The Daily Barometer OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY • CORVALLIS, OREGON 97331
DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 737-2231
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 • VOLUME CXVI, NUMBER 12
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Housing proposal polarizes city n
Contested apartment development in northwest Corvallis neighborhood nears proposed decision
By Emma-Kate Schaake The Daily Barometer
The Corvallis Planning Commission has heard testimonies, reviewed petitions and analyzed the proposal of a new, high-density housing development on the Witham Oaks property over the past few weeks. The 95-acre property is located west of 36th Street and north of Harrison Boulevard. This area currently contains a path extension of Circle Boulevard, as well as protected wetland and wild oak groves. Corvallis Planning Division Manager Kevin Young said Campus Crest, a college-housing company based out of North Carolina, has proposed a comprehensive plan amendment and a zone change in order to build a 296-unit, 900-bedroom apartment complex on the site. The proposal would lower and change the delineation of the 57-acre, low-density housing zone that is currently approved on the land. “They want to up-zone the 25 acres, increase the density that is allowed and set aside 70 acres as open space,” Young said. A citizen vote in the November 2004 election annexed the land, which
changed the control and development of the property from county to city. County lands are typically oriented toward preserving farm and forest, while city land has infrastructure like sewage and water services that can facilitate a high-density residential development. At the time of the annexation approval, there was no specific development plan, beyond the 57 acres of low-density housing, with protected open space for the area’s natural preserves. In 2007, a subsequent approval for low-density housing was approved, but this was never built and has since expired. “The property is annexed into the city, the question now is what is the appropriate zoning — what we have now, or what the applicant is proposing,” Young said. Since the annexation was already approved, this zone change will not go to a public vote, but will instead move from the planning commission as a recommendation to the city council, which will make the final decision. Some people in opposition to the proposal have voiced concerns that if the zone change is approved, then the development will not be the same concept that voters approved back in 2004. “We have had a huge volume of public testimony on this, and most of it has been in opposition,” Young said. Carolyn Simmons, a Corvallis resiSee WITHAM OAKS| page 3
OSU-Cascades gets 56-acre project approved n
The 4-year degree program allows Central Oregon students to enroll in OSU classes earlier By Sean Bassinger The Daily Barometer
Emma-Kate Schaake
| THE DAILY BAROMETER
The proposed site for the Witham Oaks property, located west of 36th Street and Harrison Boulevard.
Oregon State University’s Bend branch will become a full four-year campus by 2015 with the assistance of recent land purchase approvals. The first stages of the 56-acre project will begin this month, with the first phase of expansions taking place on the 10 acres purchased from Cascade Property Holdings, LLC. The next phase will involve additional evaluations of the 46-acre terrain, which also houses a pumice mine. The mine itself, which currently serves no general purpose, will be removed. Wendy Castillo, president of the Associated Students of Cascade Campus, said OSU-Cascades’ growth will allow students immediately interested in OSU enrollment to remain in the area and focus on community See CASCADES | page 4
Memorial Union stands as a hub for student life at Oregon State Designed, built, paid for by Oregon State University’s students, Memorial Union is center of campus
Now, after the addition of MU East (better know as Snell Hall), the movement of the Beaver Bookstore and the current construction of the Student Experience Center, the student body is now closer to a headcount of 26,000. Even with current construction on the MU’s By Kaitlyn Kohlenberg The Daily Barometer east wing, students flock to the halls of the MU There were less than 3,500 college students at to eat, study, socialize and shop. “The MU is a place to meet people or chill Oregon State when the Memorial Union building out,” said Ellianne de Soyza, a third-year, prefirst opened its doors. n
pharmacy student. “If I’m stressed about a midterm or anything, I just hit one of the couches for half an hour or so and I feel lots better. It’s tastefully chatty, but work can still get done.” Though most students know the MU as a hotspot for student life, the building is also home to the oldest student union in the state of Oregon. The Memorial Union Corporation was the original owner of the building, but in 1965, the
building was handed over to the State Board of Higher Education. Student employees currently make up 88 percent of the MU staff. OSU alumnus Lee Thomas designed the building with neoclassical architecture. Thomas is frequently complimented as being “one of the finest examples of neoclassic architecture in Oregon.” See MU | page 3