Item B: Walnut Station Mixed-Use Center

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ATTACHMENT A Planning & Development Planning City of Eugene th 99 West 10 Avenue Memorandum Eugene, Oregon 97401 (541) 682-5377 (541) 682-5572 FAX www.eugene-or.gov Date: May 12, 2010 To: Eugene Planning Commission From: Lydia McKinney, Metro and Community Planner Subject: Walnut Station; Staff Response to April 20, 2010 Public Hearing Comments This memorandum provides a response to testimony submitted at and within the open record period for the public hearing on April 20, 2010, as well as to questions from the Planning Commission after the hearing. The issues raised by the Commission and in testimony are summarized into eleven categories below in bold followed by staff response. 1.Compensation for property acquisition: The University of Oregon, while expressing overall support for the proposed amendments, expressed a desire to work with the City to assure reasonable compensation when the city acquires University property for the multiway boulevard. The current proposal does not include purchasing university property for the multiway boulevard, but establishes a special setback to prevent construction of buildings within the area needed for future construction. The City will engage affected property owners in discussion regarding compensation at the time funding for construction of the street has been secured. It is standard policy for the City to provide fair-market value for property acquisition. 2.Appeal Body for Design Review applications: Both the University of Oregon and the Chamber of Commerce support maintaining the current appeals process for Type II land use applications, which designates the Hearings Official as the appeal body, rather than changing the appeal body to the Planning Commission as discussed previously. While the initial proposal was for appeals to go to the Planning Commission, and the Fairmount Neighborhood Association supports that approach, staff is recommending appeals to the Hearings Official based on a majority of stakeholders’ opinions and consistency in Type II land use application processing. 3.Addressing use in the form based code: At the hearing and in subsequent testimony, some concerns have been raised regarding permitted uses in the form based code being allowed outright or not having proper land use or associated public processes. The premise of form based codes is to de-emphasize land uses and rather focus on building and site design standards, placing a greater emphasis on the physical character of development. The design standards that are applied through the form based code do regulate uses to some degree. For example, the design Staff Response to April 20, 2010 Public Hearing Page 1 of 7