Clear & Objective

In 2015, the City Council gave direction to housing projects as part of Envision Eugene’s urban growth boundary (UGB) process. These included establishing a baseline UGB, establishing urban reserves, growth monitoring and updating the City’s needed housing (clear and objective) regulations. Related to the City’s needed housing regulations, the Council specifically directed Opens a New Window.  Take the following steps:

 

• Update the City’s procedures and approval criteria for needed housing applications (applications to develop housing in areas identified for housing in the City’s BLI and HNA). 
• City consideration of proposed updates within one year of State acknowledgment of baseline UGB. 

The Clear & Objective Update was formally kicked-off in 2018 and involved extensive public outreach and engagement. The process led to the adoption of several amendments in 2021. They were then remanded back at the City for a single issue. The City is working on this matter and has scheduled a City Council Public Hearing for October 17, 2022.

Why Update Our Clear & Objective Approval Criteria?

Multiple factors contribute to the need to update the City’s existing land use application approval criteria and procedures for housing developments. Eugene will need approximately 15,000 homes to be built within the urban growth boundaries (UBB) by 2032 as a result of Envision Eugene. We will need to find a way to efficiently accommodate this growth while preserving the community’s values regarding livability, public health and safety, and natural resource protection.

Oregon Revised Statute 197.307(4) requires local governments to comply with the requirements of the Oregon Revised Statute. adopt and apply clear and objective standards, conditions, and procedures regulating the development of “needed housing.” This is so that communities don’t use subjective or discretionary criteria to reject housing projects. The clear and objective standards, conditions, and procedures can’t discourage housing through unreasonable cost or delay. This includes building height and setbacks that apply to housing when a building permit is issued. Also, land use criteria that apply for subdivisions, site reviews and conditional use permits as well as partitions, subdivisions, planned unit developments, and other housing-related activities.

Cities that have a clear and objective land use application approval path can also adopt alternative or “discretionary” approval criteria. To allow developers greater flexibility with housing development proposals, they may choose the alternative path. Eugene’s land use code provides two approval paths: a clear and object path and a discretionary path. 

Since 2002, our clear and objective land-use application approval criteria have not changed. Existing approval criteria are perceived by some as barriers to providing the housing our community needs, and others believe they do not do enough to address our community’s values regarding livability, public health and safety, and natural resource protection.

Many legal challenges have been brought up in appeals of land-use decisions. These cases have challenged the objective and clear nature of our approval criteria. Appealing against development criteria is expensive and can lead to uncertainty in the development process. Our community cannot address the root issues if the criteria are removed by the legal process. 

We need to reevaluate and update our current clear and objective approval standards to achieve these goals. 

• We can accommodate growth on the lands that are available within our UGB
• Provide a clear and objective route to land use approvals for all housing, as required under State law
• guide future development in a way that reflects our community’s values

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