Eugene weekly., April 28, 2016, Page 10, Image 10

NEWS
• A benefit concert with Rob Tobias, followed by
a discussion about community radio in the Eugene/
Springfield community will take place at Reality Kitchen,
645 River Road (next to Countryside Pizza). Sponsored
by Eugene Peaceworks and Reality Kitchen, the concert
is a fundraiser for KEPW-FM. The event opens its doors
at 6:30 pm Friday, April 29. KEPW says “KEPW 97.3 will
be Eugene’s first grassroots, community-powered radio
station, providing programming that is local to the core.”
• Ophelia’s Place, a community for girls, will host Girls
Rule!, “Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead,” a one-day event for girls
ages 9-14 and a parent or caring adult on 9 am – 3 pm
Saturday, April 30 at Churchill High School. Highlighting
the event will be keynote speakers, Kimberly and Rebecca
Yeung, ages 9 and 10, who made national headlines when
they sent a homemade aircraft to the edge of space and
back, and recorded the entire journey on a GoPro. STEAM
(science, technology, engineering, art and math) topics
will include computer programming, fun with fractals,
owl pellet dissection and more. Free with a suggested
donation of $10-$50. Lunch is provided. Pre-registration
closes April 29. Attendees may also register at the door.
To register for Girls Rule! 2016, visit opheliasplace.net.
Contact Celeste Yager-Kandle at 541-284-4333 for more
information.
• Local filmmaker Timothy Lewis is fundraising for
a new documentary about the first through-hike on the
Jack-Ash and Applegate Ridge Trails, connecting Ashland
to Grants Pass. “Although portions of each trail are
already well known and heavily visited, other portions
are little used and relatively undefined,” hikers and board
members of the Applegate Trails Association Josh Weber
and Luke Ruediger write on their Kickstarter campaign
site. The entire 80-mile trail corridor has not wyet been
hiked. “The film will be used to raise awareness, build
support and inspire volunteers to get involved.” For more
information go to kck.st/26szqBL.
• 350 Eugene is hosting “mobilization meetings”
leading up to Break Free PNW. The next meeting is 5 pm
Wednesday, May 4, at The Boreal, 450 W. 3rd Street. “This
May we’re breaking free from an industry that plans to
turn the Northwest into a dirty energy superhighway with
the largest coal and oil terminals on the continent.” There
will be updates on Break Free PNW actions and events,
affinity groups, tactics, transport, lodging, art builds and
more. More at world.350.org/eugene/.
• Randi Feland, president of Umpqua Strong, says
that registration for the Umpqua Strong 9K and 5K in
Roseburg is set to open May 1. The Oct. 1 race falls on
the one-year anniversary of the Umpqua Community
College shooting and “is meant to honor victims, first
responders and survivors,” Feland says. Participants
can register as individuals or as part of a team and are
encouraged to fundraise, as all proceeds above event
costs will go toward UCC student scholarships. Register
at umpquastrong.org.
LANE COUNTY AREA SPRAY SCHEDULE
Oregon Department of Transportation is spraying
roadsides. Call 503-986-3010 to talk with a vegetation
management coordinator or call 1-888-996-8080 for
recent herbicide application information. Hwys. I-5, 36,
99, 101, 126 and Beltline were recently sprayed.
New Growth LLC, c/o FIA, c/o Mason Bruce & Girard,
973-1951, plans to hire Rye Tree Service Inc., 999-0295, to
spray its roadsides near and north and south of Florence
and Mapleton with a long list of chemicals including 2,4-D,
dicamba, diesel oil, aminopyralid, clopyralid, hexazinone,
sulfometuron methyl and a long list of adjuvants including
surfactants, crop oils, foam busters, dyes and odor
maskers. See ODF notification 2016-781-04587, call Jim
Hall at 541-997-8713 with questions.
FIA Timber Partners II, LP, 973-1951, plans to hire
Rye Tree Service Inc., 999-0295, to spray its roadsides
near and south of Florence and Mapleton with 2,4-D and
a long list of other chemicals including surfactants, crop
oils, foam busters, dyes and odor maskers. See ODF
notification 2016-781-04589, call Jim Hall at 541-997-
8713 with questions.
Compiled by Gary Hale, Forestland Dwellers: 342-8332, www.
forestlanddwellers.org
CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS
In our story on the EWEB commission race, we
wrote Sonya Carlson would resign from the UO’s Office
of Sustainability if she were elected. Carlson clarifies
that she is a graduate fellow and her position ends in
June when she graduates and if elected she would not
be working for Steve Mital during her term as EWEB
commissioner.
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A pril 28, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
FLURRY OF EDUCATION FORUMS
ENCOURAGE PUBLIC INPUT
H
ave something to say about education? In the
next few months, Eugeneans have a multitude of
opportunities to voice their thoughts in a series of
public forums, some specifically for Eugene School
District 4J and some on a statewide level.
According to Kerry Delf, 4J’s associate director for
communications, 2,027 people responded to 4J’s online
survey, which wrapped up earlier this month and asked
community members to describe, among other things, what
aspects of education should take priority — survey takers
could choose from categories such as “highly qualified
teachers and staff” and “higher graduation rates,” or they
could write-in a category.
Delf says that one topic in particular has emerged
repeatedly as one of concern to the 4J community — class
size.
“Our class sizes have grown over the years, and they are
higher than the school district would like to see,” Delf says.
At a recent meeting on 4J elementary class sizes, parents
expressed dismay about kindergarten classes with more than
30 students (see “Parents Concerned about Elementary Class
Sizes,” March 3).
The first community feedback meeting was April 21, and
the next two, May 12 and June 2, are opportunities to talk
about the future of 4J and help the district come up with its
strategic plan for the next few years.
The 4J Visioning Committee will use this information to
help set the district’s priorities, Delf says.
On a statewide scale, Oregon Rising will hold a number
of meetings throughout Lane County to find out what
Oregonians dream for schools and children. The public
outreach effort, sponsored by the Confederation of Oregon
School Administrators, the Oregon Education Association
and the Oregon School Boards Association, is nonpartisan
and is not affiliated with any campaigns or ballot measures.
Instead, it’s an attempt to get Oregon thinking about what
might be possible for schools if funding was not an issue.
“It’s not that money doesn’t need to be taken care of,
but so many other groups are tackling that,” says Cathy
Hamilton with Oregon Rising. “This is about removing all
of the barriers that have framed a lot of the discussions for
the last 20 years and figuring out what could happen.”
Oregon Rising encourages people to think big — at
meetings, community members can take a survey and talk
about their priorities for Oregon schools. The groups behind
Oregon Rising will then take that information and create a
report to be shared with education leaders and legislators
later this year.
“People have been really excited to step in and share their
dreams,” Hamilton says, adding that Oregon Rising hopes to
hear from 10,000 people around Oregon.
Oregon Rising meetings are happening all over Lane
County in the next few months, including a gathering 7 pm
Tuesday, May 3, at Willamette High School, 1801 Echo
Hollow Road. See oregon-rising.org for a full list.
4J’s Vision 20/20 Community Update and Feedback
Meetings are 7 pm Thursday, May 12, at North Eugene High
School, 200 Silver Lane, and 7 pm Thursday, June 2, at
Roosevelt Middle School, 680 E. 24th Ave.
Admission for all events is free. — Amy Schneider
FUTURE OF THE SOUTH WILLAMETTE
RE-ZONING IN QUESTION
s the South Willamette Special Area Zone, the
controversial plan to change the zoning of the buildings
around Willamette Street from 23nd to 32rd avenues, “an
unlawful bait-and-switch money-making scam”?
That’s the question Brian Wanty asks in a recent email
to the mayor, Eugene City Council and planners. He says
the city’s plan for a Multimodal Mixed Use Area within the
SW-SAZ does not comply with state planning requirements.
The SW-SAZ looks to be up in the air right now: Terri
Harding, who leads the city’s long-range planning team, told the
Friendly Area Neighbors that: “Sometimes, we make mistakes.
The South Willamette Special Area zone is one of those times.”
Mayor Kitty Piercy in an April 22 email to the city
manager and City Council writes, “I applaud our planners
for having some forthright and honest conversations with
neighborhoods about what could have been done better.”
Piercy continues, “I intend to try to help us all move forward
— to get unstuck. I am not suggesting revisiting the former
rezone proposal. I am suggesting pressing a restart button on
the community process with some changes.”
Zack Mittge of Hutchinson Cox attorneys, with Wanty
as his client, sent a letter April 1 to the City Council
commenting on the SW-SAZ. The letter says the plan is
not a Multimodal Mixed Use Area (MMA) and cannot be
approved consistently with Statewide Planning Goal 12 and
the Oregon Transportation Ruling Plan.
A Multimodal Mixed Use Area has a denser level of
development of a variety of commercial and residential
uses than in surrounding areas and “an understanding that
increased automobile congestion within and around the
I
MMA is accepted as a potential trade-off,” according to the
Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development
and the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Mittge points out that the Multimodal Mixed-Use
Area the city had in mind for the SW-SAZ requires “wide
sidewalks and other features, including pedestrian-oriented
street crossing, street trees, pedestrian-scale lighting and on-
street parking.” Wanty expands on this in an April 26 email
to the city, writing, “if the SW-SAZ includes the MMA
designation, all new development would be subject to the
state regulations. Therefore, the code amendments that make
the pedestrian amenities optional are unlawful and disqualify
the SW-SAZ for the MMA designation.”
Wanty says, “So, this bait-and-switch scam has nothing to
do with walkability and is really about maximizing tax and
fee revenue to the city, and maximizing profits for developers
and investment property owners.”
He says if the city goes forward with the plan, it is a
recipe for filings with the state Land Use Board of Appeals
“decades into the future.”
As of April 26, the city’s land use application
details webpage still lists the SW-SAZ as “recommended
approved.” Wanty asks, “When will this be changed to
‘application withdrawn?’”
Piercy tells EW that the City Council has received Wanty’s
email. She says after her communication in regard to hitting
the “restart button” on SW-SAZ, Councilor Brown submitted
a process proposal for consideration. Piercy will “schedule a
meeting for discussion of this proposal and other considerations
we have been asked about.” — Camilla Mortensen