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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2004)
BY BEN FOGELSON Outdoor/Specialized Rec. Sports/Arts/Dance/Music Swimming/Day Camps Ages 2 1/2 -17 • June 14 - Sept 3 Call 682-5312 www.ci.eugene.or.us ne Care e g Eu tive SUMMER CAMP a SWIMMING ★ FIELD TRIPS Cre CRAFTS ★ GAMES ONE-WEEK SESSIONS AGES 4-12 FULL TIME AND PART TIME 2ND CHILD AND SCHOLARSHIP RATES Adams/Meadowview DETAILS 683-7291 FIRST CLASS SUMMER CAMPS Ages 8-15. Register Now classes begin June 21 and continue through summer. Cartooning • Cheerleading • Cyber Games Dance • Fly Fishing • Martial arts OMSI React-O-Blast • Social Manners Basketball • Volleyball • Online Courses For more info visit: LCC Downtown, 1059 Willamette or www.lanecc.edu • 463-5252 ee! ant uar k G Bac ney Mo Tutoring for Struggling Readers beyond 3rd grade Special Summer Rates June 21 - July 15 or July 26 - August 19 40 minute sessions Mon thru Thurs www.readingworld.net • 579-6332 10 JUNE 3, 2004 PATRICK HENNESSEY CAMP GUIDE Commitment & Compromise Where do Faith Center’s priorities lie? T he Faith Center is committed to maintaining a good relationship to the neighborhood,” said Faith Center (FC) Four Square Church Executive Pastor Jim Thomas to the city, at a pre-devel- opment conference April 6. But compromise does not appear likely as the church goes head-to-head with protesting neighbors. “ Faith Center’s planned expansion includes removing 10 houses from 15th Avenue on the south side of FC property, in a neighborhood organized against the changes FC development would mean to their lives. Faith Center’s planned expansion includes removing 10 houses from 15th Avenue on the south side of FC property, in a neighborhood organized against the changes FC development would mean to their lives. The church plans on moving, rather than bulldozing, nine of 10 houses it has acquired over the years; only one would be razed. In a meeting with concerned neighbors on May 25, Four Square head Pastor Steve Overman agreed to look into alternative options for expansion. In a conversation with Eugene Weekly shortly after the meeting, Overman admitted, “About slowing down and looking into creative options; I’m going to check into that, but I believe we’ve got takers for every house. I think the soonest that any will be moved will by August, maybe July.” Currently, houses on 15th Avenue look out at one another. Children bike back and forth. “Neighbors on both sides of the street keep an eye for each other,” says one neigh- borhood organizer, Garth Cheff. Behind the houses on the north side of 15th Avenue, the Four Square campus includes numerous structures and more than 500 parking spaces. An extra 100 spaces used by FC are located across 13th Avenue, and additional parking will soon be available on a sharing basis with the new Caesar Chavez school being built nearby. Plans for removal of the 10 houses call for two-thirds of the entire cleared space, according to Overman, to be used for more parking lots. At the pre-development conference, the city told the church that “residential neigh- borhoods did not have parking lots,” and therefore the conditional use permit (CUP) should “consider landscaping an important factor in meeting the CUP criterion for com- patibility with the neighborhood.” Furthermore, according to a land use analyst in the city Planning Department, the church, existing in a residential neighborhood, must show “the compatibility of its plan with the neighborhood.” The church has a congregation of about 3,000, according to one Four Square employ- ee. During the two Sunday services, she says, about 1,000 attend the first service at 9 am, and 2,000 attend the second service at 11:30 am. During the earlier Sunday, May 30 ser- vice, the parking lot was not full. Before the second service, however, cars were lining up. “We’re as much of a part of the neighbor- hood as they are,” says one young church- goer. “Have you seen our children’s build- ing? We need a new facility. You can’t use the bottom floor because it floods. They wouldn’t ask us if they wanted to develop their property. I think it’s good we’re even talking to them.” But unhappy neighbors in the area say the church could repair its failing facility instead of taking out the houses, wait and expand in the direction of the Armory, or work with the new Caesar Chavez school in sharing their parking and their brand new gym. FC could also add more Sunday services or urge mem- bers to bicycle to church to avoid the need for more parking. ew
