Ordinance No. 20319 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Agricultural and forested lands on the fiSnge of the urban area, in addition to their primary use, provide secondary scenic and open space values. Air and water resources are especially vital in an urban area. Internal and external factors contribute to problems associated with air quality and water quality and quantity, but techniques are available to help reduce these problems and make the environment more livable. The compact urban growth form concentrates urban development and activities, thus protecting valuable resource lands on the urban fringe. But concentrating development increases pressures for development within the urban growth boundary (UGB), making planning for open space and resource protection a critical concern within that boundary. Planning can ensure the coexistence of city and nature; one example is the Willamette River Greenway. The Environmental Resources Element provides broad direction for maintaining and improving our natural urban environment. Other elements in the Metro Plan that provide dealing in more detail with particular aspects of the natural environment: Greenwa¥, River' Corridors and Waterways; Environmental Design; Public Facilities and Services; and Parks and Recreation Facilities and Environmental Desitin (scenic). The emphasis in the Environmental Resources Element is element is the protection of waterways as a valuable and irreplaceable component of the overall natural resource system important to the metropolitan area. Waterways are also tke addressed in the subject of Section D, "Willamette River Greenway and Public Facilities and Se~wices elements, River Corridors, and Waterways."--While some overlap repetition is unavoidable, the Greenway element that section emphasizes the intrinsic value of the Willamette River waterways for enjoyment and active and passive use by residents of the area. The public facilities element deals with components of the natural resource system in the context of the water and stormwater systems.: The public facilities element includes findings and policies related to waterways, groundwater, drinking water protection, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. IThe inventories conducted as the basis for this element and the goals, objectives, and policies contained herein, address numerous Statewide Planning Goals 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 and interpret those goals in the context of the needs and circumstances of the metropolitan area. Lane County and the Cities of Springfield and Eugene completed the Goal 5 requirements for wetlands, riparian corridors, and wildlife habitat for the area between the UGB and the Metro Plan Plan Boundary (Plan Boundary). The three local governments jointly adopted Metro Plan text and policy amendments to the Environmental Resources Element to implement the Goal 5 requirements in 2004. Lane County adopted amendments to the riparian protection ordinance (Class I Stream Riparian Protection regulations, Lane Code Chapter 16.253) to implement Goal 5 in the area outside the UGB and inside the Plan Boundary in 2004. In 2004, Springfield and Eugene were undertaking work to comply with Goal 5 requirements for wetlands, riparian corridors, and wildlife habitat within their respective urban growth boundaries ['or adoption by the applicable jurisdictional land use authorities. Exhibit B: Proposed amendments to Chapter III-C, Environmental Resources Element, Page 2 of 25 of the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Plan (Metro Plan).