Item 1: Ordinance on Oregon West Management

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lacking in higher density residential land. She reiterated that the policy direction seemed to support more residential development and less commercial development. She indicated that if the Planning Commission found the proposal did meet the criteria, staff had included conditions of approval in the statf report. Steve Graves, 4135 Torrey Lane, thanked the commissioners for serving their community. He stated that his plan was to develop the former Santa Clara Elementary School site into a Mixed Use development. He said the plan voluntarily restricted the size and height of any buildings and that he had incorporated a gathering area into it. He added that some architectural elements from the former school would be retained. The design incorporated pedestrian~fTiendly shopping streets in order to create a sense of community with the buildings and to avoid a "strip mall" look. He related that in conjunction with designers they had created tree-lined shopping streets with landscaping zones. He underscored that the housing element was "part and parcel" of the application. He averred that the residential units would benefit from the close proximity to the shopping center. He intended to dedicate land along Hunsaker Lane in order to improve the road, as per the City's requirements, and also to improve signalization at the intersection of Hunsaker Lane and River Road. He predicted that the type of commercial enterprises that would become part of the development would be dictated by the community. He believed the need for additional retail space in the Santa Clara area was great. Rick Satre, 132 East Broadway, Suite 536, applicant's representative, reiterated that the applicant was seeking approval to build a Mixed Use Residential/Commercial development. He averred that the development would result in a "quality addition to the fabric of the Santa Clara neighborhood." He said Mr. Graves had reached out to the neighborhood and had tried to find common ground with residents. Mr. Satre underscored that 50 dwelling units were planned between the properties, including a newly purchased property. Mr. Satre acknowledged that staffhad found 13 Metro Plan policies that were applicable to the requests, within the four plan elements of residential and housing, economic, transportation, and public facilities and services. He said the record showed that the application was consistent with the latter two. He stated that of the 13 policies staff analyzed they had found consistencies with six of them. Mr. Satre discussed the seven inconsistencies with policies, six of them related to the residential element and one with the economic. He believed the proposal promoted higher residential density and that it used existing resources. He averred that the proposal was in line with the policy regarding the location of higher density residential development to transportation as it could not be "any closer" to transportation facilities. He acknovdedged that a common theme in the policies was that density should be increased via infill development and redevelopment and another theme was to expand opportunities through mixed lIse. He noted that staff did agree that the proposal met the Metro Plan definition of mixed use, but felt the issue lay in the amount of commercial development in the proposaL Mr. Satre declared that the proposed development was located in a commercial area. He stressed that the school had been surrounded on three sides by commercial uses. He said the refinement plan identit1ed the school property as being located in an existing commercial area though the MINUTES--Eugene Planning Commission Public Hearing October 18,2007 Page 3