Community voices disapproval.

Byline: SUSAN PALMER The Register-Guard

The Eugene School District staff struck out twice at a public meeting Wednesday night concerning construction of the new Northside Elementary School.

Not only did the majority of area neighbors attending dislike the district's preferred location for the new school - next to Monroe Middle School on Bailey Lane, just off Coburg Road - they wouldn't even go along with the meeting agenda, refusing the opportunity to break up into smaller discussion groups that would have given more people the opportunity to express their opinions.

Instead, they peppered school district facilities manager Bill Hirsh with questions and comments as he explained the four potential locations for the new school, two of which are near Monroe Middle School.

"We don't like the Monroe sites at all," one member of the audience said. "That's what we're all here for."

With the exception of about a dozen people, who did split off into smaller groups, the crowd of about 180 people remained in the cafeteria for the duration of the 90-minute meeting.

One of the sites under consideration near the middle school would put the elementary school on the district-owned track and soccer fields east of Monroe. The other would take up space in the city's Ascot Park southeast of the middle school.

Those two sites have the advantage of being central to the school attendance area and sufficiently close to the middle school to give students improved learning and recreation opportunities, Hirsh said.

But none of the advantages was enough to overcome community concerns about traffic congestion and the loss of open space.

"Coburg Road is jammed already," area resident Pat Adlum said.

Getting on and off Bailey Lane at Coburg Road is already a nightmare when students are coming and going, neighbors said. Nobody wanted to contemplate the difficulties of accommodating traffic for 500 more students.

Still others complained about the loss of the playing fields.

"I believe in open spaces," said Joanna Nasset, who otherwise supports the district's new school. "Ascot Park is just irreplaceable."

The same issue drew Kathy Rile to the meeting.

"I use Ascot Park all the time," she said. "I'm not kicking a soccer ball. But I'm listening to the frogs. I'm enjoying the wetlands. This park is a real place for the community."

When Rile asked the district staff to take an informal count of those opposed to construction of the elementary school at Monroe, 118 people raised their hands.

The district's other two options: building at the site of one of the two schools Northside is designed to replace. Most of those present preferred the Washington Elementary School site on Harlow Road. They saw Harlow Road as a street better able to handle the traffic congestion.

The new school will replace aging Willakenzie and Washington elementary schools, both marked for closure. Attendance at the two schools is 266 and 283, respectively.

The district expects that Northside will accommodate between 500 and 600 students. When the new school is built, the shape of the attendance district will change slightly, with a small notch of the neighborhood now funneling students into Willakenzie shifting over to Gilham Elementary School farther to the north.

District Superintendent George Russell, who attended the meeting, said he heard the community complaints loud and clear.

"They don't see this is a viable option," he said in reference to the Monroe site. The district staff will consider the community comments and most likely develop new options before holding another public meeting, Russell said.

Eventually, staff members will make a recommendation to the school board, which will need to choose a location for the new school by January 2003 in order to meet the school district's construction timetable. The school is one of four financed by a $116 million, 20-year bond approved by voters in May.