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DRAFT WILLAMETTE RIVER GREENWAY DESIGN PLAN the Willamette River. OAR 660-015-0005 F.3(b)(2) Necessary public access will be provided to and along the river by appropriate legal means. The Design Plan demonstrates that in large part, due to acquisition and development of public lands along the Willamette River, necessary public access to and along the river already exists. However, where a housing development is located more than 500 feet from an existing access point, the land use code amendments that accompany this Design Plan require on-site pedestrian paths toward the river as well as a public access connection between the development site and existing public ways that provide a connection to or along the Willamette River, provided the City can make the required constitutional findings. As explained in the Design Plan, over the years, Lane County and the cities of Eugene and Springfield have cooperated in the development of a publicly owned and accessible bicycle and pedestrian trail system located in the Greenway that extends along both sides of the river and provides significant public access to and long the river within Eugene's city limits. According to Eugene's 2012 to 2032 Buildable Lands Inventory, 88% of the lands within the Greenway are devoted to special uses like parks, schools, government offices, cemeteries, and rights-of-way and therefore have no development or redevelopment potential. The City of Eugene owns 44% of the lands in the Greenway. The City of Eugene has an established and developed network of parks, open space areas, natural areas and multi-use paths that extend along 12 miles of river frontage that includes ten parks and two community centers within or adjacent to the Willamette Greenway, and 25.8 miles of paths. Public access is provided at all of these facilities unless otherwise restricted for security, safety, or temporary construction reasons. Design Plan Map 1.2 shows public access points to the Willamette Greenway, which are points where existing right-of- way intersects with multi-use path connections. The map shows 58 public access points to and along the river, six of which are bridges that include pedestrian facilities providing access across the river. The findings above demonstrate that significant public access to and along the river already exists within the Greenway. In addition, the clear and objective land use code amendments that accompany this Design Plan require housing developments consisting of five or more units and located on a development site that is more than 500 feet from one of the 58 access points shown on Design Plan Map 1.2, to provide on-site pedestrian paths connecting the housing to the property line closest to the river, and where the City can make the required constitutional findings, a public access connection between the development site and existing public ways that provide a connection to or along the Willamette River. The findings above show that, this Design Plan and the accompanying land use code amendments will, to the greatest possible degree, provide necessary public access to and along the Willamette River by appropriate legal means. This Design Plan and the accompanying clear and objective standards and administrative review procedure comply with the requirements of Goal 15. 4.3 CONCLUSION As discussed previously, Goal 15 includes a provision for an alternative review procedure as specified in subsections 3(a) through (e) of the goal. This provision allows for cities to prepare and adopt a Design Plan and administrative review procedure for development within the Greenway. The Design Plan must provide - 70 of 91 WILLAMETTE RIVER GREENWAY CODE AMENDMENTS Page 35