Item 3: Ordinance on Downtown Code Amendments

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Kevin Matthews, P.O. Box 1588, identified himself as President of Friends of Eugene. He said the Commission knew development downtown was a complicated issue. The Chamber of Commerce did not have a strong record of a fix for downtown. Corvallis and Salem did not tear down old buildings. Taking out and putting in streets had not been successful. Things were different today because we needed density far more in downtown than when LUCU was enacted. The State of Oregon and the State Legislature passed House Bill H.B. 3543 in 2007 that set greenhouse gas emission reduction targets of 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 75 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Those levels could not be met without embracing the reality of the geography of vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Downtown residents and users had as a group one-third of the metropolitan average of the VMT usage. The claim was that if we did not require density downtown, we would get no development. But when a new building at low density was developed, it was hoped it was a 50 year building. Thus, any new building would be a social investment in a reduction of density below current plans. Current plans needed to get denser downtown. Friends of Eugene were totally in favor of identifying and surgically removing pointless restrictions to development downtown. Reducing density downtown in 2008 was unacceptable. Win-win solutions were needed, which meant building downtown at density. Building downtown at lower density looked good for a couple of years but it was the wrong direction for the community. He submitted written testimony for inclusion in the public record. Friends of Eugene did not have an economic stake in specific properties in downtown, but did have an economic stake in the health of the community and the common good. He appealed to the Commission to weigh that, and ask staff for an analysis of the impact on greenhouse gas emissions of the proposed code changes. Laurie Segel, 642 Charnelton Street, identified herself as a community planner with the Goal One Coalition. She worked in an old house from 1920’s or 1930’s, which included residential and small offices spaces used by small businesses and small non-profits. She saw density downtown happening, but did not see vibrant density at the Broadway corridor between Franklin Street and Lincoln Street. There were considerations other than the land use code that were factors in the lack of downtown development, including the economic upheaval of 9-1-1 nationwide. Many of the properties in the corridor did not have ownership diversity, so there was a lot of market share power and few independent opportunities. We were facing a tomorrow that was not like post World War II where development could switch from one type of market to another in relatively short periods of time, where developers could assure themselves of a profit margin with whatever was the trend. The future now was energy constrained. She submitted written comments that MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission April 15, 2008 Page 8