Concern level for site flooding risk varies.

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - When PeaceHealth officials announced their purchase in 2001 of open land in the city's northwest corner for a state-of-the-art hospital, they touted the healing power of being close to the scenic McKenzie River.

But opponents say the river would also mean greater risk for the hospital and its neighbors if - or when - it floods.

The flooding risk is just one of the issues that will play out in public meetings and court challenges over the coming months: The state Land Use Board of Appeals is expected to rule by the end of the year whether to overturn the city's March approval of the 160-acre RiverBend project, and the City Council should vote in February whether to approve the development plan for the regional medical center slated to open in 2007.

Gauging the level of concern about flooding at RiverBend, however, is as tough as predicting the next deluge.

Bonnie Ullmann, president of the Game Farm Neighbors, a group whose members live next to the site, said it's been a fundamental concern since the $400 million project was announced.

But other neighbors characterize flooding as a second-tier concern, at best - and some aren't worried at all.

PeaceHealth has "too much at risk," 39-year-old Glenn Eckman said. "They're not going to put that much money into (an area) that they think is going to flood in a short period of time."

The concern is twofold: Will a flood destroy the hospital or access to it? And will building in the flood plain force water in new directions, such as into surrounding homes?

Walking the site provides no answers. The land, generally grassy and nondescript save a stand of 150 or so fir trees, is about 30 feet above the McKenzie. Parts of the area flooded in 1996, although the worst damage was upriver.

Of PeaceHealth's 160 acres, about 60 are in the flood plain, Planning Director Philip Farrington said. Of that, about 16 are in the floodway, the area that conveys water during a flood.

The RiverBend project includes medical offices, stores and housing, but only trails are planned in the floodway, Farrington said.

Furthermore, all buildings would be located at least one foot above the elevation of a 100-year flood mark.

The hospital itself would go even higher: The first floor would be one foot above the elevation of a 500-year flood - that is, an event with a 0.2 percent chance of occurring any given year.

"We're legitimately interested in making sure that access to this critical facility is maintained in the event of a disaster," Farrington said.

To that end, the main roadway to the hospital would be above the 500-year flood elevation, he said.

As a condition for approval, the city required PeaceHealth to assess how the proposed medical center would affect the flood plain and surrounding property.

Richard Attanasio, an engineer with the firm hired to do that work, said that if the project is built as planned, flood water would be an inch higher than it would be before construction, and even less upstream and downstream.

However, Michael Hughes, a hydrologist and graduate fellow with the University of Oregon's geography department, said the firm's failure to consider water levels and flows during the 1996 flood "cast doubt" on their findings.

Joe Weber, a natural hazards specialist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also suggested the 1996 flood information is relevant.

"There are ways that they can estimate the flows," Weber said, and "property owners would certainly be able to go out and get reliable flood marks on those buildings. They have a tendency to remember exactly where the water came."

But Attanasio said information from the 1996 flood is unusable because the measurements taken at the height of the floodwaters are inconsistent and the river flows aren't known.

City Engineer Al Peroutka agreed, saying he felt some of the high water marks the city recorded are inaccurate because they were taken from a variety of sources - anecdotal information or the measurements of "water stains," for example.

The only river flows were recorded much farther upstream and could not be extrapolated for the Springfield area, he added.

Tara Worman, who lives across from the site, will watch the final round of approvals closely. But her concerns are the project's effect on traffic and city services, not flooding.

Worman assumes Peace- Health won't build a $400 million regional medical center in harm's way. And she hasn't thought much about whether it could flood her out, because she believes the project is a done deal. "You can't do anything to stop it," Worman said.

CAPTION(S):

Engineers have erected measuring sticks along the bank of the McKenzie River near the RiverBend Hospital site in Springfield as part of an ongoing study of water tables on and near the site. Opponents of the state-of-the-art hospital say the river puts the facility and its neighbors at risk.