Eugene Hearing Official <br />November 23, 2015 <br />Page 5 <br />either allow or disallow the project. The 30-foot landscape buffer requirement may not be <br />applied because it would prohibit development and also requires discretionary <br />interpretation. <br />As noted in our Hearing Memorandum, a handful of key cases are relevant here: Group B, LLC <br />v. City of Corvallis, Or LUBA (LUBA No. 2015-019, Aug. 25, 2015)(reversing denial <br />under Needed Housing Statute); Parkview Terrace Dev't Inc. v. City of Grants Pass, Or <br />LUBA (No. 2014-024, July 23, 2014)(same); Rudell v. City of Bandon, 62 LUBA 279 <br />(20 1 0)(finding discretionary standards inapplicable); Home Builders Assoc. of Lane County v. <br />City of Eugene, 41 Or LUBA 370, 424 (2002)(facial challenge to new provisions in Eugene code <br />as contrary to the statute). Group B is the touchstone case. <br />The key provisions of the Needed Housing Statute being invoked here are in ORS 197.307: <br />197.307 Effect of need for certain housing in urban growth areas; approval <br />standards for certain residential development; placement standards for <br />approval of manufactured dwellings. <br />(4) Except as provided in subsection (6) of this section, a local government <br />may adopt and apply only clear and objective standards, conditions and <br />procedures regulating the development of needed housing on buildable land <br />described in subsection (3) of this section. The standards, conditions and <br />procedures may not have the effect, either in themselves or cumulatively, of <br />discouraging needed housing through unreasonable cost or delay. <br />(6) In addition to an approval process for needed housing based on clear and <br />objective standards, conditions and procedures as provided in subsection (4) of <br />this section, a local government may adopt and apply an alternative approval <br />process for applications and permits for residential development based on <br />approval criteria regulating, in whole or in part, appearance or aesthetics that are <br />not clear and objective if: <br />(a) The applicant retains the option of proceeding under the approval process <br />that meets the requirements of subsection (4) of this section; <br />(b) The approval criteria for the alternative approval process comply with <br />applicable statewide land use planning goals and rules; and <br />(c) The approval criteria for the alternative approval process authorize a <br />density at or above the density level <br />authorized in the zone under the approval process provided in subsection (4) of <br />this section. <br />1. Background on the Needed Housing Statute. <br />