University of Oregon <br />Indoor Football Practice Facility <br />Sign Variance Application January 22, 2025 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />11 <br />(5) Maximum Height. A freestanding sign shall be no more than 8 feet in height. <br />This proposal does not involve any freestanding signs. This standard does not apply. <br />4.2 Approval Criteria for Variances <br />EC 9.8760 Approval Criteria for Variances <br />(1) A strict or literal interpretation and enforcement of the specified regulation <br />would result in practical difficulty or undue physical hardship due to at least <br />one of the following conditions: <br />(a) Size, shape, or dimensions of a site. <br />The Autzen Stadium complex is located on approximately 81.5 acres of university-owned <br />property. The new indoor and outdoor football practice facilities are in the northwest corner of <br />the complex, at the intersection of Leo Harris Parkway and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. <br />The subject site is comprised of one parcel identified on Assessor’s Map 17-03-29-40 as Tax Lot <br />00301. While the subject property is in the PL zone, to which the GO sign code standards apply, <br />the characteristics of the site are not typical of those for which the GO standards were intended <br />to apply. <br /> <br />EC 9.6655 states, “[s]igns [in the General Office Sign District] are regulated to accommodate <br />the office buildings and other public uses that are commonly located within these zones and <br />because of the proximity to residential areas.” The practice facilities within the Autzen Stadium <br />complex are dissimilar to office buildings and share none of the characteristics of office buildings <br />in the GO district. The practice facilities are not located in close proximity to residential areas. <br />The nearest residential neighborhood is located over 2000 feet from the eastern perimeter of <br />the practice facilities. <br />The City of Eugene has reviewed and approved multiple variance applications for at least five <br />different University of Oregon athletic facilities (Autzen Stadium, PK Park, the Moshofsky <br />Center, Matthew Knight Arena, and Hayward Field). The prevalence of variance approvals for <br />athletic facilities similar in nature to the practice facilities supports the Hearings Official’s position <br />in V02-01 and the Applicant’s position in this request that the GO sign standards are <br />inappropriate to University athletic facilities, including the new football practice facilities within <br />the Autzen Stadium Complex. <br /> <br />At 81.5 acres, the Autzen Stadium Complex is the largest outdoor athletic venue in the region <br />and is intended to be highly visible and attractive to the public. The indoor and outdoor football <br />practice facilities, along with the proposed signs, have been designed to enhance the overall <br />identity of the complex. As noted above, the Applicant supports the findings of the Hearings <br />Official in V02-01 and incorporates the following findings by reference herein: “[t]he restrictions <br />of the GO Sign [Standards] are simply inappropriate in this setting. They would create both a