Item A: Eugene Comprehensive Lands Assessment

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ECLA: Baseline Assumptions ECONorthwest July 2009 Page 9 Oregon cities, ECO has generally estimated or assumed that between 10% and 20% of employment is accommodated in residential or other non-employment plan designations. ? CAC and TAC discussion: Some CAC and TAC members suggested that the share of employment accommodated on land not designated for employment uses may increase in the future, based on trends in working from home. ? Current technical recommendation for baseline assumption: We recommend assuming that 15% of non-industrial employment will accommodated on land not designated for employment. The basis for this recommendation is that the 2006 covered employment data is the best available and we have little data as a basis for assumptions about changes in the amount of employment that may locate in non-employment designations in the future. ? Data source: The estimate of 15% of covered employment on land not designated for employment is based on employment data from 2006. The data source for the employment base was Quarterly Census of Employment and Workforce from the OR Employment Department, overlaid with the LCOG GIS data showing the City of Eugene Plan Designations. New employment accommodated in existing built space As firms add employees they may fit many of them into existing office spaces. That would occur if current vacancy rates were much higher than average (because future employment growth could then be partially accommodated in existing space until and natural, frictional vacancy rate was reached). It could also occur in occupied buildings through filling vacant cubicles or offices or increasing density of use existing workspaces (e.g., by adding new cubicles). There is no study that quantifies how much employment is commonly accommodated in existing built space over a 20-year period in a city. ? Potential range of assumption: There is no data that document the amount of employment locate in existing built space. Clearly some employment is accommodated through this type of intensification of use but, equally clearly, not all employment can be accommodated this way. ECO typically assumes that 5% to 10% of employment will be accommodated in existing built space. Obviously, such an assumption cannot apply indefinitely, so it presumes that (1) the use of existing space is not so intense that it cannot be economically increased, and (2) economic conditions, competitiveness, and standard business practices for reducing cost make a 5% to 10% increase in space utilization reasonable. ? CAC and TAC discussion: CAC and TAC have not discussed this assumption in great enough depth to have suggestions for different assumptions from more than one committee member.