This month's Envision Eugene Newsletter provides updates on the Making It Happen! Planning Division Project Fair, the River Road - Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan, Urban Reserves planning, the Land Use Code Audit, and the Comprehensive Plan Phase 2. We hope you'll find this information useful and reach out if you have questions. As always, you can find more information on all of our work by visiting our website.

Are there too many things competing for your time? Yet you still want to be involved in making our community a great place to live?

Stop by the Downtown Library anytime between 4 and 7 pm on Wednesday, June 5, and learn about how the City is implementing Envision Eugene, our collective vision for how we will grow while preserving what we love about our community. 

Making it Happen is a one-stop-shop project fair sponsored by City of Eugene Planning Division to share information and encourage the community’s involvement on over 15 projects currently underway throughout our community. Our first project fair was held last Fall, and it was such a success that we have expanded it! Projects and information from multiple departments will be featured, including Planning, Community Development, Transportation, LTD and the City Manager’s Office. Projects and information include:

Stop by after work or bring the family. Play some games, enjoy some snacks, or just check out some of the great work happening around the city! 

Event Details: Making it Happen! Planning Division Project Fair. Wednesday, June 5, drop in anytime between 4:00 and 7:00 pm at the Downtown Library, 100 W. 10 ^th Ave., 1 ^st Floor Bascom-Tykeson Room

To learn more, visit https://www.eugene-or.gov/3920/Active-Projects or contact Audrey Stuart at AStuart@eugene-or.gov or 541-682-5461.

Thank you to everyone who attended the community event on April 7th and April 10th! In total we had over 200 neighbors attend, as well as Community Advisory Committee and Technical Advisory Committee members. Participants were free to roam between different tables and weigh in on the topics that most interested them. Each table was facilitated by a community member and centered around a discussion question that would provide insight on the draft policies. Table topics ranged from supporting local businesses to protecting the Willamette Greenway. Community Advisory Committee members will use the input received at the community event to make edits to the draft policies and action items.

This community event marked the shift from the Policy Development to Action Planning phase, where we will develop concrete actions that will turn the neighborhood vision into a reality. This phase will continue to be led by the Community Advisory Committee and working group members, with the Technical Advisory Committee weighing in and providing technical expertise. Interested community members are encouraged to provide their input on action items and attend the next working group meeting on May 21st from 4:00-7:00 pm at North Eugene High School. 

To learn more about the Neighborhood Plan, visit www.RiverRoad-SantaClaraPlan.org or contact project manager Terri Harding at THarding@eugene-or.gov or 541-682-5635.

Urban Reserves planning continues to be a collaborative process with input from a range of stakeholders. Recent and upcoming highlights include:

All meetings are open to the public – we hope to see you soon!

To learn more about Urban Reserves, visit www.eugene-or.gov/UrbanReserves or contact project manager Rebecca Gershow at RGershow@eugene-or.gov or 541-682-8816.

The Housing Tools and Strategies working group process identified an audit of Eugene’s Land Use Code, to identify regulatory and process barriers, as a priority item with high agreement within the group. The City applied for and was awarded a grant for technical assistance from the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD).

The funding is allowing consultants, Angelo Planning Group, to complete a code audit to help ensure the zoning code allows, and does not include barriers to, development of housing for all income levels, as identified in the City’s 2017 Housing Needs Analysis. The audit will provide a detailed assessment of the barriers to development and design issues for accessory dwelling units, middle housing types and small-scale multi-family up to 20 units.

The Planning Commission reviewed the draft audit on April 22nd. The presentation is available online as slides or as a webcast. The Draft Land Use Code Audit is available online, and a community survey will soon be available on the project website. Feedback from the Planning Commission and community will be incorporated into the final audit and will be available in June. 

To learn more, visit https://www.eugene-or.gov/4198/55780/Land-Use-Code-Audit. T o provide written comment, contact project manager Jennifer Knapp at JKnapp@eugene-or.us or 541-682-5445.

In 2018, the Envision Eugene Comprehensive Plan Phase 2 draft project timeline was extended to allow for collaboration with the Housing Tools and Strategies project. At the March 13, 2019 City Council work session, staff provided a Housing Tools and Strategies update and identified actions to prioritize next that will ultimately lead to the alignment of the Zoning map with the Comprehensive Plan map, which was a highly supported recommendation within the Housing Tools and Strategies Working Group. This included prioritizing work to complete and adopt the Housing chapter of the Comprehensive Plan.

Continuing work on the Housing chapter will enable us to establish agreement on policy priorities for housing. In addition, the Compact Development and Urban Design chapter will provide policy direction that impacts housing such as encouraging infill, redevelopment and multifamily on key corridors. Considerable work has been done by community members, staff and Planning Commissioners to lay a foundation for the content of these chapters with additional updates based on input from the Housing Tools and Strategies Working Group.

Completing and adopting these chapters lays a foundation that will make it simpler to implement many other actions identified in the Housing Tools and Strategies Action Inventory with more agreement about what we are trying to achieve. Stop by the Making It Happen! Planning Division Project Fair on Wednesday, June 5 to learn about next steps in the process and provide input on draft chapters! The updated Draft Project Timeline summarizes the next steps for the chapters on:

For the remaining chapters, staff will continue best practices research and collaborate with subject matter experts to develop initial drafts for review and input from boards, commissions and the community.

To learn more, visit https://www.eugene-or.gov/3009/The-Envision-Eugene-Comprehensive-Plan or contact project manager Chelsea Hartman or 541-682-5686.

It's very important to us that community members know when new projects are proposed and have a fair chance to review and comment. Signing up for land use updates is a great opportunity to learn about upcoming projects and issues that are important to you.

You can decide which email lists to be a part of by clicking update profile below. This will allow you to unsubscribe from this email list while remaining on other City of Eugene Planning and Development email lists. If you would like to unsubscribe from all City of Eugene Planning and Development emails, please click unsubscribe. Thanks!