The RR/SC neighborhood plan was initiated in the fall of 2017 after years of capacity building by <br />resident volunteers. We hit the ground running and had record attendance at our community <br />forums. <br />Six months into the process we were asked to fold the RR/SC Corridor Plan into our work-staff <br />told us it would provide the extra oomph (code language related to use, transitions between <br />uses, compatibility with the existing built environment, feasibility testing) and guidelines to <br />help us densify significantly but sensitively while creating a more vibrant and walkable corridor. <br />We walked the corridor, invited every business to participate and identified the challenges and <br />opportunities of each block. This work was to be implemented within ¼ mile each side of River <br />Road. The Corridor Plan alone took us over one year to finish and resulted in fine-grained lot by <br />lot analysis of current usage and hoped-for future usage with new zoning to implement that <br />vision. This work made it clear that height limitations and ground floor commercial in C-2 <br />zoned multi-story housing developments were the most effective way to move us toward a <br />walkable corridor and our new zoning was going to make that happen. We wouldn’t have to <br />watch all our C-2 property go to multi-story housing without the commercial development <br />needed to serve the increased population and then wait for “market forces” to dictate <br />redevelopment later on. <br /> <br />State mandates around housing and the city’s shift to a “one size fits all” city-wide corridor <br />zoning focus made our detailed zoning work unusable at the time, but the basic tenets that <br />underlie the work are still valid and desperately needed. The default C-2 zoning does nothing <br />to address neighborhood concerns or implement the vision expressed by the thousands that <br />participated. In response staff proposed a much-diminished list of amendments to existing (not <br />new zoning) that try to get at the heart of the issues held most dearly in the land-use <br />component of the plan. We ask you to adopt these amendments and add back code requiring <br />ground level commercial in C-2 zoned multi story housing to create the necessary framework <br />for future development that meets the needs of the neighborhood, aligns with the goals of <br />Envision Eugene, and implements goals of the Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities <br />work. Alternatively, please direct Staff to return with options to incentivize ground floor <br />commercial uses in C2 zonrd properties. Our efforts to balance city-wide needs and goals with <br />neighborhood hopes and realities made us acutely aware of the challenges and opportunities <br />present in our neighborhood and know that these differ greatly for each of the 5 corridors in <br />Eugene. What makes any particular place feel like home are its idiosyncrasies. <br /> <br />We also ask you to direct Staff to return with options to manage on-street parking on County <br />owned streets that will experience the increased parking pressures from neighbors who lack <br />sufficient onsite parking resulting from reduction or elimination of minimum parking <br />requirements on residential properties. <br /> <br />Thank you for listening to our requests. <br /> <br />