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HomeMy WebLinkAbout24_04_19_1200 Batch 8 TestimonyRiver Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan City File: MA 23-5, CA 23-3 County File: 509-PA23-05532 Testimony Batch 8 Batch Information Date Range Batch Number Page Count Start End Submissions 8 4 4/9/2024 4/19/24 at 12:00 2 From To Date Time Attachments Hillary Kittleson Testimony 4/14/2024 7:16 Jon Belcher Testimony 4/10/2024 16:06 1 Notes: For reference, submissions are organized in reverse chronological order by the date they were included in the record. If viewing the digital PDF file, please note that bookmarks are included for navigating between each submission. From:Hillary Kittleson To:Eugene RR-SC Plan Subject:River Road Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan Date:Sunday, April 14, 2024 7:16:08 AM [EXTERNAL ] Dear Mayor Vinis and Members of the City Council: I am writing once more to encourage you to do the right thing by the (very patient) River Road and Santa Clara neighborhoods: · Adopt the code amendments as presented, as well as an additional one requiring commercial on the ground floor of housing developments in the C-2 zone. · Commit to a strong and focused effort to address parking issues in the neighborhood. I would characterize the April 10, 2024 staff response to these requests as inadequate to the legitimate and modest hopes of the neighborhood. Regarding ground floor commercial, incentives have their place in the urban planning toolkit, but do not replace minimum requirements to achieve neighborhood goals. I saw nothing in the staff response that precludes requiring ground floor commercial; indeed, such a requirement would enhance “climate friendly neighborhoods” since the argument can be made that more intense housing developments along arterials would greatly benefit from ready and walkable access to neighborhood commercial developments. Regarding parking, the offer of an annual discussion is so weak as to be de-caffeinated. Surely, the Council can make a stronger commitment to resolve this ongoing problem that affects neighborhood quality of life. Please support the adoption of the minimal code amendments as proposed, direct staff to prepare neighborhood-specific amendments to the C2 Zone to require first floor commercial, and commit to a more robust response to neighborhood parking concerns. Sincerely, Hillary Kittleson 995 Elkay Drive Eugene, OR 97404 From:jbelcher@efn.org To:Eugene RR-SC Plan Subject:FW: Please consider this as you deliberate on the River Road/Santa Clara Neiighborhood Plan and Code Amendements Date:Wednesday, April 10, 2024 4:05:45 PM Attachments:20240409 Testimony.docx [EXTERNAL ] Resending, previous attempt ha period at end of address Jon Belcher (he/him) jbelcher@efn.org From: jbelcher@efn.org <jbelcher@efn.org> Sent: Tuesday, April 9, 2024 6:45 PM To: Mayor & Council (MayorCouncilandCityManager@eugene-or.gov) <MayorCouncilandCityManager@eugene-or.gov>; 'RRSCPlan@eugene-or.gov.' <RRSCPlan@eugene- or.gov.> Subject: Please consider this as you deliberate on the River Road/Santa Clara Neiighborhood Plan and Code Amendements The RR/SC neighborhood plan was initiated in the fall of 2017 after years of capacity building by resident volunteers. We hit the ground running and had record attendance at our community forums. Six months into the process we were asked to fold the RR/SC Corridor Plan into our work-staff told us it would provide the extra oomph (code language related to use, transitions between uses, compatibility with the existing built environment, feasibility testing) and guidelines to help us densify significantly but sensitively while creating a more vibrant and walkable corridor. We walked the corridor, invited every business to participate and identified the challenges and opportunities of each block. This work was to be implemented within ¼ mile each side of River Road. The Corridor Plan alone took us over one year to finish and resulted in fine-grained lot by lot analysis of current usage and hoped-for future usage with new zoning to implement that vision. This work made it clear that height limitations and ground floor commercial in C-2 zoned multi-story housing developments were the most effective way to move us toward a walkable corridor and our new zoning was going to make that happen. We wouldn’t have to watch all our C-2 property go to multi-story housing without the commercial development needed to serve the increased population and then wait for “market forces” to dictate redevelopment later on. State mandates around housing and the city’s shift to a “one size fits all” city-wide corridor zoning focus made our detailed zoning work unusable at the time, but the basic tenets that underlie the work are still valid and desperately needed. The default C-2 zoning does nothing to address neighborhood concerns or implement the vision expressed by the thousands that participated. In response staff proposed a much-diminished list of amendments to existing (not new zoning) that try to get at the heart of the issues held most dearly in the land-use component of the plan. We ask you to adopt these amendments and add back code requiring ground level commercial in C-2 zoned multi story housing to create the necessary framework for future development that meets the needs of the neighborhood, aligns with the goals of Envision Eugene, and implements goals of the Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities work. Alternatively, please direct Staff to return with options to incentivize ground floor commercial uses in C2 zonrd properties. Our efforts to balance city-wide needs and goals with neighborhood hopes and realities made us acutely aware of the challenges and opportunities present in our neighborhood and know that these differ greatly for each of the 5 corridors in Eugene. What makes any particular place feel like home are its idiosyncrasies. We also ask you to direct Staff to return with options to manage on-street parking on County owned streets that will experience the increased parking pressures from neighbors who lack sufficient onsite parking resulting from reduction or elimination of minimum parking requirements on residential properties. Thank you for listening to our requests. Jon Belcher (he/him) jbelcher@efn.org Co-Chair of River Road Community Organization and RR/SC Neighborhood Plan Community Advisory Committee The RR/SC neighborhood plan was initiated in the fall of 2017 after years of capacity building by resident volunteers. We hit the ground running and had record attendance at our community forums. Six months into the process we were asked to fold the RR/SC Corridor Plan into our work-staff told us it would provide the extra oomph (code language related to use, transitions between uses, compatibility with the existing built environment, feasibility testing) and guidelines to help us densify significantly but sensitively while creating a more vibrant and walkable corridor. We walked the corridor, invited every business to participate and identified the challenges and opportunities of each block. This work was to be implemented within ¼ mile each side of River Road. The Corridor Plan alone took us over one year to finish and resulted in fine-grained lot by lot analysis of current usage and hoped-for future usage with new zoning to implement that vision. This work made it clear that height limitations and ground floor commercial in C-2 zoned multi-story housing developments were the most effective way to move us toward a walkable corridor and our new zoning was going to make that happen. We wouldn’t have to watch all our C-2 property go to multi-story housing without the commercial development needed to serve the increased population and then wait for “market forces” to dictate redevelopment later on. State mandates around housing and the city’s shift to a “one size fits all” city-wide corridor zoning focus made our detailed zoning work unusable at the time, but the basic tenets that underlie the work are still valid and desperately needed. The default C-2 zoning does nothing to address neighborhood concerns or implement the vision expressed by the thousands that participated. In response staff proposed a much-diminished list of amendments to existing (not new zoning) that try to get at the heart of the issues held most dearly in the land-use component of the plan. We ask you to adopt these amendments and add back code requiring ground level commercial in C-2 zoned multi story housing to create the necessary framework for future development that meets the needs of the neighborhood, aligns with the goals of Envision Eugene, and implements goals of the Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities work. Alternatively, please direct Staff to return with options to incentivize ground floor commercial uses in C2 zonrd properties. Our efforts to balance city-wide needs and goals with neighborhood hopes and realities made us acutely aware of the challenges and opportunities present in our neighborhood and know that these differ greatly for each of the 5 corridors in Eugene. What makes any particular place feel like home are its idiosyncrasies. We also ask you to direct Staff to return with options to manage on-street parking on County owned streets that will experience the increased parking pressures from neighbors who lack sufficient onsite parking resulting from reduction or elimination of minimum parking requirements on residential properties. Thank you for listening to our requests.