tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post7007545678280029817..comments2024-03-25T17:49:41.408-07:00Comments on Salem Breakfast on Bikes: Hearings Officer to Deliberate on Blind School Remand and Revised Site PlanSalem Breakfast on Bikeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-43809284284375516312015-11-12T12:20:29.242-08:002015-11-12T12:20:29.242-08:00RE: State Hospital North Campus.
In general terms...RE: State Hospital North Campus.<br /><br />In general terms, while I share some concerns about the project, I do not share the sense of alarm or agree that it is clearly already a "fiasco." Most notably the plan and broad agreement now is to preserve Yaquina Hall and the Dome Building. So already there is more effort for preservation than there ever was at the Blind School, where the Hospital from the start wanted to demolish Howard Hall. <br /><br />There are other differences, too. If you are new here, you can read <a href="http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/search/label/OSH%20North%20Campus" rel="nofollow">more thoughts and several posts on the project here</a>. It's an important project as you say.Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-28015705333320872472015-11-11T18:34:33.193-08:002015-11-11T18:34:33.193-08:00Agree this victory is great on the level of neighb...Agree this victory is great on the level of neighborhoods not giving up and fighting for the community. Sadly the victory was not in time to save the trees. Very poor process indeed!<br /><br />However, another State and City fiasco is slowly making its way through the northeast part of Salem with the North Campus of the State Hospital. If the State had handled the Blind School property correctly, we might not have this Salem Hospital situation. <br /><br />It is not clear that anyone learned anything from this experience when we now turn to the State sale of the hospital grounds. They plan to either sell the property as is for $4.5 million (not likely we are told); or demolish all the buildings on the east end for $8.6 million in order to sell it to a developer for perhaps $4.5 million.<br /><br />NESCA neighborhood association does not seem to be working very hard to protect the assets of this property to their neighborhood. Not that some neighbors do not care, but that they are getting circumvented by bad process and weak leaders.<br /><br />I am hoping that NEN will perk up and claim the area more effectively to ensure that 1) the maximum number of healthy trees can be saved; 2) open spaces can be preserved; and 3) whatever is built on the property that it be something that enhances the community.<br /><br />So far the plans are scant and no guarantees that anything that the neighbors would welcome is going to be respected. Even the open space that was offered to the City as soccer fields may not happen. Bureaucracy is trying to make the cost so high that even virtually free land is expensive. If not a park, this land will be sold for either more offices or multifamily housing.<br /><br />SCAN had wonderfully empowered citizen who were willing to take a stand and work for their neighborhood. Unfortunately the North Campus area is not so endowed. I fear too many people are just going to be rolled over or they will look to move away. <br /><br />Perhaps it is to the point that others in Salem need to step up and fight for this valuable property rather than just leaving it to the locals. Afterall ALL taxpayers invested in this property, so we have a dog in this fight too!<br /><br />You can be sure that if the mayor's plans for apartments with some mixed use comes to pass, traffic and cars need to be a big part of the discussion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-37663624050151651372015-11-11T15:47:10.885-08:002015-11-11T15:47:10.885-08:00Even on the City website they refuse to acknowledg...Even on the City website they refuse to acknowledge the LUBA decision and their judgement that the City erred in interpreting its own development code:<br /><br />"A petition for judicial review of LUBA’s decision to the Oregon Court of Appeals was filed by an intervenor in the LUBA case; Salem Hospital cross-petitioned for judicial review. The Court of Appeals affirmed LUBA’s decision on the petition and cross-petition."<br /><br />This includes the city's argument that lots can be agglomerated for the purpose of calculating parking requirements. LUBA found that there was no basis in the code to support such an argument. <br /><br />This was also a limited land use decision which was not reviewed by city council. Limited land use decisions are supposed to be administrative in nature where the discretion of staff is supposed to be extremely limited with regard to interpreting the law. It just makes you wonder how many other liberties the city has taken that the public didn't catch that have set Salem back.<br /><br />It takes me back to the people v. policy question. Salem has enlightened policies in place like maximum parking requirements, but we don't have the people in City government that believe in enforcing them. They can either view the policies as an opportunity to improve Salem and make it a better place or they can treat them as an obstacle that needs to be overcome to deliver private interests what they want (short term private benefit vs. long term public good). <br /><br />Until that dynamic changes, this is just a pyrrhic victory, and Salem will continue to lag behind the rest of the state.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com