<br />Date: July 16, 2018 <br />To: Fred Wilson <br />From: Lauren A. Sommers <br />Subject: Lombard Apartments (WG 18-3, SR 18-3, ARA 18-8), City’s Response to <br />Arguments re Needed Housing Statutes and Willamette River Greenway Permit <br /> All parties agree that the proposed development is located within the boundaries of the <br />Willamette Greenway. The applicant has submitted a Willamette Greenway Permit application <br />and the applicant’s July 9, 2018, letter to the Hearings Official asserts that the application meets <br />the approval criteria for a Willamette Greenway Permit and should therefore be approved. <br />Planning staff recommends approval of the application. However, the applicant also asserts that <br />the City cannot lawfully require a Willamette Greenway permit because this is an application for <br />housing, the applicant is entitled to “clear and objective standards” pursuant to ORS 197.307(4) <br />(as recently amended by Enrolled Senate Bill 1051 (2017)), and the approval criteria associated <br />with a Willamette Greenway permit are not clear and objective. In addition, the applicant asserts <br />that the Willamette Greenway Permit discourages needed housing through unreasonable cost and <br />delay in violation of ORS 197.307(4)(b). The Home Builders Association of Lane County has <br />submitted testimony supporting the applicant’s assertions. <br />History of the Willamette River Greenway and Goal 15 <br /> The Oregon Supreme Court explained the history and requirements of the Willamette <br />Greenway and Goal 15 in Gunderson, LLC v. City of Portland, 352 Or 648, 650 290 P3d 803 <br />(2012). <br /> In 1973, the Oregon Legislature “established the Willamette River Greenway, a corridor <br />of protected land located along the banks of the river.” Gunderson,352 Or at 650. <br />The legislature expressed recognition of ‘the need of the people of this state for <br />existing residential, commercial and agricultural use of lands along the Willamette <br />River’ and also the need to ‘permit the continuation of existing uses of lands that <br />are included within such greenway\[.\] ORS 390.314(2)(b). At the same time, the <br />legislature recognized the need ‘to limit the intensification and change in the use of <br />such lands so that such uses shall remain, to the greatest possible degree, compatible <br />{00285705;2 } <br /> <br />