Item 5: Public Hearing on Ordinance Establishing Chambers Special Area Zone

Home Browse Search

This document proposes for the first time in Eugene, a set of guidelines for an older traditional neighborhood, the ETN, that encourage the preservation of characteristic patterns of the neighborhood. These guidelines, in tandem with a possible future design review process, could become part of a planning process in certain special contexts in Eugene. This possibility has been discussed in terms of an "alternative path" by some policy makers. The guidelines, as they are presented here, are not being proposed for adoption. They are presented in the spirit of education, further conversation, and no doubt debate, about Eugene's older neighborhoods and also to advance the discussion about the process of planning regulation through design review. Alongside the design guidelines are brief descriptions of the clear and objective standards that are currently being proposed by the City of Eugene. These proposed standards, specifically created for the ETN, are dispersed throughout the document in the sidebars near the guidelines that address the same or similar issue. This document strives to answer some of the questions that have arisen in the recent past by planning commissioners, city counselors and the public regarding the creation of a design review process in Eugene. This document sheds light on these questions, through the example of this set of guidelines: · What exactly is meant by design review? · What criteria does a design review process use to make judgements about development? · If the answer to the above question is "some kind of design guidelines," what might an example of design guidelines look like for an older traditional neighborhood in Eugene? Design guideline-based regulation, at its heart, subscribes to the view that one of the wonderful .