Otto and a like-minded, influential group of fellow citizens would like the City to reconsider how it proposes to use the EWEB building. Rather than exclusively repurposing it as the new City Hall, they imagine it as the core of a municipal cultural center, something many communities across the country have but Eugene lacks. Among the potential uses the Community Cultural Center Complex Group identified are a public art gallery, a “Rivers Museum,” a relocated Eugene Science Center, a national “Hippie Hall of Fame,” a childcare center, and ceremonial spaces for community use. Preceding the City’s decision to buy the property, the Cultural Center Complex Group did ask the EWEB board of directors to take the headquarters building off the market pending an opportunity to conduct a feasibility study. Instead, the board opted to proceed in discussions with the City regarding the latter's renewed interest in moving city hall functions into the building.
Otto laments what with hindsight we may all regard as yet another lost opportunity. He is frustrated by the City of Eugene’s tendency to set high goals and then reactively settle for the expedient solution. He finds no small amount of irony in the current Downtown Priorities & Projects effort given the prospect of 200 city employees vacating 100,000 square feet of downtown office space, abandoning downtown, and relocating to the riverfront.
I’ve already accepted the prospect and implications of a new City Hall on the river. As I wrote last week, downtown Eugene is destined to become something different from what many, including the City of Eugene itself, hoped it would be. Downtown transformation, rather than restoration or rejuvenation, is now the order of the day.
Below is a letter Otto recently penned (here in lightly edited form) and delivered to City officials. It is his late game “what if” plea to them to consider an alternative future for the former EWEB headquarters before its destiny as the new City Hall is cast in stone. I present it here for your consideration and welcome your continued feedback on a topic that should be of interest to everyone who lives here.
January 20, 2023
Eugene Mayor, Council and Manager
RE: Proposed purchase of the former EWEB Administrative Site and Building.
This week I was informed that EWEB selected the City of Eugene as the purchaser and developer of their former administrative building and adjacent site. There is no question the Public must own and maintain control of this important building and site. These elements provide and can energize the needed connection with the river and the new Riverfront Park development. This is especially important since the adjacent housing developer has eliminated all commercial and retail uses except for one restaurant site from their proposal.
The recently formed Community Cultural Center Complex Group also submitted a purchase proposal. This proposal was a vision to provide needed cultural and educational support spaces for the community and region. This proposal would provide the community with a seven-day-a-week open and assessable facility that would provide real draw, support, and connection to the river and a reason to want to go there. It would also provide support to the adjacent uses and for the adjacent housing developer.
It was a surprise—knowing and participating in the history of the City Hall at EWEB idea, plus current discussions with the mayor and city manager—that the City made an offer to develop and to locate the City Hall on that site. The city council and mayor have publicly stated their community interest in the EWEB site but stated that it would not be used for the new City Hall. The City did commission an economic and feasibility study for that use. This study included very responsible public building criteria. The study proved that, using the stated criteria, the renovation of the building was not feasible. Just moving into this building with minimum repair is not a responsible solution. Leadership certainly has changed.
The City’s new City Hall purchase proposal, with little or no community interchange, suggests several questions for our leadership, some of which are listed within this letter.
The following is to note my and many other’s concerns in this recent proposal.
The citizens of Eugene and the council spent years and resources finally deciding that this [the EWEB building] is a very poor City Hall choice or solution. The City already purchased land and funded major architecture and planning efforts concluding that the City Hall should be located on the Park Blocks—aka Town Square or Government Square—in the area we call “Downtown.”
The Mayor and Council have publicly stated that City Hall must be located downtown as the necessary support and reinforcement for a rejuvenated downtown for Eugene.
The noted “consolidated City Hall” is very important and has previously been discussed. With the current and fragile nature of downtown, evacuating approximately 75-100,000 Sq. Ft. of occupied space will have serious repercussions for the current building owners and service support tenants. Increased density, careful planning and cooperation between the current and future landowners can provide those solutions. That assumes we really want to keep and support downtown in its current location. A location that is served with infrastructure adequate for much more density. Perhaps the community now considers downtown to be the 5th St. area or the Oakway Center?
We need solutions and land uses on this EWEB site the community will engage with and a connection with and to the river. Suggesting a large parking lot and/or a parking structure adjacent to the river is very shortsighted and should be discouraged. Parking must be integrated and not separated like suburban planning.
The site and building must be more than an expedient solution and a way to occupy an abandoned site. Master planning is responsible and necessary to generate a vision and should occur before a final purchase. Finding that vision and then exploring the means to augment that vision should be the process, especially in this case. Finding single-purpose solutions is not responsible planning.
- Have the Mayor and Council been involved and offered input on this new proposed purchase plan?
- Has the City master planned, studied or tested the possible uses and connections with the adjacent developed and undeveloped parcels and how will the City’s proposed uses resolve the housing developer’s eliminated retail and commercial uses from what was in their initial proposals?
- Have the councilors seen a vision that achieves and reinforces the community’s aspirations, needs and connections?
- If the City Hall proposal doesn’t pass community support would the City purchase the building and join others to implement a refined EWEB proposal from the Community Cultural Center Complex Group?
If this transaction does occur and If the City would entertain using portions of the building and adjacent sites for the City Hall and other cultural 7-day-a-week community uses, I hope that we, the recently formed Community Cultural Center Complex Group, can form a partnership with the City and be involved in the planning and development. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, not to be missed.
We request a meeting where we can discuss this proposed purchase, vision, and the ingredients to form and refine a master planning study. We need to explore and discuss the City’s willingness for a partnership that will benefit the community and the region. This opportunity and our combined energy and resources will provide the ingredients to make it work, gain community support, and be successful.
I and the community await your responses to these questions and expect contact before finalizing this purchase.
Sincerely,
Otto P. Poticha FAIA
No comments:
Post a Comment