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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1982)
Tuesday, January 26, 1962 Eugene, Oregon Oregon daily Volume 83 Number 86 emerald i Residents rip West University Plan Revisions favor clinics, housing supporters say By Marian Green Ot the Emmrald The West University Refine ment Plan may be on its way back to the drawing board if Monday night's public hearing is any indication Businessmen and neighbor hood residents packed the Eugene City Council Chambers to plug or spurn the long-range planning document At issue is the balancing of competing housing and busi ness; medical interests within the neighborhood, which is bordered by Willamette Street on the west, Franklin Boulevard on the north, the University on the east and 19th Avenue on the south The West University Neigh borhood planning team earlier submitted a draft refinement plan to the Eugene Planning Commission, which made several changes in the draft. The neighbors say those changes shifted the plan's original emphasis from housing preservation to economic development — specifically, medical facility expansion. The WUN withdrew its sup port of the plan after the com mission's revision The commission's major changes limit new clinics to the area north of 13th Avenue and generally preserve the area south of 13th Avenue for residential use Under their proposed changes, the six existing clinics will be allowed to expand under the conditional use process. Commission member Randy Thwing said the commission had a difficult time juggling the competing interests, but he ad ded that “in my business, we say a settlement is a good one when no one is happy with it.” Speaking in favor of the revised plan, Sister Monica, a Sacred Heart Hospital administrator, said the original plan did not address the hospi tal's needs, and “while we re not entirely satisfied with the plan we believe that this is a good compromise ” Dennis Collis, a doctor repre senting the Sacred Heart medical staff, said the commission’s adjustments will allow the physicians who prac tice at the hospital to locate their private practices close to a hospital. Collis said medical facilities, such as Serenity Lane and Whi tebird, have expanded within the neighborhood “in a rather orderly way," without a refin ement plan The hearing, which lasted more than two hours, included several calls for referring the plan back to the planning com mission and to the WUN plan ning team. Sarah Mahler, the WUN plan ning team chairer, said WUN has been “caught in a change in Photo by Bob Baker Businessmen and West University Neighborhood residents Jammed Into the Eugene City Council Chambers Monday to discuss revisions to the West University Neighborhood Plan. The revisions, made by the Eugene Planning Commission, were not popular among neighborhood group members. planning fads.” When the group began developing a refinement plan four years ago, Eugene’s top planning goal was developing affordable housing, she said Now, that goal has turned to economic development, she said, adding that the city should concentrate on long-term goals, such as residential neighbor hood preservation. The “missing link” in the revised WUN refinement plan is viable housing, she said. The city council will consider the document again at its Feb 10 meeting. A panel discussion on the WUN refinement plan, spon sored by OSPIRG, is scheduled for Feb 3 at 7 p.m in the EMU Ballroom. nabs drafting tools The architecture and allied arts supply store « offering $100 for information leading to the arrest of a thief who robbed the store during toe Christmas break About $600 worth of technical drafting equip ment was taken, including $83 In pencil leads and a calculator, says store manager Robin Fay. She says the architecture building has been hit by numerous thefts in toe past several months, and the reward is part of an effort to ©rack down on those thefts The supply store thief was ‘ quite selective-' and appeared to know exactly what he or she wanted, Fay says A stolen janitor's key apparently was used to get into the store, she says, adding that toe toief carefully locked toe door after leaving. The architecture budding, which used to be open 24 hours a day for architecture students and faculty, now is open only unti» 2 a m Only one door stays open until to# early morning hours. Architecture personnel are taking inventory in the department to find out jus* how common thefts are and whether they are occurring during certain hours, Fay says Anyone with information about the supply store theft should call either Robin Fay, Jack Mitier or Mary Austern at 886-3692 between 10:30 a m. and 4:30 p.m. Also, toe store has a mailbox in toe architecture department head s office, Room 109 Lawrence Mali, $29.8 million cut looms Higher ed budget stews in Salem By Ann Portal Of tha Emaratd Actions taken by the Legislature and the State Board of Higher Education last week have muddied the state system’s stream of budget problems to the point where it may now be March before students know exactly what to expect for their tuition dollar. Or even how much that tuition will be In Salem, the Ways and Means education subcom mittee continues to admonish the state board — via budget notes — for not taking actions some legislators thought the board should have taken earlier. Meanwhile, the state board met in Portland Friday and discussed the possible impact of those budget notes, which have not yet been approved by the Legis lature and are being looked at daily At the "worst possible" level, the subcommittee’s actions could translate into a $29.8 million cut in the higher education budget before the end of the 1981-83 biennium, according to Chancellor Roy Lieuallen. Although subcommittee members have virtually thrown out the four 5-percent cut packages proposed first by the board and revised by Gov. Vic Atiyeh, they have tentatively settled on a $10 4 million cut in the higher education budget — slightly less than half the amount proposed by Atiyeh. However, the legislators directed the state board to come up with a "contingency plan’’ by March 31 detailing how the state system would deal with another 5-percent budget cut, should state revenues plunge as some legislators predict they will. State board members decided Friday on seven guidelines they will use to identify those possible cuts, including: • protecting and enhancing the quality of pro grams whenever possible • saving programs essential to the state system of higher education’s mission • saving programs essential to the mission of individual institutions • saving programs directly related to economic development • maintaining an adequate student-teacher ratio (which may mean decreasing enrollment) • allowing the board office to identify programs to be reduced or eliminated The seventh guideline specifies the board will not consider closing an institution for the 1982-83 academic year as ‘‘an effective solution to our short term budget problems,’’ although the board did not rule that out as a long-term possibility. To arrive at the $29.8 million figure mentioned by Lieuallen, it is necessary to examine the higher educa tion budget in light of a number of possible cuts. First, the $10.4 million cut currently being proposed includes $8.3 million in cuts already in place for next year. It also includes $2.1 million in program reductions the state board would still have to identify. The state board must then consider that the Legis lature may direct higher education to roll back some or all of the $49 tuition surcharge imposed for this winter and spring terms and expected to be continued next year. Continued on Page 6
