CC Minutes - 09/28/11 Work Session

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MINUTES Eugene City Council McNutt Room —City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon September 28, 2011 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, George Brown, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Mike Clark, Chris Pryor, Alan Zelenka, Pat Farr. In the absence of Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy, Council President Betty Taylor called the September 28, 2011, work session of the Eugene City Council to order. A. WORK SESSION: Envision Eugene: Housing and Industrial Lands Planning Director Lisa Gardner and Associate Planners Heather O'Donnell and Jason Dedrick joined the council for the item and Ms. O'Donnell led the council through a PowerPoint presentation entitled Envision Eugene: Project Update for City Council Work Session, September 28, 2011. The first presentation on housing highlighted the current ratio of 61:39 in the mix of single- family and multi- family housing and the key role the ratio played in determining housing need. The presentation included a review of the data that provided the basis for deciding the mix, which comprised reports and statistics, statewide trends, State planning law, and consistency with the Seven Pillars of Envision Eugene. The presentation also included information about Eugene housing trends as they related to household demographics as well as statistics about housing affordability that emphasized the lack of housing affordability in Eugene, particularly for low- income households. The presentation posited that an increase in the ratio of multi - family housing would help the State to meet the goals of its planning framework. Ms. O'Donnell then shared information about the trends in other Oregon communities that indicated those communities were moving toward a higher ratio of multi - family housing and contrasted Eugene's existing housing mix ratio to the ratios recommended by EcoNorthwest, the Housing Mix Subcommittee, the Technical Resource Group, the Planning Commission, the Sustainability Commission, and the Housing Policy Board. Ms. O'Donnell suggested that the Seven Pillars supported planning for multi - family housing and specifically cited the pillars related to housing affordability and compact development/transportation. Ms. O'Donnell said most of Eugene residents who earned less than 80 percent of the median family income were typically renters, were typically cost - burdened, and typically lived in multi - family housing. She believed it was reasonable to assume new multi - family housing could be built more affordably than new single- family housing. The staff analysis indicated the construction of multi - family housing now would increase multi - family housing stock overall in the future as well as increasing the amount of aged stock was typically more affordable than new housing. An increase in multi - family housing in conjunction with other strategies could help towards the deficit in the stock of affordable housing. Increasing the stock of multi - family housing would also help meet the City's goal for more compact development and was a key component of the transportation corridor strategy. MINUTES— Eugene City Council September 28, 2011 Page 1 Work Session