Designation of flood plain issue delays hospital hearing.Byline: Springfield City Beat by Matt Cooper Matt Cooper may refer to:
THE ONLY THING moving faster than the McKenzie River For rivers name "Mackenzie", see . The McKenzie River is a tributary of the Willamette River, 86 miles (138 km) long, in northwestern Oregon in the United States. It drains part of the Cascade Range east of Eugene into the southernmost end of the Willamette Valley. is the city's effort to deal with flood-plain development. After residents said Monday that maps designating the flood plain are wrong, the city postponed a hearing on its biggest project - a 59-acre annexation request by PeaceHealth, part of plans for a new $350 million hospital near the McKenzie in Gateway. The request, which had been scheduled for this coming Monday, has been moved to April 29. That gives staff two weeks to present city councilors with options for dealing with such questions as: should the city consider annexations of property near the flood plain before the maps are straightened out? The City Council is expected to resolve all policy questions at a work session on the 29th - then turn around and open the hearing on the PeaceHealth annexation. Is two weeks enough time to prep for the most controversial project facing the city? The brass says yes. "Is it complex? Is it controversial? Yes, it certainly is," City Manager Mike Kelly This article is about the newspaper columnist. For the baseball player, see Mike Kelly (baseball). Mike Kelly is a columnist for the The Record, a newspaper serving Bergen County, New Jersey. said. "Do I feel the council is feeling rushed? No, I don't." Kelly noted that people have been analyzing the project for at least six months, since hospital officials announced their plans to build in Gateway. Further, he added, the city is only considering tinkering tin·ker n. 1. A traveling mender of metal household utensils. 2. Chiefly British A member of any of various traditionally itinerant groups of people living especially in Scotland and Ireland; a traveler. 3. with a policy that generally allows flood-plain development. The council's job would be far tougher if staff members were pushing a 180-degree turn to disallow To exclude; reject; deny the force or validity of. The term disallow is applied to such things as an insurance company's refusal to pay a claim. all flood-plain development, Kelly said. The real rush, Mayor Sid Leiken said, would have been trying to resolve the issue in time for PeaceHealth to come before the city Monday. Leiken also noted that the Lane County Boundary Commission, which oversees annexations, has the final say at a meeting June 6. Tick-tock The clock has started ticking on what could be the biggest boon to downtown in 25 years. Eugene businesswoman Carolyn Chambers completed her purchase of the 2.6-acre Island Park Professional Center this week, raising hopes she'll redevelop re·de·vel·op v. re·de·vel·oped, re·de·vel·op·ing, re·de·vel·ops v.tr. 1. To develop (something) again. 2. and start a downtownwide rebirth re·birth n. 1. A second or new birth; reincarnation. 2. A renaissance; a revival: a rebirth of classicism in architecture. . The next two years are crucial. If Chambers sells the property in that time, she'll be forced to split the profits with the city. The city hopes that condition will help encourage her, instead, to redevelop. A mix of commercial, retail, office and possibly residential development is planned for the site, says John Ohm, consultant to the Carolyn S. Chambers Trust. He has also cautioned, however, that the time line for development hinges on market forces and the economy. Meet the candidates Before you go to the mailbox A simulated mailbox in the computer that holds e-mail messages. Mailboxes are stored on disk as a file of messages, a database of messages or as an individual file for each message. The standard mailboxes are usually In, Out, Trash and Junk (Spam). with your ballot, the candidates come to you. In preparation for the May 21 primary, a candidate forum for state representative and Lane County commissioner will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in City Hall, 225 Fifth St. Candidates expected for House District 12 include Terry Beyer and Rick Henson, both Democrats, and Republican Norm Fox. Commissioner candidates for Springfield's Position No. 2 include incumbent Bill Dwyer, as well as Thomas Atkinson, David Cole David Cole may refer to:
People with the surname Hinds:
For more information, call 746-1651. Springfield reporter Matt Cooper can be reached at 338-2317 or by e-mail at mcooper@guardnet.com |
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