Item A: Low Impact Development: Results of Review

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Section 2: LID Practices in Eugene and Potential Opportunities & Barriers Research and review identified broad areas of regulation and practice which typically establish a framework for implementing LID in a community. These broad categories include Land Use (Zoning) Code, Stormwater Development Standards, Green Building Program, Stormwater Education Program, Street and Other Public Improvement Standards, Public Capital Projects and Facilities Practices and supporting Operations & Maintenance Practices. The City of Eugene currently has a broad spectrum of regulations, policies, procedures, standards, plans, and program areas related to green infrastructure and LID. In many areas LID objectives are already being implemented and achieved and low potential exists in these areas for further increasing the use of LID practices. Other areas have been identified to have moderate to high potential to further achieve LID objectives as summarized in Table A on page 5. Review of Eugene’s regulations and practices within each LID category, the potential for increasing use of LID beyond current practice, and potential barriers are discussed below. A. Land Use Code General elements of LID that are typically affected by a zoning or land use code include those that provide for stormwater development standards, impervious surface limits, parking standards, open space requirements, and site design and landscape standards. The team’s review of these aspects of Eugene’s land use code is summarized below: Stormwater Development Standards Overall, stormwater development standards are the provisions of the land use code most directly related to LID. Both local plans (The Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan or Metro Plan, Eugene’s Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan and Stormwater Basin Plans) and federal/state regulations (Clean Water Act and Eugene’s NPDES municipal stormwater permit) provide the framework for the city’s currently- adopted stormwater development standards that regulate the location, design, construction, and operation/maintenance of stormwater facilities as they apply to new or expanding development. Stormwater destination, pollution reduction, headwater flow control, oil control, and source control requirements are currently regulated within the stormwater development standards. The first three components, destination, pollution reduction, and flow control, are most relevant to LID practices. While existing stormwater standards support and encourage use of LID practices, potential exists for increasing use of LID through modification of aspects of these standards. Medium Potential: Require that LID stormwater management practices and facilities be implemented, to extent practicable, prior to structural stormwater facilities. Barriers: complexities of implementing changes to regulations and existing standards; challenges to balancing and integrating LID objectives with other City initiatives and priorities; potential to increase both project and on-going maintenance costs; potential to decrease available site areas for other proposed uses. Elements of stormwater standards were reviewed in further detail as follows. Applicability- land use application and development permit compliance with Stormwater Development Standards – Low Potential All land divisions, site reviews, conditional use permits, and planned unit developments (PUDs) are required to comply with the stormwater development standards. Stormwater standards are required to be met at both land use/division stage as well as development/building permit stage. The current size of development threshold (1000 sq ft of new or replaced impervious surface area (ISA)) to which the standards apply captures most significant opportunities to apply LID practices. September, 2008 City of Eugene LID Report, Page 4 of 26