This month's EUG Planning Newsletter includes updates on: Middle Housing, River Road, Growth Monitoring, and Planning and Development Department Job Postings. 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.

On May 24, 2022, the City Council unanimously approved Ordinance 20667 to implement the Middle Housing Code Amendments! The ordinance will take effect on June 30, 2022. Procedural Notice was mailed to interested parties who provided their mailing address and includes additional information regarding adoption of the amendments. Stay tuned-- staff is working to produce new information and opportunities to learn about the Middle Housing code.

When will the Middle Housing code be in effect? 

The Middle Housing Code Amendments will be effective on June 30, 2022. Building permits for new middle housing may be submitted on or after June 30, 2022. 

Where can I see the adopted code?

Ordinance 20667 contains the approved code amendments, including figures in Exhibit A. Staff is working to have the Online Code reflect the changes as soon as possible, but the code will not be in effect until June 30, 2022.

What are the Middle Housing Code Amendments?

The Middle Housing Code Amendments include amendments to the Eugene Code and the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan (Metro Plan) that implement Oregon House Bill 2001 (2019), codified as ORS 197.758, which requires Oregon’s large cities, including Eugene, to allow duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, townhouses and cottage clusters (collectively referred to as middle housing) in more places across the City, in order to increase housing choice and supply. 

For the latest project information, visit the project webpage. If you have any questions about the project, contact Associate Planner Sophie McGinley or Senior Planner Jeff Gepper.

The River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan project team has continued to work on the Plan’s adoption package, which includes the Neighborhood Plan document and associated comprehensive plan and refinement plan amendments, zone changes, and land use code amendments to help implement the community vision.

A draft of the Neighborhood Plan is now on the project website and ready for you to read! The Neighborhood Plan will provide policy direction, guide City and County staff in developing other work programs and preparing budgets, and calls for continued collaboration from the community. The Neighborhood Plan is supported by the Action Plan, which will help guide implementation of the Neighborhood Plan over the long-term and will require continued coordination and advocacy between the City, County, neighborhood organizations, and community. These draft plans are the result of years of community participation and volunteer hours, capturing the neighborhood vision for the future. 

To implement some of the goals in the Neighborhood Plan, land use code amendments and zone changes are proposed. View the draft proposed zoning map to see the existing and proposed zoning and learn more about the purpose of these proposed changes in the code summary. 

We are working towards getting the plan adopted! The draft Neighborhood Plan and accompanying draft land use code and proposed zoning will be shared for broader community outreach and engagement this summer. Stay tuned for opportunities to participate and provide input in the coming months.

For more information, visit the project website, the Engage Eugene project page, or sign up for the project newsletter for updates. For questions, contact Senior Planner Chelsea Hartman.

Staff will present the City Council with an overview of the first Envision Eugene Growth Monitoring Comprehensive Report 2012-2021, including key monitoring results, recommendations, and emerging issues. The work session is scheduled for June 8, 2022 at noon. To learn more, watch the meeting webcast or view the meeting materials.

The culmination of several years of program development, the Monitoring Report and Appendices include data on a wide variety of growth-related information such as population and jobs growth, housing production, and the status of our undeveloped land supply. The focus of the report is comparing assumptions made during the previous urban growth boundary analysis about how Eugene would grow over 2012-2032, to what has actually occurred during the 2012-2021 monitoring period. Given the amount of data covered, the report and appendices are organized to provide different layers of information, depending on the reader’s level of interest. The Report’s Executive Summary includes short summaries for each topic area. The topic-specific key questions and “snapshots” make up most of the report and dive a little deeper into the results. The Report also includes sections on Recommendations and Emerging Issues for monitoring or planning-related work in the future. The Appendices offer an even deeper data dive with many more charts and details. For more information about where to start, check out the report section Introduction/How to Use This Report. 

The program’s Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee reviewed drafts of the monitoring report over five meetings concluding in February 2022. The draft report was then presented to Planning Commission at their April 12, 2022 work session. See the growth monitoring webpage for more background information, in addition to links to the report, and topic-specific infographics and report excerpts.

For more information, please visit the Growth Monitoring Webpage or contact Senior Planner Heather O’Donnell. 

Urban Design Planner

Do you want to help make the great City of Eugene, Oregon even more livable, prosperous, and equitable? The City of Eugene Community Planning and Design team is looking for a positive, productive and collaborative individual to help us turn our community vision into reality. The successful candidate will enjoy providing service to the community, thrive in a team environment, and demonstrate adaptability to a dynamic and fast paced work environment. The Urban Design Planner position focuses on design and planning projects related to implementing Envision Eugene and other work to further our community vision of a compact, connected, livable Eugene for all. The position will also play a role in urban revitalization in support of the City’s goals for Downtown, the 5th Street Market District, and the Riverfront District, home of the World Athletics Championships Riverfront Festival in July 2022. To learn more and apply, click here.

Housing Implementation Pipeline Analyst (Limited Duration)

The Community Development division of the Planning and Development Department has a full-time limited duration/acting in capacity Housing Implementation Pipeline (HIP) Analyst position open. The HIP is the City’s 5-year internal work plan that starts July 1, 2022 and coordinates current and future resources, goals, and priorities with a systems-thinking approach to housing across the full spectrum from people experiencing homelessness to overall housing supply. Are you a positive, productive, and collaborative individual with excellent customer service, communication, and people management skills? Do you thrive in a fast-paced, cross departmental team-oriented environment? Are you committed to helping facilitate and track ongoing efforts that will create housing opportunities for our community? If so, we invite you to apply for this rewarding job opportunity. Our work environment is dynamic, fun, and flexible, and relies on strong ties and collaboration with other work groups, agencies and community members. To learn more and apply, click here.

Downtown Ambassador (Limited Duration)

The City's Downtown Team is in need of three Downtown Ambassadors - LD/AIC, one of which is a Lead Ambassador. The Downtown Ambassadors support a safe, vibrant and welcoming downtown by: 

Establishing a recognizable and welcoming city presence in our downtown core; Supporting the positive activation of public spaces by setting up games, tables and seating in the Park Blocks and in Kesey Square, and keeping those spaces clean and tidy; Providing information to the public about social services that are available, great places to get a bite to eat, upcoming events, parking and general wayfinding; Educating the public on the rules and regulations downtown (smoking, dogs, trespassing, etc.) To learn more and apply, click here.

For all City of Eugene jobs, visit our careers webpage.