City strikes out in ballpark ruling.

Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard

Civic Stadium won't always have to be used for recreation, a Lane County Circuit Court judge ruled Tuesday.

The opinion from Judge Karsten Rasmussen provides a victory to the ballpark owner, the Eugene School District, and hands the city of Eugene a defeat.

Rasmussen rejected the city's claim that the 10-acre property in south Eugene can be used only for recreation. He supported the school district's contention that the property is free from such a restriction.

His ruling will be important if the school district seeks at some point to sell the property. The district has said it could more easily sell the parcel between Willamette Street and Amazon Parkway without the recreation limitation.

"We now have clarity about whether the city has any interest, rights or restrictions on the property. And the answer is they don't," Eugene School Board Chairman Tom Herrmann said. "We really needed to get this question cleared up so we would know what our options are."

Rasmussen's ruling settles a legal argument, but it still leaves Civic Stadium's future up in the air.

The school board has declared the property surplus, meaning that it no longer fits the district's long-range educational plans, and it could be sold. But the board has yet to take steps to sell the property.

The school district since 1969 has leased Civic Stadium to the Eugene Emeralds minor league baseball team. The property also is used by the South Eugene High School baseball and soccer teams, plus for overflow parking by the school.

Even with Rasmussen's ruling, Emeralds fans shouldn't worry about the upcoming baseball season, school district Superintendent George Russell said Tuesday.

He doubted that the school board would get around to deciding what to do with the property until after it decides more pressing matters related to possible closures and consolidations of schools. That review is scheduled to end early next year, Russell said.

"The board may decide it wants to get through that process before deciding what to do with Civic Stadium," he said.

The property's zoning is public land. But the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan, the metro area's official growth guide, designates the land for medium density residential use. That means it's possible that the land could be converted to residential zoning and developed with apartments or condominiums.

The property has a long history.

In 1938, Eugene voters approved a City Charter amendment and property tax levy to pay off the debt on what was then a 17-acre site. The city then donated the land to the school district for $1.

The legal disagreement between the school district and the city hinged on the wording in the 1938 deed that the city used to convey the property to the school district.

Attorneys for the city and school district went to court in February. Both sides agreed not to appeal the judge's ruling.

City attorneys argued that the City Council resolution authorizing the ballot measure and statements by councilors and school board members show the clear desire of city leaders that the land be used for recreation.

But Rasmussen wrote that while part of the deed mentioned that the property should be used as a "recreation area," the deed's key clauses did not contain such a restriction.

If the city and school district intended to restrict the property to one use forever, the deed must have specific language that requires that, he wrote.

In the 1938 deed, neither of the deed's two operative clauses specifies that the property is deeded to the district for recreational use, let alone "exclusively and perpetually for recreation use," Rasmussen wrote.