Ordinance No. 20258 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ALTERNATIVES CONSt~D - W~P In 1961, Eugene voters adopted a City Charter provision that required a vote of the electors before freeway planning could be undertaken by the City. The 1961 Charter provision was repealed by the Eugene voters in 1964. Early plans extended I-105 across the Willamette River to connect with the Roosevelt alignment through West Eugene, but construction of the Valley River Center in the late 1960s blocked that route. By the early 1970s, planning for the Roosevelt Freeway was completed and some right-of-way was purchased by the state. Community opposition to negative impacts on the Willamette River Greenway and the Whiteaker and Roosevelt neighborhc~ds resulted in changes to the Roosevelt Freeway proposal in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1972, Eugene voters amended the City Charter to require a city-wide vote on any future limited access arterial proposed within the city. Meanwhile, due to changing community attitudes, the adoption of the T-2000 Plan in 1978 replaced the Roosevelt Freeway with a new corridor in the alignment of 6th and 7th Avenues extending westward. Subsequent development precludes this corridor from further consideration for a limited access controlled transportation facility. Several alternatives were considered over the next 8 years. In 1984, a Citizens Advisor3, Committee (CAC) recommended two alternatives for study in the DEIS. The DEIS, released for public review in October 1985, evaluated the two alternatives and a No-Build alternative. A Supplemental DEIS was issued in June 1986 and examined five alternatives between Seneca Road and Highway 99. A FEIS was released in early 1990. The FEIS identified the Approved Design as the selected alternative. Avoiding segmentation of industrial lands was one of the reasons for the selection of the preferred alternative. The approved design in the FEIS included 4.5 acres of agricultural land outside the urban growth boundary that required and received an exception to Goals 3 and 5 in i986. Because the understanding of existing conditions had changed substantially since issuance of the FEIS, the Modified Project was developed to address concerns related to these changed conditions, and to provide an update of the WEP's potential impacts to these and other resources. After discovery and inventory of a concentration of wetlands in western Eugene in 1987, the City of Eugene undertook a ~brmat planning work program in January 1989 to develop the West Eugene Wetland Plan (?VEWP). Lane Council Of Governments (LCOG) managed the development of the [~EWP in a process separate and concurrent to the development of the WEP~ West Eugene Wetland Plan -- The WEWP development process took place from 1989 to 1992~ Lane County, LCOG, City of Eugene, Youth Conservation Corps, and Nature Conservancy coordinate the development and implementation of the plan through a signed coordination agreement. The approach for the development of the WEWP included a comprehensive work program including technical analyses, agency coordination, and public involvement to consider a range of alternatives. Of the eight alternatives evaluated, the selected alternative consists of a balanced development and wetland protection program. The purpose of the WEWP is multi-faceted and includes the following factors: - Protection and restoration of wetland and waterway system - Protection of natural d~versity (referring to plants) - Development opportunities and certainty (remove cloud for property owners) - Define wetland protection measures - Mkigation and banking - Stormwater management EXHIBIT C-2 - FIND~NGS 3