Ordinance No. 20316 - Laserfiche WebLink

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BUILDING A DOWNTOWN Downtown Eugene operates in a regional economy. In order to maintain the economic strength of downtown, the City will take a proactive role in promoting the desired dense, high quality development and targeted investment downtown. The City will prioritize public actions that support downtown development by working closely with developers, leveraging economic tools and City-owned property to achieve desired results. The City will be poised to act on opportunities and challenges as they arise. Building Partnerships The City cannot be a passive or isolated player in building our downtown; a proactive, collaborative, strategic focus is essential. The City will work with developers and landowners to facilitate projects that build an active, inviting, economically strong downtown. Partnerships and a collaborative work ethic are necessary within the City workforce as well. The City will strive to ensure that every level of the City organization involved in public projects or project review downtown works together in support of the vision for downtown. Capitalize on Development Opportunities The City's ability to capitalize on development opportunities represents the best prospect for bringing the vision expressed in this plan to reality. This plan provides the policy framework that supports appropriate development in downtown. This plan also emphasizes the flexibility and commitment to respond to unanticipated opportunities. As change occurs with business relocation and expansion, new development opportunities arise. The City will be responsive to the needs and opportunities that these changes represent. Many of the strongest downtown developments in the last twenty years were not predetermined in the previous plan for downtown. Examples include Broadway Place, the Shedd Institute for the Arts, LTD's Downtown Station, and the location of the new library. But the City has worked to be prepared for such opportunities, to facilitate and expand desired development downtown. The Dozen Downtown Development Opportunity Areas map on page 47 indicates the location of some of these potential sites. Financial Tools The targeted use of economic development tools is a key part of the City's commitment to a vital downtown. Market conditions often result in higher costs for downtOwn development, due to a variety of financial constraints and barriers such as assembling smaller parcels for larger projects, higher land costs, vertical and mixed-use construction costs and parking needs. However, development in the core area of the city places less impact on infrastructure and transportation systems, which is ultimately less expensive and more sustainable over the long run. Yet the viability of each individual development project is primarily driven by project cost and risk. Therefore, when the cost and complications of development downtown is greater, development will inevitably occur outside of the downtown area. 11