Item B: River Road/Santa Clara Annexation Policy

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To effectively control the potential for urban sprawl and scattered urbanization, compact growth and the urban (UGB) service area concepts are, and will remain, the primary growth management techniques for directing geographic patterns of urbanization in the community. In general, this means the filling in of vacant and underutilized lands, as well as redevelopment inside the UGB. The Metro Plan and most of its elements are oriented to and require that urban development occur in a compact configuration within a prescribed urban service area. Land within the UGB may be converted from urbanizable to urban only through annexation to a city when it is found that: a. A minimum level of key urban facilities and services can be provided to the area in an orderly and efficient manner. b. There will be a logical area and time within which to deliver urban services and facilities. Conversion of urbanizable land to urban shall also be consistent with the Metro Plan. Annexation to a city through normal processes shall continue to be the highest priority. Ultimately, land within the urban growth boundary shall be annexed to a city and provided the required minimum level of urban services. While the time frame for annexation may vary, annexation should occur as land transitions from urbanizable to urban. The Metro Plan also contains policies that require the annexation of properties to the city if new development is proposed or new demand to city services are requested. Urban Transition Intergovernmental Agreements In 1986, the cities of Eugene and Springfield entered into Urban Transition Agreements with Lane County that transferred from the County to the cities administration for building and land use within the urbanizable portion of the UGB, transferred Lane County-owned parks to the cities and entered into an agreement related to roads. The purpose of the transfer of administration of building and land use was to allow for a consistent urban form, and to find efficiencies in administration. The road agreement formed the basis of the current City-County Road Partnership agreement. The agreements require the cities to ask for the transfer of County roads to City jurisdiction. Many miles of roads which had been previously included in annexations were transferred to the cities. All intergovernmental agreements between the City and County since then have recognized that roads would be annexed and that the City would request and the County would approve the transfer of jurisdiction to the City. Ultimately, all of the county roads inside the urban growth boundary (with the exception of Delta Highway) would be annexed and become the responsibility of the City. The Metro Plan requires all new development to occur within cities. Therefore, annexation of properties within the UGB is the preferred method of allowing development to occur in a manner consistent with the adopted Metro Plan policies. It is the City of Eugene’s practice (and Metro Plan policy) to pursue only voluntary annexations of private property where possible. There is a long history of noncontiguous annexations in the River Road and Santa Clara areas because noncontiguous annexations allow individual properties to develop without the need to annex other properties involuntarily. Why annex streets? It is the City’s practice to request inclusion of appropriate and logical public street segments with annexation proposals. This practice has evolved over the years, in part, because by not doing so created an even worse patchwork of disconnected street segments. The practice of annexing appropriate and logical public street segments aids in the delivery of urban services to incorporated properties, is a logical part of the transition from