Item A: River Road/Santa Clara Transition Project

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access points and facilities, signage, and other park activity nodes are otherwise limited. There are three named parks associated with the greenway – Rasor, Jacobs, and Westbank - with parking improvements, restrooms, and picnic area (at Jacobs). In addition to active sports fields associated with schools, there are three major parks in River Road – Emerald Park (operated by the River Road Parks and Recreation District); the 5-acre Bramble wood Park operated as a neighborhood park by the City; and the City’s future 20-acre Walnut Grove Park, a “natural area" including a pond and stream and western pond turtle habitat. In addition, there is the smaller Rosetta Place Park, a 1.2 acre neighborhood park. City parks (including the Greenway) are maintained and operated out of the Parks and Open Space division of the City Public Works Department. Mapping would indicate that with a few exceptions, most natural stream corridors, open water, and wetlands in the River Road neighborhood have been significantly altered or eliminated by prior development. Santa Clara In contrast to the River Road neighborhood, the eastern boundary of the Santa Clara community does not immediately abut the Willamette River – considerable acreage of larger farm and estate tracts sit between the Santa Clara neighborhood and the river. These intervening tracts are also outside of the Eugene/Springfield UGB. Greenway lands have not been acquired and therefore no trails or Greenway public facilities presently exist, although Lane County does own and operate two riverside facilities – Whitely Landing and Hillman Landing. Santa Clara does not have a local parks and recreation district as is the case with River Road. The City owns and operates several parks in the Santa Clara neighborhood. These parks are managed out of the Parks and Open Space division of the City Public Works Department. The largest and oldest is Aubrey Park which was recently renovated with 1998 parks bond funds. This park includes neighborhood park facilities, natural areas and a stream corridor (Spring Creek). The 6-acre Arrowhead Park is also slated for a mixed neighborhood/natural development and includes a portion of Flat Creek. Other City parks in Santa Clara include Terra Linda, Lone Oak, Filbert Meadows, Ferndale and Wend over. Mapping would indicate that, with a few exceptions, most natural stream corridors, open water, and wetlands have been significantly altered or eliminated by prior development. Transition and Heritage Options The City of Eugene could provide services that will facilitate the urban transition of the River Road and Santa Clara neighborhoods by engaging in acquisitions that preserve lands for a range of open space activities – significant natural areas, river access, neighborhood parks, and sports fields. Even the preservation of ordinary wood lots and farm fields can provide a feeling that the community is securing some of its rural heritage. By identifying and designating a wide range of remaining natural systems in a community, by adopting policies that call for such lands to be preserved either by city acquisition or by set-asides in the development process, and by designing creative compensation policies for landowners through SDC credits, density transfers and the like, communities can both grow in population AND sustain significant open space resources. The system can in part become “self-perpetuating” once the development community experiences the added value accruing to developable lands abutting the resource lands they have “bypassed” or dedicated as an outcome of City and community heritage policies. An important consideration in any space transition and heritage strategy is integration with other transition and heritage options. In the case of this “Parks, Open Space and Natural Areas” section of this White Paper, a significant opportunity exists for integration with surface water management plans and programs. Surface water master planning is underway by the City and Lane County, as is periodic review of the City’s comprehensive plan including protections for specified stream corridors for both open space and surface water quality and quantity benefits. Open space preservation goals can be strengthened by considering surface e water benefits and vice versa. Please see the separate “Surface Water Management”, “Streets and Transportation” and “Planning” sections of this White Paper for additional discussion. 20 River Road/Santa Clara Transition/Heritage White Paper DRAFT 11-24-05 Service provider Review