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a <br /> Eugene will study park land swap -The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA Page 1 of 2 <br /> www.registerguard.com I ©The Register-Guard,Eugene,Oregon <br /> November 25, 2003 <br /> Eugene will study park land swap <br /> By Joe Mosley <br /> The Register-Guard <br /> Eugene City Councilors gave their cautious go-ahead Monday <br /> night for parks officials to pursue a proposed deal that would <br /> shift some land into the area's urban growth boundary and <br /> some out - and result in a gift of 77 acres of Santa Clara area <br /> parkland to the city. <br /> "It's about time we kept our long-term promises to develop a <br /> community park in that area," Councilor Scott Meisner said. <br /> Monday's initial look at the proposal does not commit the city <br /> to continue negotiating an agreement with property owners <br /> Norman and Melvin McDougal. <br /> However, only two councilors voiced strong opposition, and the <br /> overall consensus was that the city staff should proceed with <br /> the plan - which could take years to complete. <br /> "I hope we can move this process along," Mayor Jim Torrey <br /> said. "It means we're going to have to sharpen our pencils and <br /> get the best job done that we can." <br /> The McDougals were first approached by the city parks staff <br /> about potentially buying a portion of their 197-acre holdings <br /> north of Irvington Drive, south of Beacon Drive West and east <br /> of Prairie Road. The land is outside the Eugene-Springfield <br /> Urban Growth Boundary, and zoned for farming. <br /> But the McDougals countered the city's query with an offer of <br /> their own: shift the northwest lines of the urban growth <br /> boundary to take in the entire 197 acres, and shift the growth <br /> boundary's southeast line to exclude 120 acres they own <br /> between Moon Mountain and Laurelwood Golf Course. <br /> The McDougals would then donate 77 acres of the Santa Clara <br /> property to the city, resulting in no net gain or loss of <br /> developable land within the urban growth boundary. <br /> The brothers would wind up with 120 acres of land in Santa <br /> Clara, which they hope to use for a mixed-use development, <br /> while their 120 acres in southeast Eugene would remain zoned <br /> (1. for secondary forest use and be made more difficult to <br /> develop. <br /> http://www.registerguard.com/cgi-bin/printStory.py?name=d3.cr.scpark.1125&date=20031125 12/1/03 <br />