This month's EUG Planning Newsletter provides updates on: What is Zoning, our new zoning map, Urban Reserves Direction, the Middle Housing project, our partnership with Real World Eugene, Opportunity at 1059 Willamette Street, Clear and Objective Code Standards, and Digital Sign Code Amendments. 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. We wish you and your families good health and hope to see you, soon.

Have you ever wondered how one of the housing types from our meet the housing types series got built, what a flag lot is, or even how to testify at a public hearing? Our next informational series hopes to answer some of these questions.

In the planning field there are two general types of planning, long-range and current or short-range. We’ve mostly been discussing long-range projects in our newsletter, which have included things like Envision Eugene and Urban Reserves, both of which address specific parts of our community's vision for how we want to grow over the coming years. Current or short-range planning is often more responsive to a particular project proposed by a developer. In this context, we work to apply the current city code which has been created over time from our community's vision.

This new series will focus more on what is being built today and will set you up to have fun conversations with friends about what can be built next to where they live, how zoning works, and what a Planned Unit Development is. Or, perhaps those are just the conversations we have with our friends. Our first article in the series is below.

Have you ever noticed how certain types of development are grouped together around Eugene? Perhaps you’ve noticed that some neighborhoods have all single-story homes, while others have townhouses, or how grocery stores often have tax offices and small restaurants surrounding them. This is primarily the result of zoning. 

As you may know, in Eugene our comprehensive plan was adopted in anticipation of how we will grow as a city. Included as part of the plan is the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan (Metro Plan) Plan Diagram which can be thought of as the blueprint for our city’s zoning. The diagram designates individual pieces of land for broad categories of use such as residential, commercial, and industrial based on our anticipated needs. 

 

Zoning implements the broad designations by becoming more specific and setting standards for development to follow. For example, a piece of property designated by the Metro Plan diagram for commercial use could be zoned as Community Commercial (C-2) or Major Commercial (C-3) depending on the location of the property and written text of city plans. This zoning would then set specific standards for development to follow regulating things like use of the site, building heights, setbacks, and landscaping requirements. Because zoning regulates the use of properties and some of the built features, the outcome is observable creating the unique characteristics of neighborhoods and shopping areas that we can recognize. 

To see the zoning of a property please visit our digital zoning map, below. If you are curious about standards and regulations for a particular zone, you can visit Chapter 9 of the Eugene Code. For more questions about zoning, you can contact Althea Sullivan.

Speaking of zoning, check out the fresh look of our new online zoning map! Use the interactive map to explore the types of zones in Eugene and link to the land use code for detail about each zone. You can search for your address or click on the map to find the zoning for your favorite park or restaurant. Visit the map to explore the zones of Eugene, including base zones, overlay zones, and special area zones.

For questions about the new zoning map, contact GIS Analyst Thea Evans.

Urban Reserves project staff celebrate Urban Reserves moving into the adoption phase! On Tuesday, November 10, 2020, the Lane County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a motion in support of the Eugene City Council’s initiation of a public review and adoption process to consider the establishment of Urban Reserves as described in Option 3, the 27-Year option. This direction is consistent with the majority of the input received through our public engagement process, the Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee recommendation to staff, and the Eugene Planning Commission recommendation to City Council. You can watch a recording of the meeting here.

Option 3 includes almost 6,000 acres of land, enough to meet approximately 27 years of growth beyond 2032. This Urban Reserve area strives to protect our highest value soils by removing from future urbanization all agricultural properties with predominant Class 1 land and directly adjacent agricultural properties with predominant Class 2 land. For more information on the Urban Reserve area, and all of the Urban Reserve options that were under consideration, please see the interactive Urban Reserve Options Story Map.

Staff are beginning to assemble an adoption package for review in 2021. The formal adoption process will include work sessions and public hearings with Eugene and Lane County Planning Commissions as well as the Eugene City Council and Lane County Board of Commissioners. The Planning Commissions will consider and form a recommendation to City Council and the Board of Commissioners. The Council and Board will then consider and ultimately act on the adoption package.

As always, stay tuned to this newsletter for monthly project updates; you can also sign up for our Interested Parties Mailing List to be notified in advance of public meetings. For more information, please visit the project webpage. Feel free to contact Project Manager Rebecca Gershow with questions, or use the Q&A feature on our Engage Eugene page.

Public Outreach for the Middle Housing project is underway! In the past month, the Healthy Democracy panelists were selected via a live lottery process, the Healthy Democracy Panel met 6 times, we held our first Equity Roundtable, we created 4 project fact sheets, and we continued to monitor the state rulemaking process.

Healthy Democracy meetings are happening! The 30 panelists were selected last month via a live selection event. After that, the panel began meeting and has been hearing background information from experts in land use, planning, housing, and more. The panelists will meet a total of 14 times through spring 2021 and will provide a truly democratic lens to the project. All large-group sessions are broadcasted live and can be watched on the Healthy Democracy Youtube. Are you interested in how the whole process works? If so, tune in for a series of candid conversations hosted by Healthy Democracy called "Discussions on Democracy". The first discussion features Eugene City Councilor Jennifer Yeh and Assistant Planner Sophie McGinley. The series will be posted on a weekly basis on the EUG Planning Facebook page. For even more information about our partnership with Healthy Democracy, visit the Middle Housing project webpage and the Healthy Democracy Eugene page.

The Equity Roundtable held their first meeting on November 19th. The Roundtable included representatives from organizations representing underserved communities and serves to provide an equity lens to the project. Representatives have been asked about worst outcomes and best outcomes of allowing more housing types in more places. This feedback will be used in addition to the feedback we receive through the Boards and Commissions Roundtable, Local Partners Roundtable, and Healthy Democracy Panel to form guiding values and principles for this phase of the project. The Roundtable will meet a total of 4 times and will have their next meeting in December.

The Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD), the state's planning agency, is still working to finalize a model code and minimum standards for compliance with House Bill 2001. The Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) will be the body to finalize and adopt the standards. LCDC must adopt the model code and minimum standards by the end of 2020. The LCDC's next, and perhaps final, meeting to discuss the standards will be held in December. The agenda and meeting links will be posted on their webpage, when available.

Join us at the upcoming Planning Commission work session on December 14th to hear an update on the Middle Housing project. Staff will provide a summary of outreach, feedback from our various roundtables and outreach efforts, and an update on the state rulemaking process. Agenda items will be posted on the project webpage, when available.

For more information, visit the Engage Eugene page or project webpage. For more frequent updates, sign-up for our Interested Parties List. If you have any questions about the project, contact Project Manager Terri Harding.

The Planning Team has partnered with University of Oregon's Real World Eugene class to work on public engagement of young adults for the Middle Housing project. Real World Eugene is a class offered to undergraduate students that pairs students with city staff to work on actual city projects. This year, the class is working on four projects, including Shaping Eugene's housing outreach strategy: Middle Housing public engagement. Planning staff have been working with Darian, Brianna, Cody, and Camryn, pictured above, as they have conducted focus groups, sent out a survey, and developed a proposal for how the City can better reach young adults in the community. The class has been an opportunity to form a unique partnership with the University and we are so fortunate to have worked with four fantastic students this term. Thank you Real World Eugene!

The City of Eugene is excited to announce the release of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the development of a mixed-income housing project at 1059 Willamette Street in downtown Eugene. Former home of Lane Community College's Downtown Campus, the 1059 Willamette property is located in the heart of downtown Eugene, across the street from Lane Transit District's Eugene Station.

Creation of a mixed-income housing project at this central property will help meet the need for a range of affordable housing options and achieve the goal of compact urban development in the downtown core. The City used federal Community Development Block Grant funds to acquire the site, which requires that 51% of the units must be affordable to households with incomes at or below 80% of Area Median Income. The remaining 49% of the units can be offered at any rental rate.

For more information about 1059 Willamette, including the RFP process and background on the project, please visit the project webpage.

The Clear & Objective Update is in the formal adoption process. Draft amendments and testimony are currently being reviewed by the Eugene Planning Commission, the Planning Commission held a public hearing in October and their deliberations have begun, with the next session scheduled for December 8. The Planning Commission will make a recommendation to City Council, then the next step will be to hold a public hearing before City Council in early 2021.

For more information and the latest project updates, contact Senior Planner Jenessa Dragovich or visit the project webpage.

Last September, in response to a request from Councilor Pryor, staff provided a work session to City Council to go over the existing sign code regulations pertaining to digital signs, information about digital signage, common concerns and how other communities regulate digital signage. To allow digital signs (like digital billboards) in Eugene, an amendment to Eugene’s land use code was initiated. The land use code amendment project recently completed the formal adoption process and the new rules became effective November 19.

The amendment package included a few minor housekeeping fixes as well as new land use code language to allow and regulate digital billboards. The changes also provided clarity on the allowance for smaller digital signs for institutional uses, such as the electronic “readerboards” often seen in front of schools. The adopted ordinance is available here.

For more background on the topic, please visit the Land Use Code Amendment website.

It’s important to us that community members know when someone has applied to develop their property through the land use application process. City staff are always happy to discuss a project before the formal review, and can provide information about what the formal review process will be to ensure that you have a fair opportunity to review and comment on a project. Sign up to start receiving emails that list recently submitted projects.

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