August 22, 2016 <br />To: Gabe Flock, Senior Planner <br />From: Rick Duncan <br />Re: Written Testimony Cathedral Park <br />When Oregon created the land use system in 1973, legislators sought to protect our cities against sprawl <br />and to protect the farm and forestland that make living here so special. The application before you <br />today is in that very same spirit, although it approaches our statewide planning goals from a fresh lens, <br />one that meets the needs of today. With record housing prices and a severe lack of affordable housing <br />in almost every city in Oregon, our statewide planning goals are tasked with solving problems that <br />extend far beyond what any legislator in Salem in 1973 could have dreamed. <br />As a former Planning Commissioner, I have been in your shoes before. I know how difficult it is to make <br />these decisions, to carefully weigh each detail and agonize over every decision and vote. As the Eugene <br />Planning Commission, it is your duty to work with private developers and public agencies in their effort <br />to provide an adequate supply of housing for low-income families. This is listed as one of the purposes <br />and objectives of the Planning Commission in their bylaws and in EC 2.350 Planning Commission - Duties <br />anri PnwPrs_ <br />Put simply, the Hearings Official erred when he neglected to address the City Attorney's memorandum <br />on the Goalpost Rule. His omission sets a new standard in which affordable housing developers lose <br />their right to know which land use criteria affect their projects before they submit a land use <br />application. Instead, his omission establishes a precedent where land use criteria can be applied at the <br />building permit stage. I don't remember a case during my tenure of this type of decision. In fact, there <br />were several situations that staff recommended the opposite, that is, the building permit stage was the <br />wrong time to add new land use requirements. <br />The Cathedral Park affordable housing development is a rare opportunity in Oregon, especially in <br />Eugene, in this day and age. Our city have the chance to build 172 units of affordable housing - housing <br />for over a hundred families and for dozens of couples and individuals. These people include seniors, <br />children, working parents and individuals who live and work in your neighborhood. The City of Eugene <br />continues to shoulder the need for affordable housing; here is a case where the private sector will carry <br />that burden. Instead of building this affordable housing on the edge of the urban growth boundary, <br />away from services and other amenities, this development is in South Eugene, well within Eugene's <br />service boundary. <br />Despite huge need, we simply do not have enough affordable housing for everyone who qualifies, much <br />less affordable housing that is located so close to parks, schools, and more. <br />If we continue as we are, our supply will never meet our demand. To meet our community's needs, we <br />must stop allowing our supply to chase our demand. We must increase our density to get more <br />affordable housing. The Cathedral Park proposal seeks to increase density in a way compatible with the <br />surrounding neighborhood to prove that well designed affordable housing can co-exist in Eugene's <br />neighborhood. <br />