Ordinance No. 20258 - Laserfiche WebLink

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W~ST EUGENE PARKWAY MOD~FIED PROJECT--CONSISTENCY WITH THE STATEW~ PLANNING C~JALS AND TRA~SPORTAT~ ~!NG RULE Construction and ~cupancy of buildings inthe Green Hill Technology Park has already begun. In 1998 and I999, Rosen Products completed their first phase of development, and by September 1999 employed over 200 workersfi9 Based on a rough total build estimate by Russ Royer, Real Prope~ Officer with the City of Eugene, total buildout of the park by the time of acquisition could add about $30 million m the costs in today's dollars. No similar cost increase would occur with either the Approved Design or the Modified Project because those affected areas are not identified for industrial development. Consideration of increased right-of-way costs over time is relevant and appropriate because the WEP Mll be constructed in phases and right-of~way for the area west of Beltline Highway may not be purchased for several yeam. Moreover, in an era where the need for transpo~ation improvements is ever growing, but funding to pay ~br those improvements is constrained, spending many $ ~ Os of millions extra to locate a needed transportation facility across an established industrial park is not reasonable~ particularly when the alternative requiting goal exceptions removes no land from the commercial agricultural base and has no adverse impacts on commercial agricultural enterprises. There are also additional hidden costs. Development and implementation of the FP~E~P involved substantial public and private expense, including significant funding for planning. The [¥E~P resulted in the designation of~e Green Hill Technolo~ Park and surrounding areas for industrial development. With the Southern alternatives~ substantial additional public funds would need to be spent to replan industrial development ~n this arem Besides being unreasonable in terns by compromising the ~megrit7 of the ~£[4~£, the Southern alternatives also would be unreasonable by mqu~fing the City and affected agencies m expend public monies to start over in phnning for industrial development in this area and achieving new compromises with wetlands protection. Taken cumulatively, all of the above-described impacts support the conclusion that the Southern and Southern Modified alternatives cannot reasonably accommodate the identified transportation need for the WEP. Approved Design in 1986 Lane County ~opted goal exceptions authorizing the Approved Design. The Approved Design was confinr~ed in the federal FEIS and is an element of both the City's and the County's ac~owledged comprehensive plans. Because the Approved Design does not require a new goal exception, k reasonably belongs in the catego~ of f~cilkies addressed under OAR 660~012-0070(5). However~ because (!) the principal reason for rejecting the Approved Design is environmental~ (2) there is value in comparing the adverse environmental impacts of the Approved Design with the Modified Project, and (3) enviromental comparisons between alternatives are required under OAR 660-012-0070(7), this alternative is analyZed in the section addressing alternatives requiring exceptions. That analysis is incorporated here~n by this reference, and for the reasons therein stated, this alternative cannot reasonably accommodate the identified transportation need. Green Hill Flyover A~temative The' Green Hill Flyover Alternative, described in more detail below, was designed to move the alignment north of the Central Oregon and Pacific railroad tracks west of Terry Street within the UGB, then cross back to the area covered by the existing Approved Design goal exceptions west of Green Hill Road~ The intent was to develop an alternative that would avoid most of the natural resource impacts of the Approved Design but not require new goal exceptions. Because the Green 69 The e×~sting infrastructure and developmen~ ~lust phase 1 of the technology park, The same developer owns lands to the north and web,hat are planned ~o be developed in ~ater phases.