Item B: Core Campus Application for MUPTE for 505 East Broadway

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NOBEL FLANNERY Amanda From:Richard Romm <franklin51@aol.com> Sent:Wednesday, May 29, 2013 3:13 PM To:NOBEL FLANNERY Amanda Subject:student housing project on Broadway Hello Ms Flannery, You have asked for comments to the Eugene Planning and Development Dept. I've had a chance to look at the rendering of the new student housing building proposal on Broadway. As a preface, I am a longtime (since 1965) resident of Eugene and although now retired, spent 31 years working in the Student Housing Department of the U of O. As a younger man, I also had the educational experience of working for my uncle, a world famous architectural photographer, Julius Shulman, who died several years ago at age 99, garnering numerous awards from the A.I.A, and much recognition. I learned so much from him, not only about architecture but also about siting and surroundings regarding buildings, especially those of this size. After looking at the rendering online, II don't see how it can fit on that property but obviously, it can. It actually is rather striking, architecturally, but I think a building of that size on that piece of property is totally inappropriate. It would look so much nicer and so much more in scale if it were on a larger piece of land and had some significant setbacks from the street with the appropriate landscaping. And....I think it's much too tall for that location, in spite of its rather interesting facade. Even if there is an underground garage, the auto and pedestrian traffic that bldg will generate seems a bit (no, a LOT !) too much for that dinky piece of property fronting along one of the busiest streets in Eugene. What authority does the Planning and Development Dept. have over such a proposal? Does it have power over what a bulding looks like on a given piece of property? I suspect again that there are no laws or ordinances governing this. If some of these non-local or in some cases even non-regional developers have any knowledge of the future demographics of the student population in Eugene, they would think twice about building here, in view of the multitude of new student housing spaces recently being constructed or in the process of such. Does the Planning and Development Dept. take these demographic predictions into its view when approving or not approving such projects? One short-range example I feel relates to the article in the REGISTER-GUARD that I read last Sunday talking about how California now has billions of dollars in surplus this year and will probably try to buoy up some of the severe cuts they made in the past 5 years, including their cuts to higher education in California. Many students preferred to spend four years at the UO paying high non-resident fees, because they could not complete their education in California universities in less than five or six years due to cuts in classes. Now, over the next several years, I suspect this condition will change, especially in the wake of the large tuition increase slated for 2013/14 at UO. Therefore I think quite a few students will choose to 'stay home' in California; this will have a significant effect on the population of our university here in addition to the normal prediction of a more flat graduation rate in Oregon high schools. Thanks for reading this opinion. Even if you have little or no power to determine how a building looks or how it is placed on a piece of property I hope the city does NOT approve a property tax waiver; maybe that will keep it from being built! Sincerely yours, Richard (Dick) Romm 5120 Nectar Way, Eugene 97405 (541)686.1394 <franklin51@aol.com> 1