The Register-Guard: EditorialsLetters: Commentary
Extending the Ridgeline Trail along the crest of the hills east and south of Lane Community College would be a tremendous addition to Eugene’s inventory of recreational and open spaces.
Arlie & Co., the ubiquitous development company, has offered to sell the city 200 acres for that purpose. The city has the money in hand, and the price Arlie has agreed to was arrived at by the city’s own appraiser. Arlie even wants to give the city or a surrogate $600,000 so the property can be developed for recreational purposes right away.
This deal should have been signed yesterday.
What’s holding it up appears to be a lack of mutual understanding about the use of the $600,000 in park development funds. Arlie wants the money to be spent for such things as bird sanctuaries, picnic areas and arboretums, fearing that without such funds the land would remain unavailable for use as part of the Ridgeline Trail system. The city appears to see the $600,000 as a discount, bringing the net price of the acquisition down to $2.4 million.
Arlie & Co. is uninterested in subsidizing the acquisition of other land — possibly including two parcels at the head of the Amazon channel, where the price per acre is five to 10 times higher. The city should sever any conceptual connection between the two purchases. The Arlie parcel presents exactly the type of acquisition proposed in the parks and open space bond measure approved by voters in 2006, and has been envisioned as part of the Ridgeline Trail system for more than a decade. The Amazon parcels are much more expensive and problematic.
Anything involving Arlie remains politically radioactive in some quarters because of the role of the company and its owners, John Musumeci and Suzanne Arlie, in the relocation of PeaceHealth’s main hospital to Springfield and in the initially anonymous publication of a series of cartoons in 2001 skewering members of the Eugene City Council. Even if Arlie were making an outright donation of the 200 acres, many people would be looking the gift horse in the mouth.
Careful scrutiny is well-advised in any real estate deal. Arlie bought 1,200 acres in the LCC basin for $2.98 million in 2002 and would recoup that investment by selling 200 acres to the city. But the sale would not bring the remaining 1,000 acres any closer to intensive development, and the price for the 200 acres was arrived at by the city, not Arlie.
Here’s a chance to gain public ownership of a vital link connecting LCC and the Howard Buford Recreation Area by trail to Spencer Butte and beyond. It’s an opportunity that must not be lost.