<br />7 <br /> <br />How to Use the Neighborhood Plan <br />The River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan is a formally adopted, legally binding land use plan. The <br />plan boundary follows the boundaries of RRCO and SCCO, and includes properties located inside the <br />Eugene city limits, properties located outside the Eugene city limits but within Eugene’s UGB, and <br />properties located outside Eugene’s UGB but within the boundary of the Eugene-Springfield <br />Metropolitan Area General Plan (Metro Plan). See Figure 1: River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan <br />Map. <br />The Neighborhood Plan provides policy direction for City and County decision-makers as they consider <br />future legislative decisions. Plan policies are not intended to be applied as a standard or criterion for <br />approving or denying a land use or development application unless such direction is specifically stated in <br />the policy. Land use codes adopted by the City and the County, which implement certain policies of this <br />Neighborhood Plan through detailed regulation, generally include the approval criteria for individual <br />land use applications. Finally, some of the policies in this plan are aspirational, including those policies <br />that call for collaboration or additional efforts from RRCO and SCCO and additional community partners. <br />The Neighborhood Plan is organized around five Topic Areas: Economic Development, Transportation, <br />Parks and Natural Resources, Land Use, and Community. Each Topic Area includes vision statements, <br />goals, policies, and actions. The terms “vision statement,” “goal,” “policy,” and “action” as used in this <br />Neighborhood Plan mean the following: <br />• Vision Statements are aspirational and describe the community’s best outcome for how the <br />neighborhood will look, feel, and function 20 years and more into the future. Each vision <br />statement is based on community values and aspirations expressed during the Neighborhood <br />Plan community engagement process. The vision statements reflect the ideal outcome if all <br />aspirational goals were to be attained. <br /> <br />• Goals are statements that describe hopes for the future of the community related to a particular <br />idea, and flow directly from the neighborhood vision. A goal is aspirational and may not be fully <br />attained within a particular time frame. <br /> <br />• Policies are statements adopted to provide a consistent course of action and move the <br />community toward attainment of its goals. Some of the policies in the Neighborhood Plan guide <br />the City and County in formulating proposed changes to local land use codes and other <br />regulatory documents; developing other work programs and long-range planning projects; and <br />preparation of budgets and capital improvement programs. Other plan policies are aspirational <br />calls for collaboration or additional efforts from the RRCO, SCCO, and other community <br />partners. The policies included in this plan will not be used in determining whether the City or <br />County should approve or deny land use or development applications unless such direction is <br />specifically stated in the policy. <br />