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Issues of Concern <br />The environmental scoping process .for the new federal courthouse to be located in Eugene or <br />Springfield, Oregon began April 14, 2000 and concluded May 26, 2000. <br />A notice of intent to prepare an environmental assessment or an EIS for the courthouse project <br />was published on April 14, 2000, and project notification letters were sent from GSA to <br />appropriate agencies and interested parties in mid-April. Two public scoping meetings were. <br />held, one on May 2, 2000 at the Hilton Hotel in Eugene, and another on May 3, 2000 at the <br />Springfield city hall. Notification of the public meetings appeared in the Register Guard and in <br />the Springfield News during late April and early May 2000. Copies of the May 2000 newsletter <br />were sent to organizations and citizens who had previously received information about the <br />proposed federal courthouse in Eugene. Additionally, 3,200 copies of the newsletter were <br />inserted into the Business News (published in Eugene) and distributed with the May 22, 2000 <br />edition. <br />Comments received during the scoping process indicated concern about vehicular and pedestrian <br />access to the Eugene site, displacement of existing businesses, and assimilation of the courthouse <br />into the surrounding neighborhoods. Favorable comments were also made regarding <br />redevelopment that would be induced by the courthouse facility in downtown Springfield and in <br />the area around the Chiquita (formerly Agripac) site. <br />Comments received during the draft EIS public comment period and the responses to each <br />comment are included in Part 4 of this final EIS. Although a number of substantive comments <br />on the draft EIS were made, no new issues were raised during the EIS public comment period. <br />New Federal Courthouse 15 Final EIS <br />