Jefferson area Metro Plan redesignatation
*** FLASH !!! -- March 12 ***
JWN Wins UNANIMOUS City Council victory to protect Jefferson neighborhood
On March 12, 2007, the City Council voted unanimously to adopt amendments to the Metro
Plan, Jefferson/Far West Refinement Plan, and Eugene Code to designate this area as
"low density residential", which will prohibit zone changes to R-2.
And so, at long last, the JWN has successfully fixed the "redesignation" that exposed a
fifteen block, single-family area of the Jefferson neighborhood to R-2 rezoning and grossly
incompatible infill. (More details below.)
===============
The full story
In February 2006, a 15-block, single-family section of the Jefferson neighborhood had its
Metro Plan designation changed from "Low Density Residential" to "Medium Density
Residential."
This change allowed “upzonings” that would permit intensive, multi-unit development
throughout the area. This meant a healthy, stable part of our neighborhood that has stood
the test of time for more than fifty years suddenly became vulnerable to triplexes and four-
plexes being jammed in backyards and alleys, ruining the privacy and peace of adjacent
families.
If not reversed, this redesignation would have had a dramatic, negative impact on
homeowners in the affected area, and yet it was slipped through by Eugene Planning
Division staff as a "housekeeping" action without any notice to residents, the Planning
commission, or City Council as to the substantive impacts of the redesignation.
Specifically, this redesignation allowed property owners to change the zoning of a lot in the
redesignated area from "R-1" to "R-2" zone.
R-1 is Eugene's single-family, low-density zone. Most lots are limited to one dwelling unit,
although corner lots can have duplexes and there is a provision for small secondary
dwellings (e.g., "granny flats") when the owner lives on the property.
R-2 is Eugene's multi-unit (e.g., apartments and condominiums), medium-density zone. It
allows 35' and higher buildings with up to 28 dwelling unit per acre. Typical lots in the
older sections of the Jefferson and Westside neighborhoods that are zoned R-2 allow 4 to
6 dwellings. R-2 development is grossly incompatible with the existing single-family
character of the redesignated area. (You can read more about the type of incompatible
and destabilizing infill development that R-2 allows here.)
At the March 14, 2006 general meeting, JWN members vote unanimously (48-0) to
request City Council impose a "moratorium" on zone changes in the affected area until
effective infill standards are adopted.
In July, the independent advocacy group, Jefferson and Westside Residents for Healthy
Neighborhoods (JWReHN) submitted a petition to City Council with 286 signatures
requesting action to prevent upzonings until standards were in place. The JWN co-chairs
(who are both also members of JWReHN) and many other residents have testified before
City Council in support of this effort.
The JWN Executive Board has been working since March 2006 to encourage Council
action on this request. The co-chairs met several times with Councilor Bonny Bettman,
four board members have met with the Planning and Development Department Director
and the former Interim Planning Director, and the co-chairs sent several letters to City
Council. The letters to City Council (below) provide more details on the board's
perspective and recommendations.
On several occasions, Bonny Bettman sought solutions from the City’s Planning staff.
Instead, staff refused to acknowledge the problem and resisted any action to address
residents’ concerns. Residents relentlessly took their case to the City Council, and on July
24, Council voted 6-1 (past City Councilor David Kelly cast the only opposing vote) to direct
staff to work with the JWN to bring back solutions.
After several weeks of frustrating effort in summer of 2006, the JWN co-chairs thought we
had an agreement for a simple approach that wasn’t perfect, but would mitigate the
problem if implemented in good faith and without delay. The proposal was basically to
amend land use plans and land use code to designate the area back to single-family until
effective infill standards could be adopted. As a stop-gap measure, while these
amendments worked their way through the hearings and adoption process, the Planning
Director would issue an “interpretation” that limited the allowable density to well below the
R-2 zone maximum.
The first warning that our agreement was not as solid as we thought came when Planning
Division staff would not let the co-chairs see in advance what they were sending to
councilors for the upcoming Council work session. When we saw the information a few
days before the meeting, we understood why. Staff had listed the proposed motions we
expected, but they had also included a “poison pill.” A sentence was added to require that
the modest effort needed to implement the amendments must be the number one, City-
wide priority over all other planning and land use tasks and projects the Planning Division
is working on. Staff further claimed this would require pulling resources from such
important and high priority items as the South Ridgeline Habitat Study (and others). In
conjunction with this maneuver, immediately before presenting the motion containing the
“poison pill,” staff listed five reasons Council should not take any action at all. (You can
read the staff document here.)
The tactic sowed confusion and concern among some councilors, and with David Kelly
working against the proposal, it went down 5-4.
This was an unnecessary and heartbreaking outcome, and reflected the total “disconnect”
of the Planning and Development Division management and some members of the
Planning Division staff from the real world of neighborhood residents. Residents of close-
in, heritage neighborhoods seem to be just numbers in some “density” scheme staff has
and lines on their maps. (Fortunately, since these events, a new Planning Director has
taken over. We're hopeful she will address the serious problems that exist in the Planning
Division.)
Residents and the JWN co-chairs didn't give up hope, though. The close vote didn't
necessarily indicate lack of support from the Council majority. We felt If the facts and
choices could be brought clearly to the table, a majority of Councilors would most likely
support the families whose homes and most important financial asset are currently at risk.
So the JWN co-chairs worked to have Council reconsider their August 16 action, which
they did at their September 11 meeting. (Read letter from JWN co-chairs.) Council passed
the following motion:
Initiate amendment of the Metro Plan, the Jefferson/Far West Refinement Plan and the
Land Use Code to limit the subject area to Low Density Residential development. In
addition, direct the City Manager to make this task one of the high priority tasks on the
Planning Commission work plan and to accomplish this as quickly as practicable within
the parameters of the amendment process. Unless Council takes further action with
regard to the subject area, the subject area shall revert to allow Low- to Medium-Density
Residential development on July 1, 2008.
(continued on page 2)
JWN Wins UNANIMOUS City Council victory to protect Jefferson neighborhood
On March 12, 2007, the City Council voted unanimously to adopt amendments to the Metro
Plan, Jefferson/Far West Refinement Plan, and Eugene Code to designate this area as
"low density residential", which will prohibit zone changes to R-2.
And so, at long last, the JWN has successfully fixed the "redesignation" that exposed a
fifteen block, single-family area of the Jefferson neighborhood to R-2 rezoning and grossly
incompatible infill. (More details below.)
===============
The full story
In February 2006, a 15-block, single-family section of the Jefferson neighborhood had its
Metro Plan designation changed from "Low Density Residential" to "Medium Density
Residential."
This change allowed “upzonings” that would permit intensive, multi-unit development
throughout the area. This meant a healthy, stable part of our neighborhood that has stood
the test of time for more than fifty years suddenly became vulnerable to triplexes and four-
plexes being jammed in backyards and alleys, ruining the privacy and peace of adjacent
families.
If not reversed, this redesignation would have had a dramatic, negative impact on
homeowners in the affected area, and yet it was slipped through by Eugene Planning
Division staff as a "housekeeping" action without any notice to residents, the Planning
commission, or City Council as to the substantive impacts of the redesignation.
Specifically, this redesignation allowed property owners to change the zoning of a lot in the
redesignated area from "R-1" to "R-2" zone.
R-1 is Eugene's single-family, low-density zone. Most lots are limited to one dwelling unit,
although corner lots can have duplexes and there is a provision for small secondary
dwellings (e.g., "granny flats") when the owner lives on the property.
R-2 is Eugene's multi-unit (e.g., apartments and condominiums), medium-density zone. It
allows 35' and higher buildings with up to 28 dwelling unit per acre. Typical lots in the
older sections of the Jefferson and Westside neighborhoods that are zoned R-2 allow 4 to
6 dwellings. R-2 development is grossly incompatible with the existing single-family
character of the redesignated area. (You can read more about the type of incompatible
and destabilizing infill development that R-2 allows here.)
At the March 14, 2006 general meeting, JWN members vote unanimously (48-0) to
request City Council impose a "moratorium" on zone changes in the affected area until
effective infill standards are adopted.
In July, the independent advocacy group, Jefferson and Westside Residents for Healthy
Neighborhoods (JWReHN) submitted a petition to City Council with 286 signatures
requesting action to prevent upzonings until standards were in place. The JWN co-chairs
(who are both also members of JWReHN) and many other residents have testified before
City Council in support of this effort.
The JWN Executive Board has been working since March 2006 to encourage Council
action on this request. The co-chairs met several times with Councilor Bonny Bettman,
four board members have met with the Planning and Development Department Director
and the former Interim Planning Director, and the co-chairs sent several letters to City
Council. The letters to City Council (below) provide more details on the board's
perspective and recommendations.
On several occasions, Bonny Bettman sought solutions from the City’s Planning staff.
Instead, staff refused to acknowledge the problem and resisted any action to address
residents’ concerns. Residents relentlessly took their case to the City Council, and on July
24, Council voted 6-1 (past City Councilor David Kelly cast the only opposing vote) to direct
staff to work with the JWN to bring back solutions.
After several weeks of frustrating effort in summer of 2006, the JWN co-chairs thought we
had an agreement for a simple approach that wasn’t perfect, but would mitigate the
problem if implemented in good faith and without delay. The proposal was basically to
amend land use plans and land use code to designate the area back to single-family until
effective infill standards could be adopted. As a stop-gap measure, while these
amendments worked their way through the hearings and adoption process, the Planning
Director would issue an “interpretation” that limited the allowable density to well below the
R-2 zone maximum.
The first warning that our agreement was not as solid as we thought came when Planning
Division staff would not let the co-chairs see in advance what they were sending to
councilors for the upcoming Council work session. When we saw the information a few
days before the meeting, we understood why. Staff had listed the proposed motions we
expected, but they had also included a “poison pill.” A sentence was added to require that
the modest effort needed to implement the amendments must be the number one, City-
wide priority over all other planning and land use tasks and projects the Planning Division
is working on. Staff further claimed this would require pulling resources from such
important and high priority items as the South Ridgeline Habitat Study (and others). In
conjunction with this maneuver, immediately before presenting the motion containing the
“poison pill,” staff listed five reasons Council should not take any action at all. (You can
read the staff document here.)
The tactic sowed confusion and concern among some councilors, and with David Kelly
working against the proposal, it went down 5-4.
This was an unnecessary and heartbreaking outcome, and reflected the total “disconnect”
of the Planning and Development Division management and some members of the
Planning Division staff from the real world of neighborhood residents. Residents of close-
in, heritage neighborhoods seem to be just numbers in some “density” scheme staff has
and lines on their maps. (Fortunately, since these events, a new Planning Director has
taken over. We're hopeful she will address the serious problems that exist in the Planning
Division.)
Residents and the JWN co-chairs didn't give up hope, though. The close vote didn't
necessarily indicate lack of support from the Council majority. We felt If the facts and
choices could be brought clearly to the table, a majority of Councilors would most likely
support the families whose homes and most important financial asset are currently at risk.
So the JWN co-chairs worked to have Council reconsider their August 16 action, which
they did at their September 11 meeting. (Read letter from JWN co-chairs.) Council passed
the following motion:
Initiate amendment of the Metro Plan, the Jefferson/Far West Refinement Plan and the
Land Use Code to limit the subject area to Low Density Residential development. In
addition, direct the City Manager to make this task one of the high priority tasks on the
Planning Commission work plan and to accomplish this as quickly as practicable within
the parameters of the amendment process. Unless Council takes further action with
regard to the subject area, the subject area shall revert to allow Low- to Medium-Density
Residential development on July 1, 2008.
(continued on page 2)
Letters to City Council
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Jefferson Westside Neighbors