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<br /> <br />January 27, 2020, Work Session – Item 1 <br /> <br />Suitability Analysis While state and local policies provide guidance for where to grow, there is no ‘perfect’ area for Eugene to grow into. All areas have trade-offs. The purpose of the suitability analysis is to consider and balance a list of factors, prescribed by state rules, then dismiss land that would be unsuitable for urban development. The study area was subdivided into 18 subareas for analysis purposes. Suitability criteria were developed to evaluate each subarea based on the state-directed outline of analysis and reflect the City’s Triple Bottom Line Framework. Land was then removed from further consideration if, on balance, it would be unsuitable for Urban Reserves based on this evaluation. Text in italics are examples of prompting questions used in the analysis: 1. Efficient accommodation of identified land needs <br />• Will this area be able to urbanize efficiently to meet our future land need? Are there <br />steep slopes, hazard areas, or other characteristics that would make efficient <br />urbanization difficult? 2. Orderly and economic provision of public facilities and services <br />• Can city services, such as water, wastewater, stormwater, transportation and fire <br />protection, be efficiently extended to this area? 3. Comparative economic, energy, social, and environmental impacts <br />• How would urbanization impact natural resources like open space, wildlife habitat, <br />and wetlands? Would urbanization increase the risk of landslides, flooding or wildfire? <br />• How much economic activity would urbanization of this area bring? <br />• To what extent would urbanization generate energy or climate burdens? <br />• How would current residents be impacted? <br />• How might urbanization in this area impact the most vulnerable and underserved <br />groups? 4. Compatibility of the proposed urban uses with nearby agricultural and forest activities outside of the UGB <br />• Would urbanization be compatible with surrounding forest and agricultural uses? For each of the 18 subareas, staff prepared a written analysis and recommendation on which parts of it are suitable for Urban Reserves. The full subarea analysis can be found on the Urban Reserves project web page. The analysis went through multiple rounds of review by City and County staff, the Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee, and service providers. This information was then shared at public meetings this January. The Urban Reserves Draft Suitability Map (Attachment C), shows the draft results of this analysis. Of the approximately 11,000 acres of developable land studied, approximately 6,700 acres are considered suitable for Urban Reserves based on the criteria above—this is a little more than is needed for a 30-year Urban Reserve. Land that is ‘suitable’ moves forward for further consideration. Since the amount of suitable land in the study area is slightly more than the amount of land needed for a 30-year Urban Reserve