City wants the low-down on Lowe's.

Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

Anyone with an opinion about the prospect of a new Lowe's home improvement store going in at the northeast corner of West 11th Avenue and Bailey Hill Road - where Shopko and Safeway used to be - has just over two weeks to share it, preferably in writing, with Eugene's planning division.

Lowe's turned in a site review application in late October for a 138,000-square-foot home improvement center and a 31,000-square-foot garden center on the 12-acre property, which backs up to a similarly sized outlet The Home Depot opened on Seneca Road two years ago. That branch of Home Depot, located on 11.6 acres formerly used as a movie theater complex, has 132,000 square feet that includes 27,000 square feet of garden space.

The proposed Lowe's project would pit the nation's largest home improvement companies - Home Depot ranks No. 1, and Lowe's ranks No. 2 - against not only each other in the west Eugene market but also against the home-grown Jerry's Home Improvement Center on Highway 99 just north of Belt Line Road. It would bring to six the number of large home improvement centers in the Eugene-Springfield area, which has a population of about 270,000.

Jerry's, whose founder, Gerald Orem, died Dec. 13 at age 85, also has an outlet on Olympic Street in Springfield. Home Depot has a second center, on Green Acres Road in north Eugene, while Lowe's has received approval from the city of Springfield to build a 170,000-square-foot home improvement warehouse near the intersection of Marcola Road and 28th Street. That project is part of a 100-acre development called the Villages at Marcola Meadows that also will include 500 units of housing, as well as other commercial uses.

Home Depot previously had proposed building a Springfield outlet on the same property where Lowe's now is slated to go.

The Springfield City Council scotched the idea in 2001, saying they wanted to reserve the area for campus-style industrial development that would attract high-paying employers, instead of retail.

Now it seems likely that Lowe's and The Home Depot will have the same number of Eugene-Springfield stores for the foreseeable future, if the Eugene planning division issues approval of its site plans without a subsequent appeal.

Nationwide, The Home Depot has more than 2,200 stores, while Lowe's has nearly 1,500 locations.

The city declared the Lowe's application complete in late November, starting the clock on a 45-day decision period that expires at 5 p.m. on Jan. 18, after which the planning director will issue a decision. Written appeals of the administrative decision go first to the Eugene Hearings Official and ultimately to the state Land Use Board of Appeals.

First United Eugene, a limited liability company belonging to A&C Ventures in Sonoma, Calif., a company that deals in single-tenant net leases, will develop the Lowe's project.

HOW TO COMMENT ON THE LOWE'S PROPOSAL

Members of the public have until 5 p.m. on Jan. 18 to submit comments on the proposed Lowe's home improvement center on West 11th Avenue in Eugene

Only written comments will be part of the public record considered when the decision is made on the proposal.

Comments should pertain to site review criteria in Section 9.8440 of the Eugene code; the code may be viewed at the city's Permit and Information Center at 99 W. 10th Ave. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, or on the Internet at www.eugeneplanning.org.

Mailed comments: Associate Planner Steve Ochs, city of Eugene Planning Division, 99 W. 10th Ave., Eugene, OR 97401

E-mail comments: [e-mail]

Information: call 682-5453