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Honorable Mayor Piercy and City Council April 1, 2005 Page 7 of 8 It seems that there has been undue attention by the neighborhood on this particular property to meet their perceived specific commercial needs while there is additional vacant commercial property within the Chase Node. W&G Properties owns 8.5 acres of the approximately 12 acres of commercially zoned property within the Chase Node Special Area Zone. There is approximately 2 acres of undeveloped commercial property to the east of the subject parcel across Garden Way. This property is currently being advertised as an available build-to-suit commercial property, which holds the same potential of providing future retail business development and more specifically a grocery store in the neighborhood (if marketable). In addition, neighborhood commercial uses already exist within the Chase Node Special Area Zone on the commercial parcels located off of Commons Drive. The existing multitenant retail building includes a convenience store, beauty salon, bar and coffee shop. Similarly, consistent with nodal development, medical clinic offices in the Chase Node provide employment opportunities to neighborhood residents. The Chase Node Special Area Zone is located off of a" . . . major collector and part of the 'major transportation system' of the region .... Transportation efficiency is a guiding principle of the nodal development concept. The nodal development plan focuses on improving transportation efficiencies of new development through the use of alternative modes of travel, land use arrangements that encourage pedestrian and public transit travel, and strategic placement of uses and transit facilities, and use of design standards" (Exhibit C-10. Number 8, Policy A.11. Ordinance No. 20265.). The subject property is located in an area close to downtown with good transit connections as well as an area with increasing and diverse housing opportunities for employees. In light of the amount of effort and public funding already dedicated to the Chase Node Special Area Zone, we encourage you to trust the process and decisions made by the previous City Council. We encourage you to avoid the mistake of modifying planning documents and/or the Eugene Code before the potential results of those previous decisions are manifested in a built development. The potential outcome of this mistake would be to scare off yet another developer of this longstanding vacant property. Furthermore, frequently modifying planning documents creates uncertainty and has a larger affect of discouraging economic development City wide. Upon submittal of a building permit, W&G Properties intends to propose a development scheme that complies with the Eugene City Code and therefore the nodal development concept. Although W&G Properties' proposed conceptual plan does not meet the neighbors' vision for the Chase Node, the intensive use proposed by W&G Properties does meet the intent of nodal development. As the City Staff has identified, each node or Mixed Use Center is unique so we encourage you to rely on