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QuickTake:
Florence residents and Jerry Rust, the vice chair of LCC's Board of Education, say the effort has been kept under wraps and that there's no need to develop what one resident calls "a rare piece of the coastal old-growth ecosystem."
Lane Community College and city of Florence officials are working to identify potential uses of 10 acres of forest behind LCC’s Florence Center. But the project is generating pushback from a member of the college’s Board of Education and from residents.
Officials say no decision has been made about the land. The work is simply to better understand the property and “what opportunities or constraints may exist,” according to a statement from Erin Reynolds, the Florence city manager.
But the effort is being criticized by Florence residents and Jerry Rust, the vice chair of LCC’s Board of Education. They say the project has been kept under wraps and that there’s no need to develop what one resident calls “a rare piece of the coastal old-growth ecosystem.”
The parcel was deeded to LCC in the 1970s. It’s zoned for high-density residential, but the deed specifies the land be used for educational purposes.
Reynolds told the Florence City Council at its Nov. 2 meeting that the city and LCC have been talking since 2019 about the property. She denied charges that the discussions have taken place behind closed doors, and said the city’s 2025-27 work plan “specifically identifies the property as a site for partnership, fact-finding and exploration with LCC.”
Representatives from the city and partners in the project had planned to present information at the LCC board’s Wednesday, Nov. 4, meeting regarding an “opportunity to conduct exploration planning and site analysis on the property” at no cost to the college or the city.
That presentation was pulled from the agenda. Board Chair Jesse Maldonado said the presentation would be added as part of a discussion item at a later board meeting.
“We look forward to the opportunity to provide a full briefing to the board as it had become clear that there was a bit of misunderstanding of the property as well as the process,” Jenna McCulley, LCC’s senior adviser for strategic communications, said in an email Monday.
Board member Zachary Mulholland requested that the board allow for 30 days between the presentation and any decision so that members of the public could comment.
Legislative testimony
In 2025, Reynolds and LCC President Stephanie Bulger separately submitted testimony to the Oregon Legislature, seeking $5.52 million in state capital funding to construct the public infrastructure needed to unlock what Bulger called the Florence/LLC Living Learning Neighborhood Project, a “transformative workforce housing and educational initiative.”
Bulger’s letter to the Legislature said the parcel could accommodate up to “250 units of much-needed workforce housing.”
Reynolds’ testimony to the Legislature also cited the city’s need for workforce housing, which she defined as dwellings for people who work as educators, medical providers, childcare workers and other similar occupations.
In her report to the Florence City Council last week, Reynolds acknowledged that community members “have different ideas about the future of the property and that those conversations are important. At this stage, however, the focus was simply on gathering information and understanding what may be possible before any future decisions are considered.”
Nevertheless, Rust and Florence residents have doubts about the project and are calling for more public involvement.
“We’ve really opened a can of worms here as far as the Florence community is concerned,” Rust said near the end of the board’s three-hour, 20-minute meeting Wednesday, Nov. 4. He said he was trying to get word of the project into the open, “so the public can know what we’ve got going here, that we’re ready to destroy a 10-acre old-growth original forest, the only one left in Florence.”
Rust is the board representative for the LCC district that includes Florence.
Written comments submitted to the board before Wednesday’s meeting included criticism of the project, with some urging the property be used as is to augment LCC courses in biology, ornithology, agronomy and outdoor education.
Another writer argued Florence already has other sites that could be used for workforce housing.
Michael Allen of the Florence Climate Emergency Campaign said that “while our community recognizes the critical need for affordable housing, utilizing this specific tract of land introduces severe legal and ecological liabilities that this board must openly address,” including the deed restriction. “Destroying it directly contradicts the environmental values of western Lane County.”
