Downtown decision awaiting further review.

Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

IT'S ALSO TRUE in the world of downtown development - when it rains, it pours.

The former Sears Roebuck and Co. building, which lies within the bull's eye of Eugene's downtown district, has sat largely vacant and mostly unwanted since the national retailer moved its local operations across Interstate 5 to the Gateway Mall in September 1989.

Then late last fall, word came that the nonprofit Oregon Research Institute had its eye on the property as a potential site for a new, 100,000-square-foot building to serve a well-paid staff that is expected to expand to 500 employees by 2010.

City officials were intrigued. The thought that many new professional-types spending their workdays - and parts of their salaries - in Eugene's under-used core area had people talking with new optimism about downtown

revitalization.

But ORI's plans didn't quite meet the standards of the city's existing "request for proposals" for the site - the list of criteria that potential developers must meet before their proposals can be considered.

City officials' original vision was of a mixed-use development that would combine street-level retail with urban apartments, rather than a home-grown research facility that specializes in behavioral and health studies for the National Institutes of Health.

So Eugene's planning staff reworked and reissued the "request for proposals" in December, changing the criteria to accommodate the ORI proposal.

And guess what happened?

ORI was one of four firms that responded with development proposals. The other three - submitted by two local companies and one from Portland - are all mixed-use, retail-and-residential propositions.

"Everybody came forward with some exciting proposals," city Planning Director Tom Coyle says. "Now we have to go, 'OK, which one of these things is going to be able to be built?' '

Which has led to a bit of a delay in the city's decision-making process.

The City Council was scheduled to choose from among the four proposals earlier this month, but the item was put on hold until city staff has a chance to weigh the financial feasibility of each.

"We need a reality check from our business guys, and that's what we're going through now," Coyle says.

The topic is expected to make it back to the council within the next few months.

This suds for you

Chances are slim, but you may ask what the city of Eugene, professional carpet-cleaning companies and endangered salmon have in common.

All right, the quick answer is something called the Clean Water Business Program.

It's a voluntary partnership between the city's storm water management staff and local carpet cleaners to determine and follow the best practices for disposing of suds and other carpet-cleaning waste. The idea is to protect the Willamette River and its tributaries from pollution that may otherwise harm migrating salmon and do other environmental damage.

It's modeled after a similar program in Sacramento, and was started locally after the city's storm water staff met with several carpet care experts for input.

The Eugene program is educational and voluntary, and does not impose regulations. Rather, it urges the owners and employees of carpet-cleaning and janitorial businesses to attend a one-hour, educational workshop on storm water pollution issues, and then to follow program guidelines and provide customers with information on pollution prevention.

On the other end of the bargain, the city has agreed to recognize participating businesses in its promotional advertising for the program.

Nine carpet care companies have enrolled in the program to date, and another workshop is scheduled for March 13 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., at 858 Pear St. For more information, contact Kathy Eva of the city's storm water management staff at 682-2739 or [e-mail].

Green thumb alert

The city's five community gardens are getting brush-ups in advance of the coming gardening season.

Parks crews and volunteers have been mowing garden walkways and clearing grass, weeds and blackberry brambles from fence lines surrounding the gardens. Gardening debris and trash are being removed from the sites, and plans are in place for increased mowing and maintenance during the spring and summer months.

The cleanup efforts were targeted after city Parks and Open Space Division staff members met with participants in the community garden program last fall.

Eugene residents have been able to plant their own garden plots in city-owned community gardens since the program was begun in 1978. A total of 250 plots are located in the Amazon garden at 27th Avenue and High Street, the Mathews garden at 15th and Hayes, the Whiteaker garden at the end of North Polk, the River House garden at 301 N. Adams and the Alton Baker Garden east of the parking lot at Alton Baker Park.

A whole plot can be rented for $52 per year and a half plot for $42. Registration for the 2003 growing season begins March 17 at 1820 Roosevelt Blvd.

Joe Mosley can be reached at 338-2384 or [e-mail].