Laserfiche WebLink
Metadata
Document management portal powered by Laserfiche WebLink 9 © 1998-2015 Laserfiche. All rights reserved.
ATTACHMENT C <br /> <br /> Harlow Neighbors Association <br /> Terry Froemming (HNA-Chair) <br /> 2886 Bailey Lane <br /> Eugene, OR 97401 <br /> <br />Eugene City Council <br />City of Eugene Planning Dept <br />777 Pearl Street <br />Eugene Oregon <br /> <br />March 31, 2005 <br /> <br />Re: Chase Garden Node Work Session - April 11, 2005 <br /> <br />Eugene City Planning Department has determined City code applicable to the commercial <br />area of the Chase Garden Node does not require significant retail commercial businesses. <br />It seems a minor, unintentional, deficiency in current code language is risking the loss of <br />the very spirit and purpose of the Chase Garden Node. The Chase Node, originally <br />slated to become one of Eugene's first successfully completed "commercial nodes", the <br />end result of over twenty years of efforts by both the City and residents, is about to be <br />lost to a proposed development that will be little more than a large regional medical <br />complex. This proposal does not, will not, encourage alternative forms of transportation <br />nor will it in any way create a resident-friendly neighborhood center compatible with <br />surrounding residential uses. <br /> <br />W&G Properties, has discovered the deficiency in City code and chosen to disregard, in <br />total, the "Purpose and Spirit" of nodal design and proposed a 150,000 square foot <br />"Medical Complex". While this proposal has been determined a permitted use, by our <br />Planning Department, it is NOT consistent with the purpose of a "commercial node." At <br />the HNA March general meeting a lengthy discussion was conducted regarding our <br />"node", in the presence of three W&G Properties principals, wherein Harlow Neighbors <br />voted positions supporting a grocery store and opposing the 150,000 square foot medical <br />complex. HNA believes a grocery store necessary to save any semblance of a node. All <br />the efforts, studies, citizen involvement, MetroPlan finding of fact, as well as the <br />Willakenzie Refinement Plan have long recognized a grocery store as a "key element" to <br />our nodal design. Absent of a grocery store the Chase Garden Commercial Node fails to <br />meet most, if not all, of the intended goals of a neighborhood centered commercial <br />Node. <br /> <br />Harlow Neighbors have had conversations with a W&P Properties representative <br />expressing our desire for a grocery store, their position is that a medium sized store, one <br />offering fresh meat and produce, is not "economically feasible" even though a previous <br />developer's plan included a 50,000 sq. ft. store. We suggest even if profitability is a <br />question, and we do not necessarily agree, there is no requirement that the City is <br /> <br /> <br />