Item B:Ordinance on EWEB Downtown Riverfront Property

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June 21, 2013 To: Eugene City Council From: Anita Van Asperdt, Landscape Architect and Master Plan Community Advisory Team Member Re: Support for EWEB Riverfront Master Plan and Code Amendments. I highly support the adaptation of the Master Plan for the EWEB Riverfront. There are two key reasons for my support and my recommendation that City Council moves to support the Master Plan and needed Code Amendments. First, the plan represents what the majority of the population of Eugene likes to see happening at the riverfront. Second, the plan recommends sound and globally recognized sustainable solutions thus bringing Eugene closer to being a sustainable city. The Master Plan was developed over the course of two years during which a Community Advisory Team (CAT) —of which I was a member- met every two weeks to give feedback to the designers we helped select. The CAT was comprised of a very diverse group of people so that they could reasonable represent a broad segment of the Eugene population. Some of the members were selected by EWEB and some, including myself, by the Eugene City Council. As one on the members selected by the Eugene City Council I can vouch that the involvement of the CAT has been very important to ensure that the Master Plan represents what a majority of the people of Eugene want to see happening at our riverfront. Furthermore, an AIA- sponsored design charrette, interviews with stakeholder groups and hundreds of individuals, community presentations, and four, well- attended workshops helped gain critical insights and public feedback on multiple design concepts to ultimately achieve a Downtown Riverfront Master Plan with broad -based community support. As a professional landscape architect and urban designer as well as a private citizen I have never witnessed a better and more involved public input process. This leads me to believe that the Master Plan truly represents the wishes of the Eugene Community. To me the sustainable aspects of the plan are of enormous importance. What is proposed is a mix -used area and green open spaces where now there is only asphalt, concrete and steep riverbanks that are dominated with invasive plants (Himalayan Black Berry). The conversion of so called brown fields (former industrial lands) into a sustainable neighborhood is a move that is well recognized around the globe as an important step towards sustainable living; a way of living that will ensure that future generations can enjoy at minim the same quality of live as we are able to enjoy today. The plan proposes integration of urban and natural systems using