Individuals alternatively described a land use change that might permit for taller buildings close to Skinner Butte as a possibility to make downtown Eugene extra vibrant and as a takeover to create a glitzy vacationer lure.
Three individuals requested metropolis officers to go the modification permitting for an additional 30 toes of constructing top on six parcels alongside East Fifth Avenue between Willamette and Pearl streets as a part of a Fifth Avenue Market growth, whereas six individuals requested the council to vote down the land use change.
Eugene’s planning fee has really helpful approving the transfer, which might create parcel-specific top limits for the six tons close to Skinner Butte. Metropolis code requires shorter buildings to keep away from blocking sightlines to the landmark.
Obie Firms requested the change, which town then utilized for, to permit taller buildings and make for simpler financing as the corporate plans so as to add two mixed-used buildings onto the Market District.
“This elevated density is important to assembly the necessity and demand for elevated residential models throughout the metropolis of Eugene,” stated Sarah Means, director of presidency and group relations for Obie Firms.
Different proponents additionally touted the necessity for housing downtown.
Opponents stated taller buildings wouldn’t match the character of the neighborhood and nervous about them blocking sightlines to the butte and the Shelton McMurphey Johnson Home.
“It’s simply america of Generica, and folks don’t like that,” resident Mark Robinowitz stated of the design.
Market first expanded in 2021
The unique market was constructed within the Twenties and opened as a public market within the Nineteen Seventies. Development on the primary growth started in February 2019, and it opened in early 2021.
Positioned simply west of the unique market, the preliminary growth options the 82-room Gordon Resort, 127-unit Gordon Lofts, a three-story market anchored by Nike on the bottom flooring and The District co-working area, and the glass-covered walkway often known as Market Alley.
Means stated the corporate is raring to construct on momentum from the unique market and the Market Alley growth with extra residential alternatives.
Plans for one more growth embody 325 new housing models, street-level business models and parking in two phases on what are at present parking tons close to the Oregon Electrical Station constructing and the Gordon Lofts.
Present plans name for 2 phases:
- About 200 models of housing with ground-floor business and a number of layers of parking on round 2 acres on the north aspect of East Fifth Avenue between Willamette and Pearl streets
- Extra housing, ground-floor retail retailers and different business makes use of and parking on the south aspect of East Fifth Avenue between Willamette and Oak streets
Tuesday’s public listening to was a few code change to permit for better top, which Means informed officers would accommodate 75 to 100 extra housing models than the present restrict.
The Skinner Butte Top Limitation Space limits buildings between the Willamette River, Sixth Avenue, Washington Avenue and Coburg Highway to 500 toes above sea stage or 40 toes tall, whichever is bigger.
Below the present code, there’s successfully a 70-foot restrict on the parcels focused for the growth, however Obie Firms is projecting they might want to construct as much as round 95 toes.
‘Vibrancy’ vs ‘Manhattan canyon’
That extra top will imply denser housing, which Means stated matches in with town’s plans for downtown.
“We consider strongly in creating vibrancy in downtown Eugene,” she stated. “Offering housing alternatives is a critically vital step in creating the area that all of us need.”
Density is smart downtown, stated Betsy Schultz, the board president for Higher Housing Collectively, a neighborhood nonprofit working to handle Lane County’s housing disaster.
Extra dense growth permits for affordability, helps town meet local weather targets and will help in efforts to handle security considerations downtown, she stated.
“Extra housing downtown brings extra income downtown and extra our bodies downtown, and each of these two parts are going to assist our group remedy the problems we see downtown,” Schultz stated.
Samantha Roberts, director of enterprise advocacy for the Eugene Space Chamber of Commerce, inspired officers to go the code change as a part of efforts to “relentlessly pursue alternatives to construct housing.”
Opponents of the proposed change acknowledged town wants housing. A few of them even described the event as thrilling.
However they expressed considerations about blocking the view of Skinner Butte and the historic Shelton McMurphey Johnson Home, which is nestled on the fringe of the butte.
One resident of Ya-Po-Ah Terrace Residences learn a letter she’d written to council, describing fears the code change might result in developments that might “mar the attraction of this very distinctive neighborhood.”
Robin Bloomgarden nervous that related growth would result in a takeover of an older a part of city to create a “glitzy, high-priced vacationer lure.”
“Good, quiet Fifth Avenue shall be towering buildings,” Bloomgarden stated. “Sixth Avenue shall be towering buildings all alongside the north aspect of the road right down to Washington Jefferson Park.”
Bloomgarden additionally worries the next focus of outlets within the Fifth Avenue Market space will draw individuals away from different downtown companies, particularly because the riverfront neighborhood develops to the east.
Jim Neu, who lives in Santa Clara, additionally questioned if the intention is to forged off a part of downtown and reform it from Fifth Avenue Market to the Willamette River.
He criticized the plans, saying they’d create a “Manhattan canyon” of “concrete and metal from Pearl to Willamette.”
What’s subsequent?
Metropolis council is scheduled to vote on the code modification throughout a gathering at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13.
Contact metropolis authorities watchdog Megan Banta at [email protected]. Comply with her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1.
