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University of Oregon East Campus Lands Land Use Applications February 23, 2004 City Council Public Hearing Public Testimony #5 Submitted by: Terri Harding, Satre Assodates 132 East BrOadway, Suite 536 Carefully Thought Out PropOsal; Restricted to University-owned ! Ands The proposal before you was submitted by the U of O and is purposefully restricted to lands within the approved campus boundary. However, because this process is legislative rather than quasi-judicial, we don't have a lot of time to present the proposals to you. With that in mind, I encourage you to review the Planning Commission record for a full history of the evolution of the proposal. There is a carefully thought out reason for every.proposal in the applications, and as the staff report points out, many of the proposals are the result of compromises reached during the mediation process. The Fairmount Neighbors Association (FNA) and the University of Oregon are in agreement on all of the major aspects of these land-use applications. We agree on .the proposed land use designation maps. That is significant. We agree on the three main policy changes to the Fah=mount/U of O Special Area Study. That is very significant. And we agree that, while outside the scope of these applications, it would be beneficial for the city to fund transportation studies in the Fairmount neighborhood. Conditional Uses in the R-1 Buffer It is important that the Council understand the university's position on conditional uses in the low-density residential area. This buffer was established as a compromise in response to the neighborhood's early concerns over intensification of use on university lands. Rather than allowing institutional use all the way to the campus boundary along Villard, a gradual transition was established within the university boundary. Elsewhere around campus, land uses transition from institutional on-campus to commercial or high-density residential off campus. During the 18-month process to establish an updated university policy, it was decided that a low-density buffer could be accommodated on university lands.. However, the university must retain the ability to apply for a restricted number of a limited type of conditional use permits; only 5 university office and similar support function uses could potentially be applied for along Villard Street, and these uses would have to comply with additional compatibility policies. The proposal requires preservation of the existing residential character even if a conditional use is requested. The factors of compatibility to be considered include building mass, building scale, historic architectural style, setbacks, building and City council Agenda page 265