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• <br /> 4 -J following the EWEB /4 -J exchange. The developer would exchange property he <br /> owns and would otherwise develop immediately east of the school for a portion <br /> of the reacquired parcel on Gilham Road. If values are substantially <br /> different (assuming the Gilham Road improvements make that parcel more <br /> valuable per acre), there would be a cash settlement if the new area were too <br /> large, based on equal values. <br /> The current city -owned park site on Gilham Road. 6.67 acres, is to be traded <br /> for a site currently owned by the developer east of the school. The new site <br /> will be approximately half the size of the current site. A cash differential <br /> (between appraisal of the existing site and the first 3 acre site) will be <br /> used to acquire a second neighborhood site, also about 3+ acres, at a second <br /> location identified in both the Willakenzie Plan and the Eugene Parks and <br /> Recreation Plan. The park site would be "added on" to the extension created <br /> in the 4 -J exchange, and reach south to provide frontage on the new collector <br /> street. <br /> Other considerations: Plans for the expansion of Gilham Elementary School <br /> were developed on the assumption that the park trade would happen. There is <br /> mutual benefit to combining the school's playground and the city's other park <br /> amenities at a single location. <br /> The suggested relocation of the park in the Willakenzie Plan was based on the <br /> belief that locations of neighborhood parks are best if they are central to <br /> neighborhoods as defined by arterial streets. The new location is between <br /> Gilham and Coburg Roads, and substantially north of Crescent. To have such <br /> parks, which people normally walk to. located on arterial streets would mean <br /> that approximately half of those in the service radius must cross that <br /> arterial to access the park. There are also increased hazards from the <br /> standpoint of errant balls, frisbees, etc., that inadvertently go into <br /> streets, wherein the arterial street presents a greater hazard than a street <br /> with lesser traffic volumes and speeds. <br /> City staff obtained an opinion from the city attorney stating that the <br /> exchange between the city and the developer was allowable under the Eugene <br /> City Code if the City Manager and City Council specifically approve of the <br /> exchange. It was judged important for the city to not be required to use <br /> surplus land disposal procedures in this case; if the developer were to lose <br /> out to a competitor there is no assurance, short of condemnation. that the <br /> city could acquire the new site east of the school as a replacement for its <br /> current one. <br /> Recommendations: Staff recommend that each agency approve the following <br /> actions. To foreshorten the time it would take if approvals were obtained in <br /> a logical sequence, we ask that each agency schedule consideration of these <br /> recommendations at their earliest convenience, and that each action should be <br /> contingent upon each other agency's approval. <br /> 1. 4 -J a EWEB should approve exchanging the Gilham Road substation site for <br /> a new site of equal size and value on the 4 -J site near Coburg Road. <br /> 2. 4 -J should trade with Paradise Development, wherein the developer provides <br /> 4 -J with property it currently owns east of the school adjacent to the new <br />