City votes to close B Street block.

Byline: Jack Moran The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - The City Council on Monday finalized a decision it first indicated a preference for 17 months ago, voting to permanently close a downtown street to make room for a police parking lot adjacent to a voter-approved public safety complex.

Councilors voted 4-2 to support closing a blocklong section of B Street, between Pioneer Parkway East and Fifth Street. Councilors Anne Ballew and Christine Lundberg cast the "nay" votes.

While councilors did not discuss the issue before voting, both Ballew and Lundberg previously detailed their objections to the street closure.

Ballew said at a July council meeting that she believes maintaining street connectivity downtown is more important than closing B Street to accommodate a secure parking lot for police vehicles and a storage building.

Lundberg has said she was disappointed with project planners who told the council that the only way the complex could be built within budget was to close the street.

It appears that the city decision will now be scrutinized by the state Land Use Board of Appeals. Springfield resident Scott Olson said in an interview prior to Monday's meeting that he will ask the state panel to overturn the council's ruling on grounds that it violates local land use plans that support street connectivity and easy travel routes for bicyclists and pedestrians.

"I will file (a notice of intent to appeal) within the next two weeks," said Olson, a civil engineer who serves on a city committee charged with advising the City Council on plans for the downtown justice center.

"It's going to be interesting to see what (the board of appeals) does," Olson said.

In April 2006, the City Council took a first step toward closing B Street when it approved a plan that requires replacing the thoroughfare with the secure parking lot. Councilors at the time agreed that the plan was not ideal, but chose it because three other options presented by project officials would have required increasing the justice center construction budget.

Springfield voters in 2004 approved a $28.7 million construction bond to build the complex, which will include a new police station, municipal courtrooms and a 100-bed jail to house misdemeanor-level inmates.

Besides providing parking for officers, the secure parking lot will give officials a place to temporarily hold prisoners in the event that the jail must be evacuated.

A building designed to store police evidence, records and equipment also will be inside the fenced-off area.

Justice center construction began in July. The project's first phase, which includes the police and courts building, is scheduled to be completed by November 2008.

If Olson's appeal to the state land use board is successful, the city might have to redesign the complex. If B Street remains open, the city could build a secure lot on the block north of the street.

But police officials have said that could slow officers' responses to an emergency, and create an unsafe situation where they would have to cross B Street to reach their vehicles.