EWEB gets full cost of relocation: $100 million.

Byline: Joe Harwood The Register-Guard

VIDA - The Eugene Water & Electric Board moved a step closer Tuesday night to making a decision over whether to stay at its longtime downtown campus or move some or all of its facilities to a 46-acre parcel on Roosevelt Boulevard.

Holding a periodic meeting at the Vida Community Center, the public utility's commissioners voted unanimously to accept a design study that puts a price tag on moving some or all of the EWEB campus.

The study, compiled by a design team led by Eugene-based WBGS Architecture & Planning, estimated the cost to relocate just the industrial operations portion of the utility at about $81 million.

The figure jumps to about $100 million to move the entire campus, including construction of a new administration building.

EWEB for more than a decade has been considering moving its industrial functions away from the Willamette River in downtown Eugene. Aside from aesthetic and environmental considerations, large utility trucks and those towing trailers with transmission poles often have trouble getting in and out of the site.

Many of the operations buildings on the campus are 50 or more years old and in need of repair. A 2002 study put the minimum cost to upgrade those buildings at $13 million. Rather than remodel dilapidated structures, commissioners have been considering building new facilities elsewhere, such as the Roosevelt tract the utility bought for $1.6 million.

The utility accelerated plans to relocate when Triad Hospitals Inc. in 2004 offered $24.8 million for 22 acres of EWEB's 27-acre campus. Commissioners declined to enter into a binding agreement until the design study was complete because they wanted to have solid information on relocation costs before striking a deal.

In the interim, Triad moved on. The Texas-based hospital chain about three months ago negotiated an option to purchase about 42 acres of the RiverRidge Golf Course for $15 million on which to build a new hospital.

During public meetings held last year by EWEB, many customers made clear that they did not want the utility to leave its headquarters building, pointing out it was built in 1986 for about $12 million.

Yet commissioners on Tuesday wrestled with whether to pursue a combined or split move, and how and when to finance the final decision.

`I've never heard anyone say `you should move the whole thing,' ' Commissioner John Simpson said.

"I think the public understands the hospital is not in play anymore," Simpson said. "I think we would go down in a fire if we tried to do a combined (move) now."

Preliminary assumptions prepared by EWEB financial staff members indicate that the utility would have to raise electric rates about 2.5 percent annually to finance new operations facilities while keeping the headquarters along the riverfront.

Combined with a hike in water rates, the combined increase would amount to about $4 per household each month.

Another assumption the utility is making is that once the industrial operations left the downtown campus, the property could be sold for redevelopment, with the proceeds used to pay down construction debt.

After much discussion, the board agreed to vote at its Feb. 21 meeting on whether to pursue a split or combined move.

Three of the commissioners indicated that they would tend to support authorizing bonds to pay for additional design work for the split scenario.

Commissioner Ron Farmer made clear that he would retain the right to change his mind, worried that costs for any move could spiral out of control unless a firm budget cap was set.