Developers envision higher-density housing.

Byline: REAL ESTATE By Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

PUBLIC HEARING The county and Eugene planning commissions will hold a hearing on a proposed housing project at Old Coburg and North Game Farm roads. When: Oct. 24 Where: City Council Chamber, 777 Pearl St.

Summer Oaks, Crescent Park, Crescent Meadows, Crescent Village, Hawthorne Estates: The march of the subdivisions goes on steadily in Eugene's northeast corner. And another development soon may be added to the list.

It doesn't have a name yet, but the nearly 7-acre plot wedged into the sharp corner where North Game Farm and Old Coburg roads meet, north of the Interstate 5 freeway and Belt Line Road intersection, could be home to about 140 units of townhouses and apartments and several neighborhood-oriented businesses.

"We looked at the city of Eugene's growth management policies and the Metro Plan for what would be appropriate on this property, and we decided this would be a good opportunity for higher-density housing," said Larry Reed of JRH Transportation Engineering, the land use planner for the project.

Developers of the property include Steve Ward, owner of the Ward Insurance Agency, and his sisters, Judy Kuenzli of Corvallis and Gail Taylor of Portland. The three hold options on three tax lots owned by their father, retired insurance owner Jack Ward. The older Ward bought the land during the past several years through a limited liability corporation called Pop Corn LLC.

Steve Ward and his sisters also developed Summer Oaks, a manufactured home subdivision, and Hawthorne Estates, an upscale development of single-family homes still under construction, in the Crescent Avenue area.

The timing for building 30 to 40 townhouses and another 100 units of apartments seems ideal, Steve Ward said, because completion of the housing will happen about the same time as work to continue Chad Drive, which now dead-ends, on through to Old Coburg Road.

"We can't really finish our project until Chad Drive is finalized," Ward said. "We're going through the motions, but we've already delayed our plans once because the city put off the Chad Drive project for a year."

After some postponements because of changing priorities for proposed projects, area transportation plans now call for finishing the Chad Drive extension by the end of 2008, about the same time the housing units would be ready for occupancy.

Game Farm Road also has been designated a potential bus rapid transit connector on the Lane Transit District's EmX system, which would mesh with goals for higher-density residential development, Reed said.

"My clients are willing to provide some right-of-way to square up the intersection at Old Coburg Road and Game Farm Road, instead of keeping that hairpin turn," he said. "People in the area have been concerned that buses and trucks couldn't make that turn, which would force a lot of traffic from Chad Drive to continue to use Crescent (Avenue)."

However, things bureaucratic will have to move smoothly in order to finish the housing project by the end of 2008, Reed acknowledged.

An amendment to the Metro Plan will have to be done by the end of this year, followed by annexation to the city of Eugene by March 2007. The land is within Eugene's urban growth boundary, but not yet part of Eugene. Approval of a planned unit development application could take through the end of 2007, which would put groundbreaking sometime in late spring of 2008, he said, with completion slated for the end of that year.

Ward said the style and rent level of the development hasn't been determined yet.

"I want it to be nice, but not too expensive," he said. "We're talking about a mix of construction styles so there's some variety - it's not going to look like a big thing of dormitories or whatever."

Real Estate Report runs Tuesdays. Reporter Randi Bjornstad can be reached at 338-2321 or [e-mail].