Attachment 1 <br />City of Eugene <br />Willamette River Greenway Code Amendments (CA 22-1) <br />DRAFT LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS <br />March 10, 2023 <br />Introduction/Overview <br />The primary purpose of the Willamette River Greenway Code Amendments project is to update Eugene's <br />Willamette River Greenway Permit approval process to provide a set of clear and objective standards for the <br />review of proposed housing development within the Greenway. <br />Oregon Statewide Planning Goal 15 (Goal 15, Willamette River Greenway) requires cities and counties to review <br />new development, changes in use, and intensifications of use that take place within the boundaries of the <br />Willamette River Greenway to ensure that development within the Greenway boundary is designed to protect, <br />conserve, enhance, and maintain the natural, scenic, historical, agricultural, economic, and recreational qualities <br />of lands along the Willamette River. The City's adopted Willamette Greenway Permit regulations and approval <br />criteria are located in Sections 9.8800-9.8825 of the Eugene Code (EC). Willamette Greenway Permit <br />applications are reviewed using a Type III application process, which includes a public hearing and decision by a <br />Hearing's Official. <br />These Willamette River Greenway Code Amendments provide a new set of approval criteria and standards <br />available to applicants proposing housing development within the Greenway, consistent with the "clear and <br />objective" requirements of ORS 197.307, and consistent with the requirements of Goal 15. An applicant <br />proposing to develop housing within the Willamette River Greenway will now be able to choose to proceed <br />under the new clear and objective Willamette Greenway approval criteria located in EC 9.8812, or the <br />subjective, discretionary approval criteria in EC 9.8815. The new clear and objective approval criteria include: <br />compliance with a Greenway setback; required native landscape buffering between new housing development <br />and the river; tree preservation requirements; limitations on building fagade length and walls or fencing near <br />the Greenway setback; standards for access to and along the river; and a prohibition on development of new <br />structures within the Greenway setback except for pedestrian pathways and public accessways. The Willamette <br />River Greenway Code Amendments also add new tree preservation standards to the existing discretionary <br />approval criteria for Willamette River Greenway Permits in EC 9.8815, in the interest of parity and comparable <br />standards between the two review tracks. <br />The Code Amendments do not change or amend the City's adopted Willamette Greenway Boundary. The only <br />change to the subjective approval standards for Willamette Greenway permits in EC 9.8815 is the addition of <br />tree preservation requirements. Following adoption of the Willamette River Greenway Code Amendments, <br />applicants proposing to develop housing within the Greenway boundary will be able to choose to proceed under <br />the new clear and objective approval criteria or under the discretionary but more flexible approval criteria. <br />Applicants proposing development other than housing will continue to be required to use the current subjective <br />approval criteria. All Willamette Greenway Permit applications will continue to be subject to the Type III <br />application review process. <br />Design Plan/Review Process <br />Goal 15 allows local jurisdictions to create a "Design Plan" and "administrative review procedure" for the review <br />of proposed development within the Greenway, as an alternative to review procedures which require a public <br />hearing for each individual Willamette River Greenway Permit application. This "Design Plan and administrative <br />review" procedure was initially proposed by staff as part of the Willamette River Greenway Code Amendments, <br />Page 6 of 125 <br />