Input on new Delta hospital could be DOA.

Byline: Bob Welch The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran April 28, 2007): Bob Welch's column on Page C1 last Sunday incorrectly reported that the land McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center hopes to build a new hospital on in Eugene is zoned "parks and open space." It's actually zoned "R-1" for low-density residential, but has been designated for parks and open space.

On the eve of Tuesday's public hearing regarding McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center's proposal to plunk a hospital in a place no hospital should be plunked, those of us opposed to it are perplexed.

On one hand, we get the feeling that the chefs already have this decision out of the oven and on the table - though we never really got a chance to place our order. On the other hand, we're now being offered a chance to voice our opinions on the matter.

Huh?

Reminds me a bit of the Non Sequitur cartoon I saw the other day: An executioner stands atop his wooden structure, ax in hand. Next to him, a sign says: "For your safety, please hold on to the handrails."

We appreciate the concern for our well-being, but the guy in the black hood has us thinking our fate might already be sealed.

All this said, I'm not convinced anybody's pulling a fast one on those who oppose seven-story and four-story buildings being plopped down near a residential neighborhood - with a single ingress/egress road that'll be like sending a pig down a python.

Instead, what we have here is just the usual muddy waters of democracy wending their way to some unforeseen conclusion, a conclusion that might not be as forgone as some think. And what we also have, to quote a line from "Cool Hand Luke," is a failure to communicate.

"It's left a lot of confusion and frustration," says Alissa Hansen, senior planner for the city of Eugene. "But the council rarely finds itself in a role like this. Usually it is neighbors lobbying them to get rid of leaf blowers or something."

Last Tuesday, the city planning staff - not to be confused with the planning commission - recommended the approval of McKenzie-Willamette's proposal. There's nothing binding about that, however. It's just a recommendation.

After hearing testimony at the 5 p.m. session Tuesday in the City Council chamber at 777 Pearl St., the planning commission will meet later and decide whether to recommend that the council approve, approve with modification or deny the application. The council then will have a hearing, deliberate and make a final call, though many expect the issue to go extra innings with the state Land Use Board of Appeals.

At this point, the council and planning commission aren't going to be swayed by some emotional lout like me suggesting that this location makes only three parties happy - McKenzie-Willamette, a council hoping to save face after losing Sacred Heart to Springfield and doctors who want a convenient commute to Sacred Heart at RiverBend - but somehow overlooks the community at large. (And, no, I don't live in the Delta Ridge area.)

Instead, they're more interested in specific ways that locating a hospital at the end of Delta Highway might violate the "Required Approval Criteria" of the Eugene Code.

`The question most people are asking - `Is this the right spot for the hospital?' - is not the question we're trying to answer,' Hansen says. `The question is: `Should we redesignate and rezone this land for a hospital?' '

First, we need to understand that the City Council, though dropping the ball in not finding a practical location for a hospital, didn't initiate the Delta Ridge deal. McKenzie-Willamette did, after two years of looking in Eugene.

Like you or me, the hospital has every right to buy property and go through legal channels in an attempt to have that property rezoned, in this case, from parks and open space - it's a golf course now - to commercial. "It's an onerous process," Hansen says. "Just because (a change is) applied for doesn't mean it will be gotten."

And citizens have a right, through written or oral testimony, to argue why that would be the worst thing since the unhatching of RoboDuck, but aren't going to score points unless they can show potential violations with the Willakenzie Area Plan, the Metro Plan and/or statewide planning goals.

Second, because this is a land use decision as opposed to, say, a leaf-blowing decision, the City Council is bound by state law to act not as a group of legislators making laws but as a quasi-judicial body acting as judges. That's why councilors aren't talking about Delta Ridge to constituents or the press; state law discourages that in an attempt to maintain a sense of objectivity.

"We're dealing with a change to a land use plan as opposed to a change in a law," Hansen says. "It's not common for the council to be in that role."

Amid all this, of course, are all sorts of shades of gray. "How will they (the commission and the council) apply the policies?" Hansen says.

Zoning changes aren't uncommon. A lot of us live in houses on land that was once zoned for, say, agricultural. "Land use laws are very complicated," Hansen says. "You should never say never. Societies change. Needs change."

I could argue that the city, if approving a zoning change, would be backtracking on its own affirming of the neighborhood's residential nature by slowing Ayres Road traffic with the creation, in 2001, of a twisting, narrow street featuring 10 islands and two speed "tables."

"The hospital is absolutely not consistent with that," says Fred Merten, who served on the neighborhood committee that worked with city planners on the traffic "calming" of Ayres. "This is an about-face."

I could argue that McKenzie-Willamette's claim that the new hospital would be accessible from "east, south and west" is only accurate if you're arriving as a bird or helicopter. By car, the answer is "south only," which conjures up all sorts of traffic bottlenecks.

I could argue that missing from McKenzie-Willamette's "There's Traffic Relief in Sight" newspaper ad - it is kicking in $12.8 million for road work - was any mention that RiverRidge Golf Course generates an average of 40 trips per day and the hospital will generate 1,600, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation.

I could argue all sorts of things. But what the planning commission and council are charged with considering is whether such points violate the "Required Approval Criteria," which are lengthy and complex. (Go to www.eugene-or.gov and, on the middle of the page, click "Staff Report Available for Proposed Hospital Site Public Hearing.")

"If people are passionate, I want them to speak that passion," Hansen says, "but to be most effective they should speak to the criteria posted on our Web site."

Whether that's right or whether councilors can remain objective are other issues. But the law's the law - designed, ostensibly, to be fair to those who want a zoning change and those who don't. And respecting it will offer those who oppose the Delta Ridge location a far better chance of winning than trying to tackle the guy with the black hood and the ax.

Written public testimony may be submitted to Hansen, prior to the hearing, at alissa.h.hansen@ ci.eugene.or.us or at Planning Division, 99 W. 10th Ave., Eugene, OR 97401.