Lane builders group opposes parks bond.

Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard

With the election less than a month away, one of Eugene's two feel-good bond measures has come under attack from a well-known opponent.

The Home Builders Association of Lane County on Tuesday declared that it opposes the city's $27.5 million parks bond measure.

The group criticized Ballot Measure 20-110 because it would generate money to buy parkland, but not provide money to build parks. And the industry group worries the city acquisitions will cut the amount of land available to build new houses.

"We would like to see a more balanced proposal, where land acquisition, recreation and open space are given more equal footing," said Roxie Cuellar, director of government affairs for the Home Builders. "We also would like to see more public involvement in what's going to be purchased with the bond money."

The Home Builders' arguments touch a political nerve in Eugene because they are connected to land use and growth, topics on which residents can sharply differ.

One slow-growth advocate called the builders group's opposition self serving. Two city councilors on Tuesday disagreed on whether the Home Builders' position will have much clout with voters.

The parks bond measure joins Measure 20-111, a library levy renewal, on the Nov. 7 ballot of Eugene voters. No organized opponents have surfaced to the library proposal.

The parks measure would use nearly $20 million to acquire land for parks and open space.

Most of the remaining bond measure proceeds would be used to add artificial turf at athletic fields and build a West Eugene Wetlands education center.

Cuellar said the bond issue would need to be followed by other parks bond measures, otherwise the city could not develop parks in the future.

"Should this measure pass, a third park bond measure is planned in five or six years, with a fourth to follow," she said.

Johnny Medlin, director of Eugene's Parks and Open Space Division, said that "it's anybody's guess," but that it's unlikely the city will ask voters to approve another parks bond issue in five or six years.

It's been eight years since the last parks bond measure, Medlin said, so "I would be surprised if we had another one earlier than eight to 10 years in the future."

A 20-year parks plan developed with the help of many residents inspired the proposed bond measure, Medlin said.

But Cuellar said the City Council made the ballot proposal acquisition-heavy. It took lobbying from residents to prompt the council to add money for the artificial turf athletic fields, she said.

Cuellar also said the Home Builders fear that city parks purchases will cut the residential land supply that contractors need to build new homes. "We have had that concern from day one," she said.

Liz Cawood, chairwoman of the bond measure campaign, said she understands the Home Builders' frustrations about the land supply.

Eugene residents "have not been able to come to consensus about the buildable land supply, so that has begun to impact other things," such as parks bond measures, Cawood said.

But Cawood said she thinks most voters will support the bond measure because "there is a legacy of stewardship in our community."

The Home Builders waited until late in the campaign to voice their opposition, disclosing it in an opinion piece by Cuellar published in Tuesday's Register-Guard.

The group did not write an argument against the measure for the city's Voters Pamphlet, which is to be mailed out next week.

The Home Builders will not buy ads to oppose the measure, Cuellar said.

Council President Jennifer Solomon said the Home Builders can influence an election.

"Their membership is large and growing, and they represent working families in our communities," she said.

Solomon, who represents the Bethel-Danebo area in Ward 6, said the group has "raised valid issues that voters should consider," namely whether the city should expand its urban growth boundary to provide more buildable land.

"Voters must recognize that creating more park space may ultimately necessitate an extension of the urban growth boundary," she said.

"You could call that an unintended consequence, but, in my opinion, expanding the UGB isn't a bad thing. And perhaps passage of this measure may just get the conversation going."

Kevin Matthews, president of the slow-growth group Friends of Eugene and a bond measure supporter, said the Home Builders' real worry is that if the city acquires more parkland, then builders someday will have to pay more in city impact fees to develop parks.

`Roxie should come clean and admit the bottom line reason the (Home Builders Association) is against the current parks bond measure,' he said. "It's a very simple, very self-interested formula."

But Cuellar said the impact fees charged by the city to all developers "are going up no matter what."

Meanwhile, City Councilor Betty Taylor said she disagrees with Home Builders' criticism that the bond measure's emphasis on land acquisition is flawed.

Taylor said development and rising real estate prices will make it more difficult for the city to acquire land in the future.

`The land won't wait for us; the maintenance (of existing parks) will,' she said.

Taylor, who represents south Eugene neighborhoods in Ward 2, said she did not think the Home Builders' opposition will cause the bond measure to fail.

"People care more about parks than they do about saving land for more houses," she said.