news
Landslide
Brings Us
Down
NEIGHBORHOOD FIGHT
CONTINUES AGAINST A
DEVELOPMENT NEAR
HENDRICKS PARK
By Henry Houston
A
n ongoing conflict between neighbors
regarding a 34-lot planned unit
development near Hendricks Park
continues after the Land Use Board of
Appeals (LUBA) remanded one point
of contention back to the Eugene
Planning Commission: concerns
about the geotechnical matter of the application.
Neighbors of the development argue that the
Capital Hill Planned Unit Development (PUD) should
be denied based on the concern that 12 plots on the
eastern slope — near Hendricks Park — are susceptible
to landslides. This could potentially impact residents
in the development and those living on Floral Hill Drive.
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M
Rebecca Dorsey, a professor in the Department
of Earth Sciences at the University of Oregon, is one
of the neighbors concerned with the project. Dorsey
created a map with a geotechnical engineer named
Gunnar Schlieder based on data from a 2018 report by
Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries
(DOGAMI) that shows the plots are within a quasi-
stable landslide area.
In the report, DOGAMI says the information on
hazards in Eugene-Springfield is to inform planning to
avoid “life-threatening hazard areas.”
Dorsey says stormwater runoff amplified by
construction of impervious roads, driveways and
houses would add water to the soils, thus reducing the
friction that holds the soil to the slope.
“The development simultaneously increases the
driving load and decreases the frictional resistance,”
she says. “It’s a one-two punch.”
A little bit of nature — like prolonged rainfall and/or a
little bit of seismic shaking — could result in a landslide on
the eastern slope of the proposed development, she adds.
Eugene Planning Commission approval of the
Capital Hill PUD despite dangers brought up by
neighbors would violate Eugene City Code, Dorsey
says, specifically EC. 9.8320.
The code states that a PUD cannot be a significant
risk to public health and safety, which includes soil
erosion, slope failure, storm-water flood hazard or the
impeding of emergency response.
“I am concerned that it doesn’t meet the code,” she
says. “The burden of proof is on the applicant to show
that the development would not pose a significant
risk to public health and safety. If they do not meet
this requirement, and so far they have not, then the
development should be denied.”
LUBA rejected the neighbors’ claim that Capital
Hill PUD would impede emergency response based
on a narrow road up to the development because the
Oregon fire marshal said a “No Parking” statute would
allow a fire truck to access that development.
Mounting a challenge to the PUD has been costly for
neighbors. The neighbors hired legal help to challenge
it at the Planning Commission and LUBA. They also
paid for specialists — such as Schlieder.
Nat Teich, a neighbor who opposes the proposed
development, says collectively the neighbors have
spent $30,000 to challenge Capital Hill PUD over the
past 15 months.
He says he’s aware that the neighbors are in a
more privileged place in life: They’re highly educated,
wealthy and retired.
But he says opposing Capital Hill PUD is necessary.
“We’re trying to save the city — that’s the whole
point. We’re trying to save the Ridgeline, and we’re
trying to save meaningful neighborhood environmental
standards,” he adds.
Teich says opposition to Capital Hill PUD isn’t
a NIMBY issue. The applicant hasn’t proposed any
buildings but is instead “staking out lots.”
The application maps out lots, and future residents
(or developers) would buy the plots to build a single-
family houses on them. If the PUD is approved, only the
infrastructure would be installed, Teich says.
The process of challenging Capital Hill PUD isn’t
close to ending. The Eugene Planning Commission will
have three open-record periods.
Dorsey and Teich say they aren’t positive the
Planning Commission will reject the proposal based on
technical matters, so it’ll likely go to LUBA again. ■
The Eugene Planning Commission is only accepting written testimonies
regarding the technical matters of Capital Hill PUD until 5 pm Tuesday,
June 18. Send written comments to NGioello@eugene-or-gov. or hand
deliver to the city’s Planning Division, located at 99 W. 10th Avenue.
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