Eugene weekly., June 21, 2007, Page 14, Image 14

ILLUSTRATION BY DAN PEGODA
Splitsville
Developers’ bill
divides and
conquers
BY ALAN PITTMAN
W
hat three decades of planning joined together developers have split asunder.
The Oregon Home Builders Association, backed by Springfield
officials, rammed a bill through the state Legislature this spring to split
the Eugene/Springfield urban growth boundary (UGB) in two and force Eugene to con-
duct an early buildable lands inventory, a move developers think will hasten UGB expan-
sion in Eugene.
“This was a very important bill,” said Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy of the impact of HB
3337, which she expects the governor will soon sign. “We were very surprised and dis-
appointed.”
Developers working with Springfield bulldozed a pro-sprawl law through the
Legislature with questionable arguments in a result that may impact livability, taxes and
city relations for decades to come.
Local developers have been fighting for years to expand Eugene/Springfield’s joint
UGB to allow more urban sprawl. Developers tried legal action to force the city to update
its buildable lands inventory, the first step toward a UGB expansion, but lost. They con-
vinced Springfield to let developers pay $40,000 for a new land study for their side of the
UGB, but Eugene refused to go along and held potential veto power over any big
Springfield UGB expansion. In January the council voted 5-4, with Piercy breaking the
tie, to follow a staff recommendation to not conduct a new land inventory.
Undaunted, the developers took the local fight to Salem. HB 3337, “at the request of
Oregon Home Builders Association,” the Legislature’s official bill ledger read, was
quickly scheduled for an April hearing. The bill would split the local UGB and force
Eugene to do the land study in two years. Springfield Rep. Terry Beyer, Sen. Bill
Morrisette, Mayor Sid Leiken and Springfield city councilors backed the bill. But the key
engine behind the legislation was the Home Builders, one of the most powerful lobbying
groups in the state.
14 JUNE 21, 2007
“They’re very, very powerful,” said Eugene’s lobbyist, Alex Cuyler, noting how the
developer group killed legislation that may have required developers, instead of taxpay-
ers, to fund their full growth impact on schools.
“The Home Builders have usurped the timber industry” in terms of their “monstrous
power” in Salem, Eugene Councilor Bonny Bettman said. “They have lawmakers from
both sides of the aisle in their pocket.”
In the 2004 election cycle, the latest where comprehensive data was available, the
Home Builders’ political action committee was one of the state’s biggest spenders with
$170,000 in contributions. Republicans got 83 percent of the money, but the developer
PAC gave Democratic Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown $9,000 and Democratic
House Majority Leader Dave Hunt $500.
Cuyler said Home Builders lobbyist Jon Chandler described Springfield as “his non-
client client” on the bill. “They were working very closely.”
Developers and their Springfield allies made HB 3337 a top priority. Piercy said she
heard there were threats to hold up a key energy bill and/or a key fix for Measure 37 if
the sprawl bill wasn’t passed. With the message out that important bills “might have a
hard time getting through,” Eugene “seemed not as important,” Piercy said.
The Salem chaos caused by Measure 37’s effective repealing of sprawl controls for
many developers in Oregon may also have helped pass the local sprawl bill. “Measure 37
is just a complete attack on land use laws; this isn’t that different,” Cuyler said.
Home Builders lobbyists have argued in Salem that Measure 37 should be fixed by
restricting development outside UGBs while allowing for easy UGB expansions and
unrestricted development inside the growth boundaries.
Piercy said the city also failed to jump on the sprawl bill quickly. “Alex hadn’t expect-
ed it to be taken as seriously,” she said.
Cuyler admits that “he probably could have been better prepared” for one early hear-