Item A: River Road/Santa Clara Transition Project

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ATTACHMENT A MEMO TO: Mayor Piercy and City Councilors FROM: David Reed, RR/SC Transition Manager SUBJECT: River Road/Santa Clara Transition Project -- Progress Report DATE: January 11, 2006 Background In the spring of 2004, the City of Eugene contracted with David Reed & Associates as the River Road/Santa Clara Transition Manager. Reed assembled a three-member transition team and has been working with stakeholders to lay a foundation for preparing a transition plan. A twelve- member Task Force has been developing a framework for strategic guidance of the project, and helping implement a public participation plan to actively engage residents in the planning process. Mission Statement “To establish a partnership with residents of River Road and Santa Clara, city and county staff and elected officials, and special district providers, for the purpose of preparing a Transition Plan. The Plan will enable a smooth and orderly transition of urban services in ways that preserve community and neighborhood values, retain where feasible community institutions, and forge anew and creative methods and practices for the most effective and efficient delivery of urban services. Heritage and Transition Framework Jim Rapp, Portland municipal governance specialist, prepared a 50-page white paper outlining potential transition and heritage initiatives for unincorporated areas of River Road and Santa Clara. The Task Force has been working for the last several months to come to agreement on themes and key strategies that will provide a framework for the transition plan. (Task Force members have demonstrated consistent commitment to the project: average attendance for ten meetings has been at 80%, and eleven of the twelve members are original appointees). Three themes emerged from this exercise: 1. Landscape Theme – a vision of how River Road and Santa Clara could transition into a preferred future, including the visual and functional look and feel of neighborhoods. 2. Institutions Theme – ways to sustain and in some cases, expand key community institutions. 3. Governance Theme – goals for partnering and implementing a strategic transition plan. The Task Force has identified institutions and qualities that are highly valued by the community. These “legacy attributes” help provide a focus for the “Framework” with emphasis on preserving heritage qualities of River Road and Santa Clara. This exercise has facilitated a process for citizen representatives to better understand complex issues associated with RR/SC service delivery, governance, and community visioning, and has provided a means for the group to organize and frame a direction for the project. The result is a potential structure for the transition planning effort that reflects priorities of the Task Force as stakeholders representing diverse community interests and concerns. Equally important, the “Framework” provides a structure for engaging City and County staff and service providers in a similar exercise in order to evaluate the feasibility of ideas and compatibility with current priorities.