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A site for Opportunity Village, a proposed homeless camp, has been selected in Eugene.

It’s an industrial area near railroad tracks with few other people around it. There are no street lights, and the nearest bus stop is at least a couple of blocks away.

Other than that, said Dan Bryant, a member of Opportunity Village’s board of directors, it’s a great spot.

“It’s a bit off the beaten path in an industrial property, but there are definitely a few other people nearby,” said Bryant. “What we like is that it already has fencing, and that fits in with our security needs. We like that is has natural borders.”

The city council picked the spot for the homeless camp but has yet to give its final approval.

“The council voted to let the city manager and staff move forward and investigate the site,” Bryant said. “Now we have to begin the process of jumping through all the hoops to get final approval, but the site has been set aside for us. In other words, now they have to choose us.”

Getting formal approval could take months. Opportunity Village may not be open to residents until spring. To give some of Eugene’s homeless people a place to live until then, city council members made a preliminary decision to amend local camping laws to allow “Conestoga huts.”

The huts are 6-foot-by-10-foot insulated and lockable shelters that cost between $250 and $500. They feature an insulated floor, two solid insulated walls and a metal wire roof curved to connect to the long sides of the floor.

If the camping law amendment passes a second and final vote this week, the huts could be placed at churches and other participating properties. The huts would be limited to three per site.

The proposed site of Opportunity Village, a former city maintenance lot, could be used until 2015. It would house 30 homeless adults and their children. Then another site would have to be chosen. Bryant, who is also the senior pastor of Eugene’s First Christian Church, said he doesn’t feel the project is being shuffled out of sight and out of mind.

“I think it’s a very good compromise,” he said.