Neighbors want cemetery as is.

Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

Neighbors of Rest-Haven Memorial Park in south Eugene made clear Wednesday night that they don't want the proposed development of an unused portion of the cemetery to encroach on their backyards.

More than 50 people showed up for testimony before city hearings official Virginia Gustafson, who is deciding neighbors' appeal of the city planning director's earlier decision to allow changing long-term development plans for the 76-acre cemetery.

Rest-Haven owner Tim Wiper asked the city to remove 15 unused acres from the area governed by an earlier conditional use permit. The property would then revert to zoning that would allow development of a 172-unit low-income apartment complex that is being eyed by Wiper.

Because there have been no applications filed for construction of the apartments, those at Wednesday's hearing were told that Gustafson must decide the land-use modification issue on its own merits - without speculating about potential uses of the land.

"This is analogous to saying removing the pin from a hand grenade would change nothing," said Fran Curtis, who lives on Brae Burn Drive southwest of the cemetery property. "Just wait - it will change everything."

Chief on neighbors' minds was a 75-foot band of Douglas fir trees that Rest-Haven owners agreed eight years ago to leave as a buffer between the cemetery and the homes on Brae Burn Drive.

Bill Kloos, the attorney for Rest-Haven, drew the biggest laugh of the night when he asserted that apartments would also serve as a good buffer between the cemetery and the Brae Burn homes.

"Whatever goes in that zone (on the edge of the cemetery) will be a buffer between the cemetery and the surrounding uses," Kloos said.

Gustafson, who has 15 days to rule on the neighbors' appeal, chastised the crowd to be respectful before resuming the hearing.

A total of 18 people testified Wednesday night - all but one opposed to Rest-Haven's land use modification.

"My husband and I chose our home largely because of the back yard and the beauty of the forest behind it," neighbor Allison Hassler said.

Hassler said she has a degree in forestry, and contended that removing some of the cemetery trees - which is mentioned in tentative plans for the apartment development - not only would harm the buffer but would leave the neighbors' own trees vulnerable.

"Douglas fir trees are very shallow-rooted and if you remove the trees around them ... they're very prone to blow-down," Hassler said. "I will have the option of removing my trees or waiting to see if one hits my house."

Others testified about the potential for increased erosion from the hillside on which the cemetery trees stand, about the privacy of their backyards being lost and about the solitude of the cemetery itself being compromised by a high-traffic apartment complex.

Hassler, for instance, said her mother is buried in the cemetery not far from her home.

"Rather than having trees here when I visit my mother's grave, I'll be looking at a parking lot," she said.

Bill Richards brought up past disputes between the cemetery and its neighbors - mostly over tree-cutting and the construction of cemetery buildings - and pleaded for Gustafson to maintain a buffer.

"We might hear the words of the late poet Robert Frost: `Good fences make good neighbors,' ' Richards said. "The existing buffer is a good fence."

Bill Reinka said he moved to the neighborhood a year and half ago, largely because it is well-established. He said his neighbors are realistic about having a cemetery in their backyards, but are justified in opposing the disruption that would be caused by the envisioned development.

"Mind that the people here tonight are not the kind of people who move across the street from the airport and then show up a year later at a public hearing and complain about the noise of the airport," Reinka said.

"Many of them helped develop the character of the neighborhood."