Item 3: PH on Ordinance Regarding State Motor Pool Metro Plan Amendment and Zone Change

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compliance with Statewide Planning Goal 12, Transportation, which requires the applicant to identify the impacts of the proposed plan amendments on transportation facilities. The applicant maintains that the 2004 City Council findings related to the adoption of the Downtown Plan findings are sufficient to demonstrate the current proposal's compliance with Statewide Goals and Metro Plan policies, and that no additional findings are necessary. The issue was raised regarding the extent to which a property owner may rely on language in the Downtown Plan to guide future City actions related to zoning and development permits. At the Planning Commission public hearing on September 19, 2006, there was a majority agreement among the commissioners that additional data would be needed to demonstrate compliance with Goal 12. The Eugene Planning Commission left the record open to allow time for the additional information to be submitted. As requested by the Planning Commission, the applicant submitted trip generation estimates on October 10, 2006. On October 30, 2006, the Planning Commission continued its deliberations on the application and determined that the proposal complied with all applicable approval criteria, including Goal 12, and voted to recommend approval of the request as revised by the applicant. Eugene Code requires that the City Council hold a public hearing on a proposed Metro Plan amendment within 45 days of Planning Commission action. This meeting provides the required public hearing within that time frame. RELATED CITY POLICIES Eugene Code requires that a Metro Plan diagram amendment and zone change be consistent with Metro Plan and adopted refinement plan policies. Existing policies support both the current plan designation of High Density Residential, and the proposed Commercial designation. Exhibit A of Attachment A, Staff Findings, evaluates the requests relative to all of the applicable Metro Plan and refinement plan policies. Key applicable policies and documents related to the request are noted below. 1. Maintaining the current plan designation of High Density Residential: Generally locate higher density residential development near employment or commercial services, in proximity to major transportation systems or within transportation-efficient nodes (Policy A.11, Metro Plan). Encourage residential developments in or near downtown core areas in both cities (Policy A.19, Metro Plan). Stimulate multi-unit housing in the downtown core and on the edges of downtown for a variety of income levels and ownership opportunities ("Living Downtown" Policy 1, Downtown Plan). The 1999 Residential Lands and Housing Study (Ordinance No. 20159, 1999) excluded the State Motor Pool site from consideration as "buildable land" vacant land, as that study excluded land that was owned by a public agency and not intended for residential development. Therefore, changing the land use designation from residential uses will not affect any adopted inventories. In addition, because residential development is allowed under a Commercial designation, a Metro Plan change to a Commercial designation is consistent with Metro Plan policies related to residential land use. L:\CMO\2006 Council Agendas\M061120\S0611203.doc