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