Ordinance No. 20564 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS A total of 171 taxlots are within the Urban Renewal District boundaries. The Blight Findings Matrix (Attachment 3 to Exhibit C) includes a row for each taxlot, identified and grouped by property name. The Matrix includes columns relating to each of the nine criteria in ORS 457.010(1). If a property was determined to meet a definition/criteria of ORS 457.010(1), it is indicated on the matrix. For a determination that a property is "blighted," only one of the criteria evaluated needs to be met. The final column on the Blight Findings Matrix indicates whether there are property characteristics that make it "blighted" under the definition/criteria of ORS 457.010(1). For an Urban Renewal area to be determined as blighted, not all properties must be considered blighted, but instead conditions in the area as a whole are considered. The determination of blight for a particular property is indication of the character of the area and substantiation of the need for reinvestment and improvement in the District; it is not an indication that that property is slated for improvement or for demolition. Even though not every property is determined "blighted", the City concludes that overall, the area within the Downtown Urban Renewal District and possible expansion areas are blighted due to the number of properties with blighted conditions. This conclusion is supported by substantial evidence, as discussed below. Information for properties was gathered primarily from visual surveys of the buildings' exteriors and, in some cases, sources familiar with the entire property. 2 GENERAL FINDINGS ORS 457.010(1)(a) The language in the statute that defines blight under ORS 457.010(1)(a) specifies that properties must be unfit or unsafe to occupy for their intended purposes due to one or more of the conditions listed in ORS 457.010(1)(a) (A— E). The statute does not elaborate on what "unfit" or "unsafe to occupy" means, nor does it state that the building must be literally unusable or uninhabitable. For purposes of these blight findings, the City concludes that a building is "unfit for its intended purpose" or "unsafe to occupy," even if the building is in fact occupied and otherwise habitable, if it satisfies one of the conditions set forth in ORS 457.010(1)(A) through (E). These conditions are described below. ORS 457.010(1)(a)(A) Properties identified on the Blight Findings Matrix as meeting (a)(A) were determined to have structures that are unfit for their intended purpose or unsafe to occupy because of defective design and quality of physical construction. Information provided by City of Eugene Public Works in 2010 indicated that every public building built prior to 1998 is out of compliance with current seismic code requirements. This was the case with the following publicly -owned properties in the District: 4, 32, 46, 47, and 70. These buildings are considered blighted due to seismic concerns. While every private building built prior to 1998 is also likely out of compliance, it is also possible that some of those structures would meet today's code. Without a detailed inspection for each structure it is not feasible to assess current seismic code compliance. In addition, properties 2 and 37 fits blight criteria based on conditions being unfit and unsafe to occupy based on defective design and quality of physical construction. 2