Court delivers hospital setback.Byline: Joe Harwood The Register-Guard PeaceHealth's RiverBend project suffered serious contusions at the hands of the Oregon Court of Appeals The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the U.S. state of Oregon. Except for death penalty cases, which are reserved to the Oregon Supreme Court, and tax court cases, it has jurisdiction to hear all civil and criminal appeals from circuit courts, on Wednesday. The court gave opponents of the project a significant victory, ruling that the proposed $350 million regional medical center and adjoining commercial complex violate a number of land use and other rules. The court said PeaceHealth cannot build the hospital on land that is designated for residential use. The entire site PeaceHealth wants for the hospital is currently designated for housing in Eugene-Springfield's growth management plans. The court also upheld an earlier ruling by the state Land Use Board of Appeals against PeaceHealth. In that ruling, the land use board said the plans for the nine-story hospital and adjoining proposed commercial development violate state transportation planning Transportation planning is the field involved with the siting of transportation facilities (generally streets, highways, sidewalks, bike lanes and public transport lines). rules that require evaluation and mitigation MITIGATION. To make less rigorous or penal. 2. Crimes are frequently committed under circumstances which are not justifiable nor excusable, yet they show that the offender has been greatly tempted; as, for example, when a starving man steals bread to satisfy of increased traffic on state roads and interchanges as the huge project is built. The court's decision doesn't kill PeaceHealth's plan to build the RiverBend development on 180 acres east of Game Farm Road in Springfield's Gateway district. But it effectively ends any chance of PeaceHealth starting construction on the hospital this year. What happens next is unclear. Those unhappy with the latest ruling have 35 days to petition the Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States. to review the appellate Relating to appeals; reviews by superior courts of decisions of inferior courts or administrative agencies and other proceedings. panel's decision, said Meg Kieran, an attorney for Springfield. Absent an appeal, Springfield and PeaceHealth will have to backtrack and take a different route through the planning process in order to rectify rec·ti·fy v. 1. To set right; correct. 2. To refine or purify, especially by distillation. the land use deficiencies identified by the court. It's not clear what that would look like or how long it would take. PeaceHealth planned to begin work on the massive project this summer and open the new facility in 2007. The delay will increase costs, but will not make the final price tag prohibitive pro·hib·i·tive also pro·hib·i·to·ry adj. 1. Prohibiting; forbidding: took prohibitive measures. 2. , PeaceHealth spokesman Brian Terrett said. "We're trying to take the long view that the hospital we have now (on Hilyard Street in Eugene) won't meet the (future) needs of the community," Terrett said. Delays and legal challenges will hurt patients, he said, adding, "Every dollar we waste on legal challenges is a dollar that doesn't go to providing services to the community." Springfield and PeaceHealth earlier this year went to the appellate court A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court. An unsuccessful party in a lawsuit must file an appeal with an appellate court in order to have the decision reviewed. seeking to overturn the LUBA ruling on transportation as well as LUBA's directive ordering the city to provide better information on how the RiverBend project is consistent with the city's strategies for using commercial land. An office/retail center in PeaceHealth's plan would go on land that would be designated for commercial use. The higher court upheld LUBA on both counts. The appellate court's ruling on the traffic issue is likely to force PeaceHealth to spend more time studying how the gradual build-out of the hospital/commercial complex would add traffic to state highways and interchanges. PeaceHealth might even have to agree to spend more money on infrastructure fixes. The nonprofit corporation nonprofit corporation n. an organization incorporated under state laws and approved by both the state's Secretary of State and its taxing authority as operating for educational, charitable, social, religious, civic or humanitarian purposes. , based in Bellevue, Wash., already has agreed to spend an estimated $17 million to improve streets. Opponents of the hospital project, including Lane County residents Robin and John Jaqua, had appealed to the appellate court part of LUBA's ruling that upheld Springfield's authority to allow hospitals as an "auxiliary auxiliary In grammar, a verb that is subordinate to the main lexical verb in a clause. Auxiliaries can convey distinctions of tense, aspect, mood, person, and number. use" in residential zones. Nearly all of the RiverBend site is designated for dense housing and apartment development in the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan, the region's long-term Long-term Three or more years. In the context of accounting, more than 1 year. long-term 1. Of or relating to a gain or loss in the value of a security that has been held over a specific length of time. Compare short-term. growth plan. Springfield and PeaceHealth argued that under the city's land use code, hospitals are allowed in residential zones as an auxiliary use. The appeals court sided with the Jaquas, saying a regional hospital constitutes a primary - not auxiliary - use. The Eugene-Springfield metro plan defines auxiliary use as a neighborhood park or school, said Allen Johnson
Allen K. Johnson (born March 1, 1971) is a hurdling athlete and won Olympic Gold in the 110 metre high hurdles at the 1996 games in Atlanta, Georgia. , attorney for the Jaquas. "The court is saying that a hospital of this size and scope is way past that," Johnson said. "The court is telling PeaceHealth that you're trying to put an elephant elephant, largest living land mammal, found in tropical regions of Africa and Asia. Elephants have massive bodies and heads, thick, pillarlike legs, and broad, short padded feet, with toes bearing heavy, hooflike nails. in a doghouse." The appellate panel ruled that the RiverBend project would be more appropriate for land zoned for commercial uses. That may put Springfield in the position of seeking to rewrite re·write v. re·wrote , re·writ·ten , re·writ·ing, re·writes v.tr. 1. To write again, especially in a different or improved form; revise. 2. the Eugene-Springfield metro plan to designate des·ig·nate tr.v. des·ig·nat·ed, des·ig·nat·ing, des·ig·nates 1. To indicate or specify; point out. 2. To give a name or title to; characterize. 3. the PeaceHealth site for commercial use to accommodate the hospital, Springfield's Kieran said. The court also wiped away a technical issue that had stymied opponents. The city applied its "medical services district" designation to 66 acres of the residentially zoned site in order to make way for the hospital. The city maintains that it has the authority to place the medical services tag anywhere in the city that it desired. Johnson pointed out that the Eugene-Springfield metro plan permits the location of a medical district in a residential area only when it will constitute an auxiliary use to that residential area. Springfield adopted its medical services district in 1989, and the city and PeaceHealth argued that opponents should have challenged the issue then. Because that didn't happen, PeaceHealth said, the opponents had no standing to bring up the issue. Though LUBA agreed with the city and PeaceHealth, the appellate court did not, finding that Springfield's actions violated vi·o·late tr.v. vi·o·lat·ed, vi·o·lat·ing, vi·o·lates 1. To break or disregard (a law or promise, for example). 2. To assault (a person) sexually. 3. the metro plan. "The court looked beyond the city's technicality defense," Johnson said. "The city and PeaceHealth were defending their entire concept of putting a hospital there on a technicality." PeaceHealth and the city did win on one important issue brought up by opponents: Whether or not Springfield should have included Eugene and Lane County officials in its decision-making process for RiverBend. The appellate court ruled that Springfield was within its rights to deny decision-making roles to those two jurisdictions. Kieran and Terrett said no decision has been made on whether to appeal. Kieran, who disagreed with the latest rulings, said the hospital project is still on track, but the city will have to find a way to comply with rulings by the court and LUBA. Johnson said that will require additional proceedings and is not easily fixed. |
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