River Road Community Organiza�on <br />River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Planning <br />Recommenda�on Leter – July 2023 <br /> <br /> <br />Dear Mayor Vinis and Members of the City, <br />We, the members of the River Road Community Organiza�on Board, are wri�ng in support of the Dra� <br />River Road/Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan being submited by the Eugene Planning staff, in conjunc�on <br />with the Community Advisory Commitee, and the River Road and Santa Clara community organiza�ons. <br />For the past 6 years, our community and board members have engaged in this effort with enthusiasm <br />and with the needs of our unique and fast-growing neighborhood in mind. The plan does not address all <br />of the requirements outlined as part of the Envision Eugene ini�a�ve; however, we have heard from our <br />community via a variety of vehicles and believe that the current dra� should proceed through the <br />adop�on process, moving us forward from the refinement plan of 1986 that currently guides the <br />development for our area. We are ready to partner with the City and County to move the dra� plan <br />forward and are willing to accept some of the shortcomings of the document in order to proceed. <br />While the new plan will define much of the direc�on for the neighborhood, we have iden�fied three <br />core areas of opportunity that were eliminated from the plan. As these three areas of opportunity are <br />core to the desires of our community, we are commited as a board to con�nue to advocate for <br />resolu�on of these issues to meet the needs of River Road residents. These are: <br />1. No Parking Resolu�on for County Streets: Lane County controls 76% of River Road Local Streets <br />(58% of Santa Clara) and they have negligible capacity to enforce on-street parking standards. The <br />reduc�on in on-site parking requirements through the middle housing code amendments and <br />other State standards means that our experience with parking overflow near ECCO housing will just <br />become more intense. Many of the County Local streets in our neighborhoods aren’t developed to <br />urban standards and have limited capacity to accommodate the overflow parking almost certain to <br />occur with new proper�es lacking minimum on-site parking requirements. Without some way to <br />regulate on-street parking on a significant majority of our streets, further densifica�on will lead to <br />more unsafe streets in our neighborhoods. One poten�al resolu�on would be for the City Manager <br />to include delibera�on on how to address the issue as part of the Climate Friendly and Equitable <br />Community Parking Reform process. <br /> <br />2. Poten�al Loss of Commercial Proper�es: When we asked our neighbors to set goals for the <br />Neighborhood Plan, they placed strong emphasis on having more commercial opportuni�es, <br />especially restaurants, gathering spots & groceries. They also called for 20 Minute Neighborhoods-- <br />businesses they could easily walk or bike to. However, the staff decision to eliminate the proposed <br />Corridor Mixed Use zone leaves the majority of our current Commercial proper�es in the C-2 <br />Community Commercial Zone. This zone allows 100% of the proper�es in the zone to be <br />residen�al with no commercial at all. The eliminated Corridor Mixed Use zone would have <br />required commercial use on the ground floor. <br /> <br />The economic study included in Sera Architect’s River Road Corridor Study showed that economic <br />demand for housing is high and commercial use is low. Without regula�on requiring it or some <br />kind of incen�ve to encourage it, the commercial facili�es we currently have may well be replaced <br />Page 88 of 185