crnofcc
UNIVERSITY
•urn
i s
ci i i %
Forest Crove Campus
You Should
Consider a
Career in
Teaching if...
Apply today for june 2004
Fifth Year Master of Arts In
Teaching Program!
• Earn your Master of Arts in
Teaching and Initial Oregon
Teaching License in 12
months.
1 Enjoy small classes and
personal attention from our
accomplished faculty.
Take advantage of our
respected relationships with
local school districts.
"Best Meal for a Deal,” 2n
Place. "Best Breakfast'' 2nd
: A
Emerald, ^
Dinner yjBr
Take ^ v?sitors ' \nJMI> tC
Pad Place '"'A/ikK*~
■ A-tn XtAAn
1st Place, "Best
3rd Place Eugene
of Teen, g g/ster
I '■
Place:
The best eats in town.”
Sports Illustrated on Campus
258S Willamette St. 541-687-8201 * 1340 Alder Street 541-687-0355
r
I Diversity of Northern Iowa
Camp Adventure™ Youth Services
is now recruiting...
Aquatics Instructors & Lifeguards
Individuals interested in
becoming a part of the 2004
Camp Adventure™ Aquatics Team
are encouraged to contact
Camp Adventure™ about
our dynamic certification
training program leading to
opportunities as Swim
Instructors £r Lifeguards.
2004 Locations:
• Japan • Okinawa • Korea •
/’os// ions available for
fall, summer ami spring
semesters.
Join Our Team Now!
For more information, please contact:
Christopher Denison
Email: denison@uni.edu
(319) 273-7263 • www.campadventure.com
Public shows mixed emotions
about Riverfront Park plan
i.:l Proptanl Rtvrrfront Uritum Renrwal RxpMMion j.* n i ^ ■—&■—
Duwntuwn Mrtwn Renewal Datrirt £j Downtown Saw* Bowtwian Riverfront t'rtwn Renewal OtaWrt
The updated development
plan would change
the park's name and add
seven blocks to the area
By Nika Carlson
News Reporter
The Eugene City Council held its
first and only public hearing Monday
evening on a proposed update to the
Riverfront Research Park develop
ment plan, but public testimony
prompted the council to keep the
project open to public comment un
til Monday, Feb. 16.
The Riverfront Research Park Urban
Renewal District Plan, in the works for
the past year, is scheduled to be
adopted by the council at its 7:30 p.m.
meeting Feb. 23. The update will be in
effect until 2024.
The updated plan, first adopted in
1985, will change the name of the
area to the Riverfront Urban Renewal
Area if passed by city councilors, re
flecting a change in focus away from
the research park on the Willamette
River and toward urban development.
The city plans to expand the River
front Urban Renewal District by seven
blocks, extending it from the
Willamette River up Broadway to
Pearl Street. The expansion will in
clude the land where the new federal
courthouse is scheduled to be built.
The council was also scheduled to
approve a new Downtown Plan,
which would have updated the city's
development goals for the downtown
core, Monday night. However, the
council meeting ran too long for the
Downtown Plan to be addressed.
City Planner Richie Weinman said
the city administration wants to con
nect the riverfront area to the develop
ment area encompassed by the
Downtown Plan.
"It kind of bridges the two," Wein
man said.
If the plan is approved, taxes from
the Riverfront Urban Renewal District
can then be used to finance develop
ment in the extension included in the
city's improvement goals for the core
downtown area.
"The focus is not on the riverfront
research area," Weinman said.
Urban renewal districts are created
to finance development within that
district. Any new taxes collected from
the development of an urban renew
al area are put back into improving
the area. Without such a plan, taxes
would go to the city's general fund.
"In theory it could be a lot of mon
ey," Weinman said. "It depends on
how much development goes on."
The plan projects that the district
will collect more than $40 million in
taxes over the next 20 years, though
Weinman said those are "guessti
mates" based on development predic
tions for the period.
Weinman said the riverfront plan
was originally developed closely in
conjunction with the University in
large part to assist in the creation of a
University-run research park along
the Willamette River. The 67-acre park
now has 18 tenants, according to the
University's Web site for the park.
Most of the taxes collected in the
district went to the building of roads
and other infrastructure around the
park, Weinman added.
The new plan, with its focus on the
corridor connecting the river to down
town, has a number of possible gen
eral projects, ranging from decorative
elements like fountains to major proj
ects like a new police station and a
parking garage.
"The plan allows for all those
things," Weinman said. "What will ac
tually happen will be determined lat
er by the city council."
Public testimony on the riverfront
plan at the council's meeting was
mixed. Many of the 12 speakers ex
pressed concerns about the environ
mental impact of development, a shift
in tax dollars and what they saw as a
lack of success with the University's
Riverfront Research Park.
Al Urquhart, a Eugene resident,
shared concerns about what he called
the "failure of the district."
"The area is still blighted," he said.
He asked council members to re
move the University's Riverfront Re
search Park from the newly pro
posed boundaries of the urban
renewal district.
However, others supported the
project.
Terry Connolly of the Eugene Area
Chamber of Commerce and Russ
Brink of Downtown Eugene Inc.,
spoke separately in favor of the ex
panded district, saying it was one of
the few tools available for cities to use
in improvement projects.
No University representatives
spoke at the hearing, but Diane Wiley,
director of the Riverfront Research
Park Office, said later that the Univer
sity has had little to do with the up
date in the riverfront plan.
"It's the city's district, and it's their
prerogative," she said.
The University currently is not re
ceiving any money from the urban re
newal district, she said.
"People think the money was just di
rected to us and it wasn't" she added.
Wiley said the University never re
ceived very much money from the city
for the research park, in part because
of land use appeals that tied up the
University's development in the area.
"Because of the challenges the dis
trict was slower in producing revenue
than was originally projected," she
said. "There weren't as many projects
as there might have been."
To submit public comment, send
Weinman a written letter at the Plan
ning and Development Department
at 99 West 10th Avenue, Eugene, OR
97401 or send an e-mail to
richie. d. weinman @ ci .eugene. or. us.
Comments also can be submitted at
Eugene City Hall, located at 777 Pearl
Street. All comments must be received
by 5 p.m. Monday
Contact the city/
state politics reporter
at nikacarlson@dailyemerald.com.
Pregnant?
Talk with a friend.
1.800.848.LOVE
Today's crossword solution