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This is a follow-up to our ZOOM call last week - the call can be viewed on the Active Bethel Citizens Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/activebethelcitizens/videos/1245868465810578
On RG website: City reviewing homebuilder's request to remove wetland protections from ponds in Bethel
By Adam Duvernay Register-Guard
Published 4:45am PT March 12, 2021
Ducks swim along the surface of one of the Bethel ponds along Highway 99. The wooded area is subject to development, raising questions from the neighbors about access to the ponds. Dana Sparks/The Register-Guard
A homebuilder's request to declassify areas around two ponds in west Eugene as protected wetlands has neighboring residents concerned they'll lose access to those waters.
The city is reviewing an application from the new property owner, a company based in Idaho, to change a protection designation for land along Highway 99 between Jessen Drive and McDougal Lane, where the two ponds are located. The company intends to build homes on the property if the city approves its request to remove the protections.
The city's decision will be based on whether the application meets criteria in city code, said Eugene Planning Division Assistant Planner Althea Sullivan. Those criteria include showing the land is incorrectly designated, as the landowners allege of their property.
The wooded area containing the two Bethel ponds are at the center of uncertainty as developers look to build in the surrounding land. While there isn’t intention to fill the ponds, neighbors worry about access. Dana Sparks/The Register-Guard
Bethel neighborhood group uneasy
Rick Satre, a local land use planner managing the application, met virtually last week with members of the Active Bethel Citizens neighborhood association to discuss concerns about possible changes at the property, including the possibility of fences during and after construction that would limit access to the ponds. "Many of them enjoy fishing in the large pond," Active Bethel Citizens Co-Chair Lin Woodrich told the City Council on Monday, asking it to review the issue. "Help the Bethel area plan for a future where developers don't take away the green spaces they enjoy."
Woodrich said some Bethel residents felt caught off guard by the sale of the property and plans to build new homes there. She said Active Bethel Citizens a few years ago had requested the city turn the property into a park, but the city rejected that request. "It's just such a stark contrast to what we thought we could do with it," Woodrich said.
Plans: Ponds would remain
A public notice of the request to change the designation the city delivered to nearby residents led some of them to believe the developer plans to fill in the ponds, but that isn't the case, according to Satre. "The applicant does not intend to fill the ponds or clear cut the site," Satre said. Satre said the Oregon State Highway Commission, now called the Oregon Department of Transportation, dug gravel pits at the site in the 1930s, which later became the ponds.
"It's an artificially created hole in the ground. It is not a natural functioning wetland. It is not hydrologically connected to anything else," Satre said.
Satre said the landowners plan to use the ponds as amenities if construction goes forward. He said the landowners are not opposed to making the ponds available to the public, but consideration will first be given to safety and their liability in case of injury.
Satre said the landowners have not decided what kind or how many homes would be built on the site, holding off on that decision until the protection designation is changed.
Sullivan said the planning division will make its determination by March 28.
Contact reporter Adam Duvernay at aduvernay@registerguard.com. Follow on Twitter @DuvernayOR.