Item 5 - PH on Laurel Hill Plan - Laserfiche WebLink

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which includes the subject site. The policies identified below from the Laurel Hill Refinement Plan, are relevant to this request. Land Use and Future Urban Design Policy #5: No additional sector of East Laurel Hill shall be designated for commercial purposes until a public need can be demonstrated. There are several identifiable public needs that lead to the conclusion that this policy is satisfied. At a fundamental level, the applicants have identified the public need for property to be developable under the land use designations given to that property. Applicants have demonstrated that the site is unsuitable for and unbuildable for residential uses. Buildable lands, when appropriately designated, are necessary for effective land use planning. Applicants have also identified a public need for additional commercial designated properties in the Laurel Hill area arising from recent changes to the Eugene Code. The recently amended Eugene Code has increased the allowed density for R-1 zoned areas from approximately 10 units per acre to a maximum of 14 units per acre, a 40 percent increase in allowed density. East Ridge Village, now under development, approaches that maximum density of 14 units per acre. Other proposals for residential development in the area reflect a similar increase in residential density. That increase in residential population creates a need for additional commercial designated property in the Laurel Hill area to provide adequate services. The site, with its proximity to the Glenwood Interchange, to the commercial node, and on the fringe of the residential areas is ideally suited to provide commercial services to Laurel Hill residents, residents of other nearby residential areas, and to tourists in a manner that the Laurel Hill Plan indicates is appropriate for the commercial node. Development plans, adopted after the adoption of the Laurel Hill Plan, have also created a public need for additional commercial designated areas. Approval of the Son Blaze Village (now East Ridge Village) PUDs required an extensive re-design of the I-5 Glenwood interchange beyond what was anticipated in the Laurel Hill Plan. That re- design moved the Moon Mountain Drive-Glenwood Boulevard-Glenwood Drive- Brackenfem Road intersection into areas designated for commercial development. Furthermore, the realignment of Glenwood Drive and the wider Brackenfem Road have further debited from developable commercial designated property, which needs to be replaced. Topographic characteristics of the area also lead to a public need for immediately available commercial lands. Topographic maps and photographs in the record show that much of the commercial node is located in a topographic depression to the east of Brackenfem Road. Development of those parcels are contingent upon not only the construction of Brackenfem Road, but on the resolution of sewer and storm water challenges arising from the geography of those locations. Those sites will not be IV-66 Page 10 of 12: Proposed Findings for Laurel Hill Plan Amendment (RA 04-1)