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DRAFT WILLAMETTE RIVER GREENWAY DESIGN PLAN INTRODUCTION Oregon Statewide Planning Goal 15: Willamette River Greenway (OAR 660-015-0005) (Goal 15) was adopted by the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) on December 6, 1975.' Goal 15 is designed to "protect, conserve, enhance and maintain the natural, scenic, historical, agricultural, economic and recreational qualities of lands along the Willamette River as the Willamette River Greenway." Goal 15 implementation measures are to be achieved through cooperative efforts of state and local governments and include the adoption of Greenway boundaries, management of land uses permitted within those boundaries, and provisions for compatibility review. In 1976, the City of Eugene approved Resolution No. 2592 which included the establishment of a Willamette River Greenway Boundary and identification of potential acquisition sites. Ordinance No. 18923, adopted in 1982, added Greenway compatibility procedures into the Eugene Code and provided that development within the Greenway was only allowed in accordance with Planned Unit Development regulations or Conditional Use procedures. Ordinance No. 19422, adopted in 1986, amended the adopted Greenway compatibility review procedures to add additional approval criteria consistent with the requirements of Goal 15. Ordinance No. 20224, adopted in 2001, replaced prior Greenway compatibility review procedures and adopted new code provisions for Willamette Greenway Permits that included purpose and applicability sections, general requirements, approval criteria and standards, and modifications. Those provisions have remained static and largely unchanged, except for minor modifications, over the last 20 years. Goal 15 requires cities and counties with lands in the Greenway to review intensifications of use, changes of use, or developments to insure their compatibility with the Willamette River Greenway. The goal offers cities and counties a choice between two tracks for review of intensifications of use, changes of use, and developments within the Greenway; they can either adopt specific compatibility standards included in the goal and provide for a public hearing on each application for development within the Greenway, or they can adopt a design plan and administrative review procedure. The Eugene Code currently complies with the first review track; requiring a public hearing and compliance with specific subjective standards laid out in Goal 15 for all intensifications of use, changes of use and developments within the Greenway. The design plan and administrative review procedure allowed by Goal 15, provide the City with the opportunity to adopt clear and objective standards for development of housing in the Greenway while still meeting the compatibility findings required by the goal. The design plan must include findings under the following criteria, set out in sections 3(b)(1) and (2) of paragraph F of Goal 15: [T]o 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 • Necessary public access will be provided to and along the river by appropriate legal means. This document constitutes the Design Plan, which is supported by concurrently adopted land use code amendments that implement both an administrative review procedure and clear and objective approval criteria for the review of housing development within the Greenway Boundary. The Design Plan includes the following components: Gunderson, LLC v. City of Portland, 352 Or 648, 650-53 (2012). - 38 of 91 WILLAMETTE RIVER GREENWAY CODE AMENDMENTS Page