Item A: River Road/Santa Clara Transition Project

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re-designing River Road and Beltline (at least for intermittent sections) to lower classifications, applying traffic calming retrofits to such select areas (the City of Portland has an extensive traffic calming initiative that has been applied to major streets), and/or building grade-separated pedestrian crossing structures. Advantages: Viable neighborhoods are greatly enhanced by neighborhood centers that foster a sense of place and common neighborhood activity and interaction; centers are vital in preserving the neighborhood’s place name and thus its heritage Challenges: The built configuration of present commercial centers and abutting streets do not lend themselves to supporting viable neighborhood centers; capital infrastructure costs to remove “barriers” to viable neighborhood centers could be high Option No. 4: Neighborhood Infill Strategies – The City is currently developing “infill” strategies plans and policies for the Eugene as a whole. In Eugene and in other communities that practical application of “building up, instead of out” is often resisted by local neighborhoods in reaction to perceived higher densities, “incompatible” housing styles and other issues. Careful planning and site design can help in mitigating such concerns, while attracting new residents, businesses and investment that may help re-vitalize the neighborhood. Advantages: Neighborhoods can be greatly enhanced by new residents, businesses, and building; gradual infill can have less overall impact to existing community character than major new developments or market driven increases in housing density and population permitted by general zoning upgrades, infill development can be “directed” to “clusters” where abutting streets, design guidelines and prior development facilitate better integration into the neighborhood Challenges: The “sum” of neighborhood by neighborhood infill strategies may be counter to overall City density goals and requirements; even relatively modest infill development may generate concerns about neighborhood rural or suburban values being lost; in the new world of Measure 37 “takings” issues it may be more difficult to limit infill What Another Community Has Done With respect to neighborhood nodes, the City of Portland, Oregon is notable for the seemingly rd “spontaneous” emergence of many vibrant neighborhood centers (NW 23, Clinton, Alberta, Hawthorne, Belmont, and North Mississippi). These revitalized neighborhood nodes have common characteristics such as relatively narrow primary commercial streets, and a viable stock of architecturally interesting commercial structures built close to the street (and more or less contiguous with each other -- often for several blocks). Neither River Road nor Beltline Road fit this profile. Another interesting characteristic of Portland’s success is that, while the City of Portland and the Portland Development Commission have had important roles, many of these revitalizations have taken hold without significant (or at least primary) government intervention or involvement. 27 River Road/Santa Clara Transition/Heritage White Paper DRAFT 11-24-05 Service provider Review