NEWS BRIEFS
CAPSTONE RUNS
INTO SNAGS
Like sands through the hourglass, so are the ongoing
controversies related to the proposed 1,200-student
Capstone housing project. Since the Eugene City Council
approved a 10-year property tax break in May, the project
has been slapped with three appeals, continued pressure
regarding construction standards from nearby residents
and now the lack of a sale or ownership of the property on
which half the project would be built.
On hearing that Capstone was unable to reach a deal
with local developer Steve Master for the site west of
Olive Street, which Master has the option to purchase from
PeaceHealth until May 2013, Councilor George Brown
emailed the mayor, City Council and John Vawter of
Capstone. “In the many statements made by Capstone
representatives, I’m not aware that your representatives
ever informed anyone that Capstone actually did not have
purchase or development rights to what constitutes almost
half of the proposed development,” Brown wrote.
Brown also wrote that complete knowledge of
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
ownership and purchase agreements might have led the
City Council to change the way they applied the Multiple-
Unit Property Tax Exemption (MUPTE) to the project, and
he requested copies of all agreements regarding purchase,
lease and development rights Capstone and its agents have
had since the original MUPTE application, which lists
Capstone as owner of the entire site.
Paul Conte, a neighborhood advocate who filed the three
appeals, says the non-ownership of the west side of the
proposed development, where the second phase of the project
would be built, might be a ruse to try to defeat his appeal
based on a Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) that didn’t address
both phases of the project. City code requires assessments
before, between and after each phase of phased projects;
Capstone’s TIA does not. City staff approved Capstone’s TIA
over Conte’s objections because “these discrepancies produce
more conservative results,” the city’s TIA approval states.
“If Capstone doesn’t have some option or agreement to
purchase or to be able to develop the part of the site that’s
on the west side of Olive Street, then they can claim that
this project that their doing the TIA for really only involves
the so-called phase one on the east side of Olive Street, and
they could use that then, to not have to produce the
analysis of the entire project,” Conte says.
Residents of Olive Plaza and other local businesses say
they are concerned about Capstone’s refusal to release
documents relating to lead, asbestos and other potential
health hazards during demolition. A bake sale at Olive Plaza
raised $200 toward the purchase of HEPA air purifiers for
residents with compromised respiratory systems.
“Olive Plaza is 75 feet from the clinic site,” Olive Plaza
resident Barbara Goldberg says. “We all know that the site
holds some toxic materials. Many of us have serious health
conditions, and we see that the demolition is placing us at
risk.All we are asking is that we are fully informed
regarding the potentially hazardous materials on the site,
that the air quality be monitored before and during the
demolition that takes place by an independent, qualified
company and that these materials be removed in a way that
prevents risk to our health, the health of the people in our
neighborhood and the rest of Eugene.”
Residents of Olive Plaza and nearby businesses have
formed Safe Demolition Eugene, a public interest group that
is focusing on preventing airborne toxic and nontoxic dust
from leaving the demolition site and contributing to health
problems. See safedemo.org for info. — Shannon Finnell
EUGENE WEEKLY JULY 12, 2012 9