Eugene Weekly : Views : 12.15.05

Westward Ho

An architect's view on where to grow

BY GRANT SEDER

Building projects in Eugene seldom become realities without a certain allotment of controversy and pain, some of which might be avoided if the planning process were more complete. Two current examples are the siting for the new McKenzie-Willamette hospital — the dart-board-planning method; and the West Eugene Parkway — the draw-a-line-on-the-map-and-call-the-bulldozers method.

Concerning the hospital location, more thought should be devoted to Eugene's future growth. More sprawl north onto the prime agricultural land of the Willamette Valley is certainly undesirable (and the RiverBend siting of PeaceHealth doesn't help on this score). Expansion to the south is, and should be, limited. So growth to the west is the remaining possibility.

Rather than the usual sprawl, a long-term plan could envisage a compact city in the Veneta-Elmira area, a city with definite growth boundaries and with commercial and business areas; in other words, a city and not just a bedroom suburb. Such a population center would naturally be linked by mass transit with Eugene and somewhere along that linkage would be a logical site for the McKenzie-Willamette hospital. The linkage would include and justify some version of the West Eugene Parkway.

The "parkway" has been described as equivalent to a freeway. This project seems overscaled for the short distance involved, and freeway construction will involve huge amounts of precious gravel to provide adequate footing in wetlands areas, meanwhile destroying wetlands in the process. It would be more logical to build a causeway supported by pilings and several feet above ground level to allow the wetlands to continue to exist and support its life. (Perhaps if we called it a trestle we would have the West Eugene Trestle or WET.)

Another consideration as part of a more complete planning process is the railroad. We already have a railroad running from Eugene to within two miles of downtown Florence. The roadbed and rails might have to be upgraded for faster passenger service and the line extended from Cushman to Florence, but with Florence burgeoning with retirees, an enjoyable non-auto trip to Eugene (de-train within sight of the Hult Center) might be popular.

And since the elderly seem to travel a lot and also need medical services, perhaps beyond what might be available in Florence, a good connection to a hospital and to the airport would be desirable. Of course, the train goes both ways and inlanders might enjoy a train ride to the coast, there to gambol on the sand or gamble in the casino.

The train would serve Veneta and Mapleton and stop at a West Eugene junction where a north-south shuttle would serve the new hospital and the Eugene airport.

Building a hospital is a long-term project — PeaceHealth speaks of a 100-year planning horizon — that deserves careful, thorough planning. Merely finding a site to put a building on isn't enough. Of course, the same applies to building a major road.