Fourplex project stirs opposition.

Byline: REAL ESTATE By Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

What began as an application to adjust the property line between two lots in a west Eugene neighborhood has turned into an infill project that will put four, 50-foot-by-56-foot fourplexes on a half-acre plot, to the consternation of the area's neighborhood group.

The 16-unit project, owned by a limited liability corporation called True North Investments, "is the poster child for how extreme development can be these days under Eugene's city code, and it points out that we have an urgent need to stop it before we destroy our old neighborhoods," said Paul Conte, a board member of the Jefferson Westside Neighbors. "Increasing density to control sprawl is one thing, but it has to be done in ways that maintain the quality of the existing neighborhood.

He said he finds it disturbing "when the code allows jamming 16 units into a quarter-block area that doesn't have the capacity to accommodate it and where it doesn't fit at all with historical development."

True North Investments has applied for building permits for the complex on the south side of West 11th Avenue between Jackson and Van Buren streets.

State records list Joseph Taylor and Ed Gressett, both of Eugene, as principals in the corporation. Contacted by telephone, both Gressett and William Potter, True North's attorney, declined to discuss the project; Taylor could not be located.

Conte said it's not that the City Council isn't concerned about the issue of increasing density and neighborhood character.

Two years ago, the elected officials instructed the city planning staff to pursue "opportunity siting," a tool to increase density in carefully selected locations while still maintaining overall neighborhood character and quality. Six months later, the council passed another motion aimed at "addressing the impact of negative infill," he said.

Terri Harding, a senior planner with the city, was hired recently to help develop infill compatability standards and define opportunity sites within already established neighborhoods.

Although not familiar with the True North project, Harding said she realizes that "the rubber's hitting the road" when it comes to the consequences of infill on neighborhoods such as Jefferson Westside that are zoned for medium-density development without protections such as site review.

"The City Council has said we should use (varying) standards instead of blanket zoning to make sure development is done as well as it can be," Harding said.

Within the next several weeks, the city will begin putting together volunteer citizen planning teams to help draft appropriate development standards, she said.

But for now, property owners who have the land and the right zoning also have a green light to build multi-family units with far greater density than the surrounding neighborhood.

The fourplex project is allowed outright on the property the corporation purchased earlier this year, because changes made to the city's zoning code several years ago greatly increased the number of dwelling units allowed in medium-density residential areas, in some cases upward of 30 units per acre.

County tax records indicate that True North paid a total of $465,000 for the two tax lots.

The surrounding neighborhood is primarily older single-family homes on lots that range from about 5,000 to 10,000 square feet. Plans for the fourplex development indicate that the buildings and parking will take up two-thirds of the property, with 5-foot setbacks on the sides and 10-foot setbacks along West 11th Avenue.

Each two-story unit will be about 1,150 square feet, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, study, utility room and living and dining rooms.

All 21 parking spaces that serve the complex will be located at the rear of the property, with access to Jackson Street via a gravelled, 14-foot-wide alley.

Keli Osborn, permit review manager with the city, said that alley improvements are not a requirement for the project.

"The Public Works Department said that if the applicants want to pave the alley, they can apply for a temporary surface permit, but they've indicated they're not interested in that," Osborn said. "I know for the neighborhood group, that's a concern."

At a projected planning standard of 10 trips per day per household, "we're talking about 160 trips daily on that narrow gravelled alley," Conte said.

"This is another example of the way the code is not responding to what's really going on in the community."

PUBLIC WORKSHOP

What: A discussion of infill compatibility standards and "opportunity siting" of higher-density development in residential neighborhoods and formation of citizen task teams

When: 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 8

Where: Bascom-Tykeson Rooms, Eugene Public Library, 100 W. 10th Ave.

Contact: Terri Harding at 682-5635

Reporter Randi Bjornstad can be reached at 338-2321 or [e-mail].