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After a two-year battle between University of Oregon administrators and citizens of Eugene, the Oregon Research Institute is finally getting a new home within the UO Riverfront Research Park.

It just won’t have the view of the Willamette River that was always imagined.

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University of Oregon kicks off master planning process

The Oregon Board of Higher Education on Friday overruled plans to construct the $17-million facility in the research park, which sits on a piece of university-owned Eugene riverfront property. Instead, the board unanimously voted in favor of plans that will locate ORI building on a site off the riverfront, in between two existing buildings.

It’s a move that both UO students and community members have asked for all along so they could preserve the riverfront property for a more community-oriented use.

鈥淲e were surprised when (UO President Richard Lariviere) even considered the site because the administration had been unwilling to work with us before,鈥� said Allen Hancock, a member of Connecting Eugene, an activist group that’s been fighting the project since 2009. 鈥淲e’ve been pitching this site for a while now, and to see it actually approved, we are very happy.鈥�

The UO Riverfront Research Park took shape under a 1980s master plan that called for 10 buildings dedicated to research and collaboration between the university and private businesses. Three of those building were construction by the early ’90s.

Progress on development then cooled while the university went looking for the perfect fit for the next project on the 69-acre research park property, according to Diane Wiley, director of the research park. In 2009, administrators pitched their candidate 鈥� the Oregon Research Institute.

But soon after the ORI building was presented, both student and community groups started to complain about the chosen site. Although the location was approved under the original master plan 鈥� which is set to expire in October of 2012 鈥� opponents felt the plan was outdated. They pushed for an alternate site away from the riverfront in order to protect the Willamette and preserve natural space.

The Associated Students of University of Oregon and the University Senate passed resolutions calling for a new master plan process, and Connecting Eugene even filed three appeals with the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, questioning the choice of the site.

Connecting Eugene and other opponents felt their pleas were falling on deaf ears. Then in April of this year, Lariviere proposed the university examine another site for the research institute. The 4.2-acre site he suggested at 1700 Millrace Drive is within the park, but located away from the river.

The decision to postpone development of another new building within the research park allowed us to re-examine the best location for the ORI/EPIC building, Lariviere said during the Friday board meeting. After examining the site, we’ve come to a resolution that is beneficial to everyone involved, he said.

The Millrace site was slightly smaller than the research park site, and the predevelopment and feasibility work hadn’t been completed on it. But after completing an expedited review, and working out an agreement to place some of the parking on a neighboring site, Trammell Crow, the firm handling the development of research institute, concluded the alternate site would work.

Kirk Schueler, chair of the State Board of Higher Education’s Finance and Administration Committee, added that the decision eliminates controversy, which is never good when embarking on a construction project.

鈥淭his is a continuation of a project we first encountered two years ago, it’s just now on a different site 鈥� a much less controversial site,鈥� Schueler said.

The design work for the new site has been completed and is currently awaiting approval by the city of Eugene. In the meantime, Connecting Eugene has suspended all of its LUBA appeals and will pull them off the table entirely when the project starts.

鈥淲e are 99.9 percent sure they are going to move forward on this site,鈥� Hancock said. 鈥淏ut we aren’t pulling the appeals completely until the financing is all in place and the building permits are issued.鈥�

That might not be very long. Trammell Crow officials expect to start construction in August and have a completion date slated for the end of October.