Hearings Official Decision - Laserfiche WebLink

Plan includes a maximum building height of 85 feet, which will to provide building heights similar to campus buildings across Franklin Boulevard, and further limit impacts on open space. The staff request that this proposed building height restriction be made a condition of approval. That condition is warranted in order to ensure compliance with that Regulatory Plan component. Particularly through the setbacks and height and development restrictions, as designed the Master Plan also ensures that future development will not create a continuous wall along the minimum setback line, and that designated features, including the Millrace and the pedestrian linkage to the Autzen Stadium footbridge, will be protected. (c) To the greatest possible degree, the intensification, change of use, or development will provide the maximum possible landscaped area, open space, or vegetation between the activity and the river. As noted above, the /WR overlay zone requires a setback of 100-feet from the Willamette River. The requested Master Plan includes a 200-foot setback for riparian and riverbank enhancement along most of the length of the property. Because the 200-foot setback is determined from the top of bank, the setback equates to 250 to 300 feet as measured from the water’s edge. This setback preserves the riparian area between the river and proposed development while maximizing riparian restoration opportunities to the greatest extent possible. To ensure that the landscaped area is preserved throughout the life of the Master Plan, this 200-foot setback is made a condition of this approval. (d) To the maximum extent practicable, the proposed development shall provide for protection and enhancement of the natural vegetative fringe along the Willamette River. This means protection and enhancement of trees and understory characteristic of native vegetation within the riparian strip along the Willamette River. It also means removal, and active management to prevent reintroduction of, disturbance vegetation such as Himalayan blackberries and English ivy. As used herein, the riparian strip means the area between the top of the river bank and the water’s edge. The requested Master Plan includes riparian restoration of the natural vegetative fringe along the Willamette River. The applicant has submitted a Riparian Assessment and Management Report that indicates vegetated riparian areas within the development site were historically reduced to narrow strips along the river. In order to enhance the natural vegetative fringe, the application narrative represents that development under the Master Plan will incorporate “as many applicable restoration techniques as possible as funding becomes available.” Techniques proposed include large-scale invasive plant removal, and removal of concrete riprap along the shoreline. The proposed 200-foot riparian buffer will help to preserve and enhance the riparian fringe. Several opponents of the requested Master Plan support the applicant’s compliance with this Master Plan proposal, and urge that these improvements should be completed before any further development occurs. One opponent asserts that “the only way to protect the public interest and to Hearings Official Decision (CU 18-1; WG 18-2) 14