This month's EUG Planning Newsletter includes updates on: Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities, Middle Housing Land Divisions, River Road, Urban Reserves 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 August 23, 2022, the Planning Commission received a high-level overview of the State’s recently adopted Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities rules. Based on current trends, Oregon is projected to fall well short of its adopted goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 75 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Oregon also has a long history of discrimination and racism, including in land use and transportation planning decisions. These new rules implement Governor Brown’s order directing state agencies to take actions to reduce and regulate greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change while also centering the needs of Oregon’s most vulnerable communities.  

While these rules are a directive of the State, Eugene has a long history of supporting efforts to address climate change. Several City efforts support compact development, climate resiliency, and increasing housing affordability, such as the Community Climate Action Plan 2.0, the 2035 Transportation System Plan, Envision Eugene, and a strong focus on facilitating downtown development.

With transportation accounting for 38% of Oregon's climate pollution, the rules aim to reduce driving by ensuring that land use, transportation plans, and regulations work together to bring land uses closer allowing people to live, work and play in areas with more biking, walking or transit options. To implement the wide range of the new rules, changes to Eugene’s land use and transportation plans, and/or Eugene’s land use code will be required. For more information, see the Planning Commission's August 23, 2022 meeting materials and webcast, or the State’s Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities site.  

Many folks closely followed the Middle Housing Project that now allows Middle Housing (Duplexes, Triplexes, Fourplexes, Townhouses, and Cottage Clusters) in our previously exclusive single-family zones throughout Eugene. While this project will help add much needed housing stock to our severely constrained housing market, a quiet new tool was also introduced to promote home ownership as well. However, this new tool is not just in Eugene. As the state worked hard to create more diverse housing types through  House Bill 2001, our legislators also recognized the need to foster new types of home ownership models to support this influx of new housing types.

Enter Senate Bill 458 and the Middle Housing Land Division. Senate Bill 458 set forth a requirement and regulations that allows the division of a lot with middle housing on it so that each unit of middle housing could be sold, with the ground underneath, to individual owners. Eugene adopted rules for the Middle Housing Land Divisions as part of the Middle Housing Code Amendments, effective June 30th, 2022.

Middle Housing Land Divisions are intended to promote home ownership for individual units of Middle Housing (think condominiums, but much less complicated/expensive). By definition, Middle Housing is one type of housing on a lot or parcel. For example, a triplex is simply three dwelling units on a lot or parcel in any configuration. The problem is that a triplex is an expensive purchase for an individual or household. So essentially, this new tool allows us to the create Middle Housing Lots (Child Lots), within a larger lot/parcel (parent lot). Each Child Lot would contain a unit of middle housing, which can be sold off individually.

This new tool can be used on existing middle housing, newly developed middle housing, or on a vacant lot that will be developed in the future. Once divided, the property is platted with those new Middle Housing Lots, but the “Parent Lot” will always remain a “Triplex” or other form of Middle Housing. The Middle Housing must meet all development standards for the parent lot, such as setbacks, height limitations, and solar standards. Also note that a Middle Housing Land Division is not permitted for stacked (upper/lower) Middle Housing.

A more detailed description and links to the rules on Middle Housing can be found in our new Middle Housing Land Division Info Sheet.

Friendly reminder that the City’s online code is still being updated, so please review Ordinance No. 20667 until the amendments are incorporated online. 

The River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan is in the final stage of the project. After years of gathering community input for the visions, goals, and policies in the Neighborhood Plan, the project team is excited to share the draft Neighborhood Plan back out to the community.

For the month of August, weekly project newsletters have highlighted the five topic areas in the River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan – Community, Transportation, Parks and Natural Resources, Land Use, and Economic Development (upcoming).

Click each of the topic areas below to read the full newsletters:

• Community
• Transportation
• Parks and Natural Resources
• Land Use 

Subscribe to the River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan newsletter to receive the Economic Development highlights next week and all future newsletters!

Have questions about the Neighborhood Plan?

• Come chat with the Neighborhood Plan project team to ask questions and share feedback by dropping in to virtual office hours on September 6^th and 20^th from 11:30am-12:30pm on Zoom. Link to join: https://eugene-or-gov.zoom.us/j/87265174568.
• Visit the Neighborhood Plan’s Frequently Asked Questions page for answers to common questions.
• Don’t see your question? Submit one on the RRSC Engage Eugene project page.

For more information, project updates, and important dates visit the RRSC Neighborhood Plan project website and the Engage Eugene project page. 

Urban Reserves is moving into the public hearing process this fall. Staff are preparing for a joint public hearing with the Eugene Planning Commission and the Lane County Planning Commission on October 18. Prior to this meeting there will be separate work sessions with both planning commissions. Currently, the project is scheduled for a work session with the Eugene Planning Commission on September 27 and with the Lane County Planning Commission on October 4. Meeting links along with instructions and more information for how to provide live and written testimony will be posted on the Urban Reserves webpage ahead of the public hearing.

Before the public hearing process begins, written public notice will be mailed to all property owners in and surrounding the proposed Eugene urban reserves as well as identified interested parties. If you would like to receive formal mailed notice for Eugene urban reserves public hearings, please sign up here. 

As a reminder, Eugene’s Proposed Urban Reserves designate enough land to meet the projected needs of 27 years of growth beyond Eugene's 2032 urban growth boundary (UGB), or to 2059. This assumes that approximately 258,000 people will live in Eugene then, and that we will continue to develop land in roughly the same way we have been. If either of those things change (which they may), then we could grow faster or slower than projected, which is okay. Land within Urban Reserves will stay rural and under the jurisdiction of Lane County until there is a need to expand our UGB; at that time, the specific amount of land needed for new neighborhoods, jobs, schools, or parks will be considered.

As always, stay tuned to this newsletter for monthly project updates, and feel free to contact City Assistant Planner, Zoli Gaudin-Dalton, with additional questions.

Assistant/Associate Planner

Do you want to help make the great City of Eugene, Oregon the most livable, prosperous, and thriving place it can possibly be? The City of Eugene’s land use (current/short-range) planning 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 excellent customer service to the community, thrive in a team environment, and demonstrate adaptability to a dynamic and fast paced work environment. The Assistant/Associate Planner position involves a wide range of work related to current planning, with an emphasis on serving as project manager in the review of development proposals, such as site reviews, land divisions, and zone changes, and implementation of the City’s land use code. Most aspects of the position will involve working closely with the public, ranging from general inquiries to facilitating meetings with development professionals, neighborhood representatives, committees and other interest groups, and other work to further our community vision of a compact, connected, livable Eugene. To learn more and apply, click here.

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

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 below. Thanks!