A Philomath-based real estate company spent a decade winning city planning approval to build a dense market-rate multi-family residential complex in the Laurel Hill Valley on Eugene’s east side. But with that permission in hand, the company says it still has more permits to secure and must delay the start of construction..
The firm — the curiously named Environ-Metal Properties LLC — wants Eugene city planners to approve delays in building the 374-unit Laurel Ridge planned unit development. The company missed its previous timeline to start construction in 2023. Now, it wants construction to run 2026-2032. Under PUD rules, a developer can cluster more housing than normally allowed, but must meet conditions, including a timeline.
The new timeline “reflects the complexity of the project” and is “more realistic,” says Environ-Metal’s Jan. 30 application.
The company still needs engineering approvals from the city of Eugene for the network of roads it wants to build into the site, as well as Lane County approval for connecting the development’s main entrance to East 30th Avenue, a county-owned road, says Steve King, an Environ-Metal manager.
“So many years, I’ve been fighting the bureaucracy,” King tells Eugene Weekly. “I want to be playing with my grandkids and not having this on my back.”
Environ-Metal’s project ranks among the most bitterly contested and long-drawn-out in Eugene in recent years. Laurel Hill Valley residents spent the best part of a decade fighting the developer and raising money to hire land-use lawyers to file appeals. They feared disruption to their secluded neighborhood east of Hendricks Park.
More than a decade ago, Environ-Metal proposed 608 housing units on 121 acres of wooded, steep terrain north of East 30th Avenue, at the south end of Laurel Hill Valley. The project faced opposition from city planning staff who said the concept was riddled with deficiencies. The sides disagreed on which parts of the land were designated for development in Eugene’s long-range growth plan, and how many units and streets could be built legally and safely.
To win city planning approval, the development group, which includes Oregon GOP politician J. Frank Morse of Albany, eventually scaled down the project to 374 units on 98 acres.
Objections to through-traffic
But the neighborhood association, Laurel Hill Valley Citizens, continued to fight. Residents objected that the development would be accessed both from East 30th and from streets in Laurel Hill Valley. They worried about through-traffic clogging their local streets.
In 2021, the association appealed the city’s approval to the state Land Use Board of Appeals — the special court that hears land-use disputes. Late that year, LUBA let the city’s planning approvals stand.
“Our position that the through-route is not compliant with the neighborhood plan has not changed, but since we lost the appeal at the state level, the matter is settled,” Alex Do, a neighborhood leader, told EW.
The 374 units and their access roads would go on the western 40 acres of the property, off East 30th Avenue. The remaining roughly 58 acres is set aside in a permanently protected forest zone, to be left largely undeveloped but for a through road into Laurel Hill Valley.
The development would likely consist of a mix of rental apartments and condominiums, but details, including prices, have not been set, King says.
Environ-Metal — the name reflects the company’s origins in specialty ammunition manufacturing — is moving slowly. The proposed new timeline has the first half of the development being built and occupied in 2026-2030, and the second half in 2031-2033.
Mixed feelings
Laurel Hill Valley resident Stan Dura says the project split neighbors.
Longtime residents “want to keep as much of that old personality and feel as much as possible,” Dura tells the Weekly. Newer residents are more open to development, although not at the expense of safety, he says.
Dura says he has mixed feelings.
“I understand the appeal of a close-knit neighborhood,” he says. “But I also realize the reality that the city needs to grow up and not out, and that doing so has long-term benefits while sacrificing short-term interests.”
He also worries the city administration may weary of neighborhood involvement and criticism, and that neighborhood associations have become antagonistic toward city officialdom.