Item B: River Road/Santa Clara Annexation Policy

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'e. Greater urban public transit efficiency by providing a higher level of service for a given investment in transit equipment and the like. 3. The 'disadvantages ofa too-compact UGB can be a disproportionately greater increase in the value of vacant land within the E:ugene-Springfield area, which would contribute to higher housing prices. Factors other than size and location of the UGB and city limits affect land and housing costs. These include site characteristics, interest rates, state and federal tax laws, existing public service availability, and future public facility costs. 4. Periodic evaluation of land use' needs compared to land supply provides a basis for orderly and non-excessive conversion of rural land to urbanizable land and provides a basis for public action to adjust the supply upward in response to the rate of consumption. 5. Prior to the late 1960s, Eugene and Springfield had no growth management policy and, therefore, growth patterns were generally dictated by natural physical characteristics. 6. Mandatory statewide planning goals adopted by the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) require that all communities in the state establish VOBs to identify and separate urbanizable land from rnralland. 7. Between 1970 and 1983, Springfield's population increased about 4 percent and Eugene's about 2.5 percent a year, but unincorporated 'portions of the metropolitan area experienced a population decline. About 17 percent of the total increase in the population was related to annexations. This indicates that growth is occurring in cities, which is consistent with the compact urban growth concept, and limitations on urban' scatteration into unincorporated areas, as first embodied in the 1990 Plan. 8. In addition to Finding 7 above, evidence that the UGB is an effective growth management tool includes the following: ao Consistent reduction over time of vacant land within the DGB. b. Reductio11 of vacant residential zoned land in Springfield and Eugene. c. Greater value of vacant land within Springfield and Eugene than similar land outside incorporated areas but within the UGB . d. Increase since 1970 of the proportionate share .ofresidential building permits issued within city limits. 9. Reduction in the use of zoning provisions and regulatory processes that favor single- family detached dwellings on standard size parcels would increase the opportunity to realize higher net residential densities than are presently occurring, particularly in newly developing areas. II-C-2