BOHNER Rodney T <br />From:kylas7@aol.com <br />Sent:Tuesday, June 19, 2018 6:25 PM <br />To:BOHNER Rodney T <br />Subject:Proposed Lombard Apartments <br />To Rodney Bohner, City of Eugene Planning Division: <br />Re: the proposal to construct Lombard Apartments. Please share with your staff and also place in the <br />public record the following comments: <br />With no consultation with the community, the sale of a publicly owned 3 acre site, a river-adjacent <br />property on the Greenway, has already passed into escrow. This is a reprehensible transgression of <br />the very , CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT. In fact for many <br />first among Oregon’s 19 statewide planning goals <br />yearsthe neighborhood residents have envisioned and discussed the kind of development we would <br />prefer to have on that very rare, valuably situated property. City Manager Jon Ruiz met with <br />neighborhood representatives on June 8 to hear some of our ideas and also to take a walking tour of <br />the neighborhood. That relishable exchange ought to have taken place at a much earlier stage, <br />indeed from the time that Homes for Good Housing Agency first began to contemplate the sale of the <br />property. <br />Secondly, the statewide planning goals specify that universities and colleges should provide citizens <br />with information on land-use. This planning goal pertains preeminently to a unique public property <br />right on the Greenway and very close to the Greenway Pedestrian/Bike Bridge. In fact, this parcel of <br />public land is of such signal interest that in the sixteen years I've lived on Lombard, I have several <br />times encountered groups of UO architecture students preparing plans appropriate for that property. <br />Yet Homes for Good proceeded with the sale without consulting the University. <br />Undoubtedly the public hearing on June 27 will bring to light a number of reasons why the community <br />opposes the proposal for Lombard Apartments. I believe that the most strenuous objections will <br />center on the traffic hazards that would certainly result from the construction of 84-94 apartment units <br />on a neighborhood comprised of three short and narrow streets, all ending in cul-de-sacs. Fir <br />Lane, ending in the Maurie Jacobs parking lot, has considerable pedestrian and bike traffic. Also at <br />the end of Fir there's both a preschool and a school bus stop, as well as a soccer field and the access <br />to the Greenway Bridge. Furthermore, our small, well-knit neighborhood includes both adult foster <br />homes and persons with mobility issues. These residents would certainly face increased risks with <br />the traffic from so many apartment units. <br />Perhaps removable traffic bollards could provide some amelioration, directing traffic from the <br />apartments directly to River Road rather than more circuitously through the narrow streets of <br />Lombard and Fir. (By the way, ever since the recent construction of a protected pedestrian walkway <br />across River Road and onto Fir Lane, there's actually been an upsurge of motor vehicle accidents <br />near the corner of Fir and River Road, a situation that certainly deserves investigation.) Immensely <br />increased traffic from the proposed Lombard Apartments would be nothing but a recipe for many <br />more accidents. Traffic studies are definitely in order. <br />1 <br /> <br />