06/15/1972 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ed Whitelaw, 4801 Potter Street, said he does not approve in any way the Design Plan because it includes low-density use in the plaza concept as well as very specialized uses concentrated in a large area of the central city. He feels there is no substantive meaning to the Plan as presented and no definite alternatives proposed. Also, that it does not provide for citizen participation and review in that there is not enough informa- tion about the Plan on which to base a critique. 4It Ralph Aldave, 4150 Pearl Street, speaking for the Upper Willamette Environmental Defense . Agency, addressed remarks solely to environmental aspects of the Design Plan. He said the entire notion of concentrated, integrated area for governmental services would de- pend upon its environmental impact - noise, air pollution, requirements for transporta- tion facilities, etc. He said if funds happen not to be available for mass transit then the entire concept would have to be changed. He suggested questions with regard to these problems should be answered first to determine whether environmental costs will be higher than the advantage to be gained by an integrated center. He asked the Council to take no action on the Design Plan; or if it is approved, that the resolution be reworded to provide that any support facilities comply with all requirements of the Federal government and Department of Environmental Quality; and, whatever action is taken, that a study be implemented immediately to determine environmental impact of the proposed Design Plan. Alan Seder, 2385 McLean Boulevard, expressed the opinion that there is too much wasted space in the Plan in providing for the plaza concept. He said the extent of Council action should be only to say that the various governmental services will explore rela- tionship of various levels of governments and then design and share space to accommodate that relationship. The plan, he continued, is an inadequate way of planning for growth and expansion of the services, and is probably 25 to 50 years obsolete. .~ James Longwood, member of the architectural firm acting as consultants on the civic center study, reviewed circumstances leading to development of the Design Plan - EWEB purchase of property at 8th and Pearl, expansion of State building at 7th and Pearl, consolidation of County services, vacation of School District building at 7th and High, plans for location of a Federal building in this general area, etc. It was decided to d;te;mine whether it was advisable to house all tha~kind ~f-development in this -area. The team of consultants, in making that determination, was also charged with developing a concept as part of the p~oject. Mr. Longwood further discussed the meetings of the various departments of the several agencies to determine their needs in developing the buildings and the plaza concept and providing for transportation. He said alternative transportation schemes were discussed at many points - there was no 1990 Plan at that time. The idea was to devise a concept which would allow for transportation needs known at that time, and at the same time allow for alternative transportation if and when it became available. He also discussed parking needs and location of facilities to provide for those needs. He said the DEQ ,had a copy of the preliminary report on this Design Plan when it was first issued, but there has been nothing received from them. All in all, he feels the Plan represents a considerable step toward getting five levels of government to consider collectively rather than individually what they want to do, and approval of the Plan is requested on that basis. ~ I Manager disapproved some remarks made about competence of members of the design team ,., I and said he felt some response was necessary to belittling comments made. He noted - that Mr. Longwood was a member of the firm which designed the City Hall and this build- ing, Manager said, is the most successfully functioning building for governmental use he was ever in. Manager said there is nothing in the plan to preclude use of mass transit, hopefully it can succeed in replacing the need for the automobile, but use of the auto as a major method of transportation to and from this type of facility cannot be ignored. So far as the situation now with respect to this plan, it is necessary now for official recognition of its desirability in order for the Federal government to de- sign its building (to be located north of 7th between Pearl and High) to fit in with the integrated concept. If it is to be assumed an integrated civic center will create traffic problems and autos are not to be allowed, it would be better to abandon the idea, because it will be necessary to move people to and from the center. Manager said there is no question that further study of environmental impact is needed. However, there is nothing in this plan designating this is what will actually be built. It ,is a schematic concept showing how the various facilities can be accommodated in this general area and suggests some alternatives which can be included with those developments going ahead at this time. He expressed amazement that it would not be desirable to provide considerable open space nor to have good pedestrian movement between the center and r other pedestrian oriented facilities already located in the downtown area. _ Mr. Aldave took exception to Manager's remarks and said he did not think it appropriate . for Mr. McKinley as an employe of the City to express his views or to make rebuttal to previous statements on this issue. Mayor Anderson answered that the Council would make I judgment on Manager's remarks. He also disapproved remarks with regard to professional , competence of people involved in the Design Plan. He cited the time and effort con- , tributed, much without compensation, by many individuals in the design fraternity in Eugene for the betterment of the community, and to question competence of these people is highly questionable and in bad taste. Mr. Anderson said it is recognized there will !1av~!c:l-EE:_trade-offs, ma!lY...E9! ;p~~asant, but no one can refute the implication that 1-----' lid.