08/03/1987 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mayor Obie opened the public hearing and asked speakers to submit request form s . e Michael Farthing, P.O. Box 1147, spoke in favor of the vacation request and represented the applicants, owners of Farwest Steel and Farwest Rebar Company. He said Farwest Steel had been located in the Glenwood area since about 1965 and provi ded servi ce to the surroundi ng states. Mr. Farthing said Farwest Rebar's lease in Springfield had been terminated, and they had to relocate by March 1988. He said the property east of Henderson Avenue was the primary target and most logical site for relocation efforts. He said the vacation would be a positive factor in that relocation, and denial would be a negative factor. Mr. Farthing said the applicants believed the road vacation to be in the public interest for several reasons. He said it would allow consolidation of industrial parcels into larger, more usable parcels, as suggested by Economic Policy 14 of the Metropolitan Plan. The va cat ion woul d encourage the expansion and consolidation of an existing business with a high wage scale, as suggested by Economic Policies 1, 2, and 5 and would result in more assessed value to the City, not only in the street but in improvements east of Henderson Avenue. It would bolster Glenwood's position as a regional facility with excellent access to the freeway and the rest of the metro area, and he added that it could stimulate industrial activity in the area by allowing expansion of industrial sites. Mr. Farthing said the app 1 i cants were opposed to the emergency access easement. He sa i d no representatives of Southern Pacific or the Public Utility Commission supported the easement, and he noted that State ORS 763.013 e suggested eliminating at-grade crossings throughout the state whenever possible. He said the crossing was closed to the public for all purposes, and to the extent that the City encouraged illegal crossings, it could be exposed to liability. Mr. Farthing said he did not think reservation of the emergency access easement was required specifically by the policy in the Glenwood Plan, although it had been suggested by discussion. He said other alternatives existed, and the applicants did not believe the Henderson Avenue alternative was the best, the least expensive, or the most likely to occur. He sa i d if 22nd Avenue was blocked, emergency vehicles would be better off using the Farwest Steel or Pape property for access off of Glenwood Boulevard, rather than turning around and traveling via 17th Avenue to Henderson, where access again could be blocked by 20 to 30 daily trains that used the two sets of tracks. He said applicants did not think easements should be required, but if they were, he requested an indication about the time frame. He said applicants were even more opposed to pedestrian and bicycle access. He said the crossing had been completely removed, and he thought access would result in too much liability. Mr. Farthing suggested that an alternative crossing might be located at Seneca Street, to the east of Henderson, if the crossing could be obtained, which he said he thought was a very, very remote po s sib il i ty . Mr. Farthing said the applicants felt that the vacation was supported by several economic policies, he noted that the area was designated industrial, and he sa i d they bel i eved that the vacation was in accordance wi th Ci ty e MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 3, 1987 Page 4