further recommended that the
council discard the height limitation as being too limiting.
Michael Robinson was not present when called to speak.
Lisa Van Winkle, 91171 North Coleman Street, Coburg, said she was an employee of
PeaceHealth but she spoke as a Coburg resident. She said that it hardly felt as though she was
living on the urban fringe given the development that was occurring. It was only a matter of time
before development filled in the area. Growth was moving west and north from Eugene and she
thought that would continue. Ms. Van Winkle said she frequently traveled on Coburg Road and
the 1-5/Beltline intersection, she did not find them overly crowded and felt planned
improvements would allow the facilities to handle the traffic that the PeaceHealth development
would generate. A Gateway location would give wider access to the entire region. Ms. Van
Winkle believed that the Gateway site was an excellent location for a regional faCility. She
termed the property in question gorgeous and said it would be a wonderful, healing location. She
said its selection was visionary, and the community would be happy in the future.
Larry Reed, 722 Country Club Road, Eugene, representing Arlie and Company, spoke in
support of the amendments. He believed that the amendments met the applicable criteria and
findings in support of approving the application could be made. However, Mr. Reed said that
Arlie and Company did not concur with the floating node concept. He requested that the City
Council give his company's property a Metro Plan Commercial designation and a Gateway
Refinement Plan Mixed-Use Commercia~ designation. He said that his company was not
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February 18, 2003
Page 25
requesting a rezoning at this time and acknowledged the processes that the company must go _
through. He said his company hoped the plan designations would give the company it needed to
do the master planning required. Mr. Reed said that the uncertainty of the situation meant that
the company could not expend company resources to proceed with the design of its portion of the
Gateway River Bend project. He said that without the commercial plan designation
contemplated in Arlie and Company's annexation agreement with the City, the company would
not be able to recover its investment or meet the financial obligations it committed to in the
annexation agreement. He asked that approval of the amendments be conditioned on allowing
Arlie and Company to start its master planning process.
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Dr. Matt Fish, 1255 East 11th Avenue, Eugene, supported the siting of the proposed PeaceHealth
at the River Bend site. He said that he had practiced medicine in the area for 29 years. He had
the opportunity to work closely and successfully with both hospitals. Currently he was the
medical director of the nuclear rnedicine laboratory at Sacred Heart. Dr. Fish said that the
accelerated growth of scientific knowledge and technology will have an impact on all aspects of
health maintenance and patient care. He said the hospital would provide a friendly, supportive
environment that was patient- and family-accessible. It would also support the continued local
availability of a growing number of leading edge health care treatments and practices. The
facility would attract and retain high-caliber medical professionals. He thought the site in
question was a natural fit for the facility. Dr. Fish said that it was large enough to accommodate
the new hospital and retain the open space on the site. He thought the use would complement the
uses that currently existed in the Gateway area.
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Rob Handy, 455-1/2 River Road, Eugene, River Road Community Organization, objected to the
PeaceHealth proposal because needed other needed traffic safety and capacity improvements in
Lane County would be postponed. He specifically was concerned about improvements planned
to Beltline that would be postponed. Mr. Handy asked how people in Eugene and western Lane
County would get to PeaceHealth if they were stuck in traffic. He said that bridges on 1-5 were
damaged, but there was no money to pay for the repairs. Mr. Handy disagreed with the TIA's
contention related to the functioning of the eastbound onramp at Pioneer Parkway and Highway
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Page 26
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126. He believed that the master plan should be required before the amendments were appraved.
Tom Bowerman, 33707 McKenzie View, Eugene, disagreed with the City Attorney that the
testimony shauld be based an land use criteria. He believed the council had broad discretion to
deny the application. He suggested that a nine-stary building on the McKenzie River would be
in opposition to the community's small-town values and goals as expressed by the council. He
did not think the application improved the prospect of his children calling Springfield home. It
was his opinion that the hospital's sense of urgency was largely of its own making. 'Mr.
Bowerman termed the hospital noncollaborative and said until it became collaborative it shauld
not be allowed to change the Gateway Refinement Plan. He said the vision in the refinement
plan shauld be respected for what it intended, which he characterized as a "world class new
urbanism village." He said that the direction in the plan was preferable to what was proposed by
PeaceHealth. He asked the council to deny the amendments and retain the adapted plans. He
said that whatever uses were allowed, there should be height limitations.
Rob Zako, 1280-B East 20th Av~nue, Eugene, WiIlamette Valley Transportation Salutians
Advocate for 1,000 Friends of Oregon. He said that prior to the 200 I adoption of TransPlan, the
TIA submitted by the applicant would have been adequate, but TransPlan imposed additional
requirements related to the nodal development. Those requirements included achieving
alternative performance measures for the number of acres zoned for nodal development, the
number of new housing units and nades, and the number of new jabs and nodes.
Mr. Zako said that the staff report indicated the amendments were consistent with the nodal
development strategies. The staff argument was that even thaugh the City had not determined if
nodal development was appropriate for part or all of the Gateway MDR site, the applicant
prornised to develop in a nodal fashion, which would be evaluated later. Mr. Zako did not think
the analysis adequate, suggesting an adequate analysis would examine the likely affects of the
propased amendments as they related to the successful implementatian of the nodal
developments strategies. He asked what impact the creation of new jobs and transfer of existing
jobs would have on the transportation system and the viability of nodal development.
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February 18,2003
Page 27
Mr. Zakosaid the fact of the trip cap argued that the proposed amendments would increase
reliance on the automobile. He informed the council that because the amendments were not
demonstrated to be consistent with the nodal development strategy, it could not legally approve
them. To approve them would require more detailed analysis, and that should occur now, not at
some future stage. He submitted information regarding the Damascus project in Clackamas
County as an example of the type of development that 1,000 Friends of Oregon preferred to see
in Springfield.
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Ms. Kieran asked the council to take action to allow the minutes recorder to include the
explanation of ethics and bias and the declaration of ex parte contacts and conflicts of interest by
council members as part of the public hearing.
Ms. Fitch, seconded by Ms. Ballew, to allow the minutes recorder
to include the explanation of ethics and bias and the declaration of
ex parte contacts and conflicts of interest by council members as
part of the public hearing. The motion passed unanimously, 5:0~
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ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Leiken adjourned the public hearing at 9:51.
Minutes Recorder - Kimberly Young
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February 18, 2003
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