BY CAMILLA MORTENSEN
Condemning the Amazon
Will the council vote to save the headwaters forest?
W
hether one of the last pristine sites
within Eugene’s urban growth
boundary gets saved may come
down to money.
The Eugene City Council plans to vote
June 25 on whether to proceed with eminent
domain on two parcels of land near Amazon
Creek’s headwaters. Neighbors and green
space advocates have been fighting to pre-
serve the land since the late 1990s.
Developers have been fighting to build
houses on it.
Martin and Leslie Beverly’s proposed
Deerbrook subdivision would be on 26 acres
south of the end of West Amazon Drive.
Portland-area developer Joe Green wants to
build on 39 acres between Dillard Road and
Nectar Way and call it Green Valley Glen.
The developers would put a total of almost
200 houses on the land.
Development could
‘degrade water
quality further’
as well as
‘contribute to
unstable slopes.’
— Hydrologist Al Johnson
In 2006 the county assessor listed the real
market value of Green’s parcel as about
$475,000. The Beverly’s parcel is actually
made up of four tax lots that have a total real
market value of about $475,000 as well.
Lisa Warnes, founder of Vision for Intact
Ecosystems & Watersheds (VIEW), said it
could cost only about $5 million to acquire
the land “if done in a way that was legiti-
mate.” But if the developers successfully
argue the land should be purchased at the
price each lot would be worth if houses could
be built, then she fears the developers will ask
for many millions more.
The city has repeatedly turned down the
developers’ requests for planned unit devel-
opments (PUDs) on the Amazon parcels.
Without an approved PUD, houses cannot be
built on the land. The Beverlys withdrew
their last request in April.
City staff could have purchased some of
the land in 2004 for much less. The city of-
fered then-owner Munir Katul’s company
DDA Oregonia $300,000 for what is now the
Green parcel. Green offered $325,000 for the
land. The city refused to increase its offer,
and Green became the owner. Katul told EW
at the time, “I would have sold it to the city
for $326,000.”
Dennis Taylor was Eugene’s city manager
at the time the city lost its opportunity to buy
the parcel. As city manager Taylor controlled
the city’s staff.
Taylor told The Register-Guard (Sat.
6/16) that the City Council’s decision to
move ahead with the eminent domain issue
was one of reasons he resigned his position
last month. He told the R-G “The manner in
which this was handled is one of many fac-
tors that influenced my decision to leave my
position at the end of July.”
Warnes said that statement “has outraged
a lot of people.” She pointed out Taylor was
already applying for other jobs last
September. “He must think we as a commu-
nity have a real short memory,” she said.
Taylor applied but was not hired for a posi-
tion as city manager in Lawrence, Kan.
Taylor “has been, since day one, opposed
to the city acquiring the land,” Warnes said.
Eminent domain is often used to develop
areas for public use, not save them. In this
case eminent domain would be used to pre-
serve natural resources including habitat for
sensitive species such as pileated woodpeck-
ers and red legged frogs.
Under eminent domain, the city can first
attempt to purchase the property. If it does not
succeed, the city can force the developers to
sell. When governments such as the city of
Eugene exercise their power of eminent do-
main to transfer ownership from private indi-
viduals to itself, the process is called con-
demnation.
Warnes and other Eugeneans looking to
preserve the city’s natural resources are hop-
ing to do this through condemnation. The re-
sources include not only the headwaters for-
est but Amazon Creek itself.
According to the EPA, Amazon Creek is
already contaminated with arsenic, lead and
E. coli. Warnes and others fear that building
houses in the headwaters of Amazon Creek
will further damage the water in addition to
destroying the surrounding forest.
A study of the area done by Southeast
Neighbors hydrologist Al Johnson said de-
velopment could “degrade water quality fur-
ther” as well as “contribute to unstable
slopes.” Unstable slopes can lead to houses
and roads sliding and collapsing.
K&A Engineering, hired by the develop-
ers, did a separate study, which concluded it
was “entirely” possible the homes could be
constructed “with no increased hazard of
slope movement.” This would involve build-
ing pads for the houses, creating a retaining
wall, installing pipes for drainage and bring-
ing in fill dirt for the road.
“What does that do to the natural re-
sources?” asked Warnes.
The MountainGate subdivision in
Springfield, also built on a slope, used fill
dirt, gravel and drainage pipes to build a road
through that community. Residents of
MountainGate had to leave their homes in
February when warned that the road could
collapse and slide.
The council’s vote on what to do about the
Amazon headwaters parcels is on the agenda
for the 7:30 pm Monday, June 2 meeting in
Council chambers at 777 Pearl St.
Lisa Warnes, in association with
Southeast Neighbors and VIEW, is organiz-
ing a rally outside the building at 7 pm. For
more information, call 484-2210.
ew
SOUNDS
IN TOWN:
Sensibilities & Sensitivity
Dr. R. Craig
EUGENE HEARING & SPEECH CENTER
Mike McKerrow
CITY OF EUGENE
FRIDAY, JUNE 22 ND • 11:50 AM
DOWNTOWN ATHLETIC CLUB
$3 admission • Free to City Club Members
485-7433
www.cityclubofeugene.org
JUNE 21, 2007 13