Fourth time's the charm.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Persistence appears to be paying off in one key area of McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center's ongoing struggle to build a new hospital in north Eugene.

Unless something unforeseen surfaces, the Oregon Department of Transportation is signaling that it's ready to sign off on McKenzie-Willamette's fourth attempt to solve traffic problems at the Belt Line Road-Delta Highway interchange. Three previous plans to mitigate the impact of a 200-bed medical center on one of the region's worst transportation bottlenecks were rejected by ODOT.

If the fourth time proves to be the charm for the transportation plan, it should demonstrate to doubters that McKenzie-Willamette is wholly committed to the Delta Ridge site. McKenzie-Willamette's new CEO, Maurine Cate, says executives from Triad, majority owner of the Springfield hospital, aren't looking at other sites, despite entrenched neighborhood opposition that has vowed to fight the project every inch of the way.

That fight will now shift its focus from lane use to land use, where the built-in appeals process provides only one guarantee: Unless one side or the other throws in the towel, it's going to be a long time before this rumble reaches the final bell.

The proposed hospital site - 42 acres on the back nine holes of RiverRidge Golf Course - is zoned for parks and open space and designated for low-density housing in the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan General Plan, the metro area's planning blueprint. If ODOT approves the transportation plan, the project moves to the Eugene Planning Commission for consideration of a Metro Plan amendment, a Neighborhood Refinement Plan amendment and zone change to commercial.

The planning commission's recommendation then goes to the City Council, which has the final say at the municipal level. The City Council worked hard but ultimately failed to find a site for a new hospital close to the downtown core that worked for Triad. Though the Delta Ridge site is problematic for several councilors, it would be difficult to imagine this council or mayor voting to prevent a hospital from building in Eugene.

No matter what the city does, hospital opponents can take their case to the Land Use Board of Appeals and beyond LUBA to the Oregon Court of Appeals. That means even more delays to a project that McKenzie-Willamette once announced would begin construction in September 2006. The most optimistic current estimate envisions a new hospital opening its doors some time in 2010 - the key word being "optimistic."

All the while, construction costs continue to climb. PeaceHealth is on track for a 2008 opening of its new medical center at RiverBend in Springfield and recently announced significant enhancements to its Hilyard campus, now called Sacred Heart Medical Center - University District.

Despite the headaches and hard work that have gone into four extensive transportation analysis revisions, McKenzie-Willamette officials may someday look back on the multimillion-dollar traffic improvement plan as the easy - and relatively quick - part of the process. And that's only if they're still in the ring and ruled the winner at the final bell.