SPRINGFIELD – A continued public hearing was held during Springfield City Council’s meeting on Monday night to consider annexing property on International Way, which was floated as a potential site for a behavioral health hospital.
On May 18, the city council was presented with a proposal for the annexation of parcels located north of International Way, between 500 and 700 International Way, and east of the former Royal Caribbean call center. PeaceHealth representatives shared that the intended use for the facility was to be Timber Springs Behavioral Health Hospital and Lane County’s crisis stabilization center.
On June 1, the council continued the hearing and heard from representatives of PeaceHealth and Richardson Sports, a sports company at 500 International Way. Initial concerns were raised at the May meeting about the location of the intended use and its impact on traffic.
Ardell Wicks, the chief financial officer of Richardson Sports, said that despite the community’s need for the proposed facilities, the site is undesirable due to traffic and safety concerns.
Wicks obtained legal counsel from Michael Gilardi of Gilardi Law to represent Richardson Sport.
“There is a threshold legal issue as to whether the annexation can go forward, given that the use isn’t consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan,” Gilardi said.
Mike Reeder, an Oregon land-use attorney representing PeaceHealth, responded to opposing arguments and addressed the threshold legal issues.
“It is really saying you can’t approve the annexation because this isn’t allowed use in the zone, that’s essentially what the argument boils down to, and that cannot be,” Reeder said.
Members of the City’s legal counsel weighed in, saying the annexation approval criteria are broad at the outset but become more specific and serve as a decision-making framework for the council.
“Is the annexation consistent with the comprehensive plan policies? If you decide it’s not consistent with the comprehensive plan policies, we don’t need to go further into the analysis of the public facilities and services and fiscal side of things,” said Kristina Kraaz, assistant city attorney.
Nearly two hours of debate were held in the council chambers, and no decision was made on whether or not to approve the annexation.
City officials said they need time to respond to legal concerns, so the council decided to close the hearing but keep the record open until a third hearing on June 22.
“I think we’re wanting to keep (the record) as open as possible, understanding that people should use their judgment about what would be open, and frankly, if stuff comes in five minutes before the hearing, it would be challenging to read,” said Mayor Sean VanGordon. “I would encourage people to get additional material open to us earlier.”
