08/25/1975 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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said the matter of whether residential or commercial use was wanted on the Island was a matter of policy choice. He thought it would be bad planning to combine residential with the regional commercial use or opportunity area designation, then deciding later whether more residential was wanted or further commercial development. There would -- be no guidelines as to how it would be carried out. He added that from a planning standpoint he was unaware of any additional information that would be provided in a refinement study that would further assist in resolving the question. Councilman Haws asked about the type of housing anticipated under a medium-density designation and the findings that led the Planning Commission to recommend medium- density. Mr. Saul said the limitation in medium-density residential would be 10/20 units per acre. He said the overall need for housing had been cited on a number of occasions. Also, that the L&B study pointed out that much of the area now designated for medium-density housing was already developed for housing, so providing for medium- density housing in the Goodpasture Island area would not create a conflict with exist- ing neighborhoods. It would also avoid conflict in the sense that developers who do not like to go into existing neighborhoods would have a place to develop medium-density housing. Mr. Saul said too that the medium-density designation would facilitiate com- pact urban growth form, one of the primary objectives in the General Plan. Councilman Bradley asked why high-density use was not recommended if compact urban II-B-2 growth was an objective. Or why not a combination of Medium- and high-density. Mr. Saul said the impact of high-density use on overall public services was one reason for not making that recommendation. Also, the total projected need for housing over the next 20 years, he said, makes the provision for high-density unrealistic. He said the Plan made no provision for low/medium density. Staff recommended medium-density, he said, and if at some future time there is indication that high-density would be neces- sary then that factor could be reconsidered. Councilman Haws asked if medium-density would prevlude such things as mobile home parks. ~ Also, whether the Council, assuming it wanted to retain the opportunity area designa- tion, could keep the agricultural use for five or ten years with the stipulation that a change would then be considered based on what had developed during that time. Mr. Saul said the medium-density would not preclude mobile home parks, but that the question of permitting mobile home parks was one of zoning and economics, not of Plan designation. He said the Council could choose the option of stipulating no Plan change for five or ten years, but that restricting development would get into the area of legal questions and more research would be necessary to answer that. He thought there would have to be some fairly strong basis for saying that certain properties could not be developed for a certain period of time. Assistant Manager said that was one area where the proposed growth study would bring information on timing devices for develop- ment, that timing techniques now seem to be gaining more credence in the courts, but more factual information than was now available would have to be gathered. Councilman Keller said this was the first time he had heard the north end of the Good- pasture Island area mentioned for a third regional shopping center. He wondered if that had been discussed in Planning Commission deliberations. Mr. Saul said it was dis- cussed in terms of meeting criteria for a third regional center, but not in terms of having three centers "in a row." He noted the reasoning contained in the L&B report that if a regional center was placed at the northern end, the Island would likely end up with a commercial strip along GoodpastuFe Island Road between that center and Valley River with inaccessible. unusable land to the rear. II-B-3 Councilman Keller asked what process the amendment would go through if acted upon at this meeting and how MAPAC would fit into it. Mr. Saul said the process would be . identical to that recently followed in the amendment having to do with the Whiteaker area. A resolution would be prepared for the change for adoption at the next Council meeting, it would be referred to Springfield and Lane County for review and comment, 8/25/75 - 8 4-72