EXHIBIT R Page 180 <br />Air and water resources are especially vital in an urban area. Internal and external factors <br />contribute to problems associated with air quality and water quality and quantity, but techniques <br />are available to help reduce these problems and make the environment more livable. <br />The compact urban growth form concentrates urban development and activities, thus protecting <br />valuable resource lands on the urban fringe. But concentrating development increases pressures <br />for development within the urban growth boundary (UGB), making planning for open space and <br />resource protection a critical concern within that boundary. Planning can ensure the coexistence <br />of city and nature; one example is the VAlle neat Rive# Greenway. <br />The Environmental Resources Element provides broad direction for maintaining and improving <br />our natural urban environment. Other elements in the etro Plan that provide &eal~ -more <br />detail with particular aspects of the natural environment_ eenway, River Corridors and <br />Waterways, Environmental Design; Public Facilities and Services; and Parks and Recreation <br />Facilities and - s_ maenta ---ig" e _de). The emphasis in the Environmental Resources <br />lement le is the protection of waterways as a valuable and irreplaceable component of <br />the overall natural resource system important to the metropolitan area. Waterways are also the <br />addressed in the , 'V 11amet4e D'- Greenway and Public Facilities and <br />Services elements PU r and Waterw""3 -While some v la repetition is <br />unavoidable, the Greenway element ffiat ~~mphasizes the intrinsic value of the Willamette <br />River waterways for enjoyment and active and passive use by residents of the area. e public <br />facilities element deals with components of the natural resource system in the context of the <br />water and stormwater systems... The public facilities element includes findings an d policies. <br />related to waterways groundwater, drinking water protection; the Clean Water Act, and the <br />Endangered Species Act. <br />The inventories conducted as the basis for this element and the goals, , and policies <br />contained herein, address numeretts-Statewide Planning Goals 3, 4, 5. 6, and 7 and interpret those <br />goals in the context of the needs and circumstances of the metropolitan area. <br />Lane County and the Cities of Springfield and Eugene completed the Goal 5 requirements for <br />wetlands riparian corridors and wildlife habitat for the area between the UGB and the Metro <br />Plan Plan Boundary (Plan Boundary) The three local governments jointly adopted Metro Plan <br />text and poligy amendments to the Environmental Resources Element to implement the Goal 5 <br />requirements in 2004 Lane County adopted amendments to the riparian protection ordinance <br />(Class I Stream Riparian Protection regulations. Lane Code Chapter 16.253) to implement Goal 5 <br />in the area outside the UGB and inside the Plan Boundarv_in 2004. In 2004, Springfield and <br />an. <br />Eugene were undertaking work to comply with Goal 5 requirements for wetlands, ripari <br />corridors and wildlife habitat within their respective urban growth boundaries for adoption by <br />the applicable jurisdictional land use authorities. <br />This element of the Metro Plan organizes the findings and policies into categories related to <br />Statewide Planning Goals 3, 4, 5. 6, and 7, <br />Agricultural Lands (Goal 3) <br />Forest Lands (Goa141 <br />Riparian Corridors, Wetlands, and Wildlife Habitat (Goal 51 <br />Mineral and Aggregate Resources (Goa151 <br />177 Exhibit B: Proposed amendments to Chapter III-C, Environmental Resources Element, Page 2 of 24 <br />Lalarel OI U06VVZyen-Springfield Metropolitan Plan (Metro Plan). Page 499 <br />