[NLC] thoughts on Envision Eugene -hearing tonight- Tuesday 2/22/2011

[Kevin Matthews]

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Following are some personal thoughts regarding the emerging Envision Eugene plan, and the important public hearing on it this evening:

   Envision Eugene Public Hearing
   7:30pm on Tuesday
   February 22, 2011
   City Council Chamber
   Eugene City Hall
   http://www.envisioneugene.org

It's hard to know what to say, because there is so much in play and so much at stake. And the process is in an emergent, in between stage which is hard to see and not easy to describe.

I think the bottom line is this:

It is really important for the Eugene City Council to hear directly from as many people as possible, in your own words, just how much you care that we retain the current urban growth boundary (UGB), and that we focus our growth over the next twenty years (from a population of 179,000 to a projected population of 213,000) in the core commercial areas of Eugene, focusing in the inner half of the urban growth area with redevelopment in commercial zones with high-quality mixed-use buildings, to protect established neighborhoods and remaining natural habitat areas, while increasing overall housing affordability, walkability, and livability.

The good news is that this essential vision, in which Eugene clearly changes direction in how we plan for growth, so that we really do start to grow inward *where appropriate* and become a stronger community in the process, is entirely compatible with the emerging vision in the "seven pillars" document that the City Council is being asked to endorse and fill in.

Our challenge is that many forces of business-as-usual, in public agencies, in private industry, in development lobbying groups, and even among environmental activists have great potential to water down, divert, deflect, and ultimately compromise the plan to where it won't lead to the change we need.

WHAT WILL MAKE THE DIFERENCE

Most of the Eugene City Councilors haven't been to the public open houses and forums; haven't been to long neighborhood discussions, haven't been through more than a dozen day-long meetings as part of the COmmunity Resource Group (CRG).  

Some of them use words that don't show they grasp yet the essential difference between finding a good compromise - splitting the difference between opposing views so no one wins, no one loses - and what we can actually do here, which is forge a new, win-win outcome for the community overall and in parts.

This is not about compromise.  It is about change, making the right change, the change we need in these challenging times.

Most of the Eugene City Council will not cast their votes on Envision Eugene based on finely-argued technical details - even though Friends of Eugene makes a huge investment of effort to help the process get things right technically.

Conservative or progressive, they are not technical planners.  They will respond more to their sense of the community, than to the fine details of the arguments.

If the Eugene City Council doesn't hear from the voices that support decisive change to a truly sustainable growth pattern, the tendency will be to slouch back toward the false safety of business-as-usual. 

If the Eugene City Council does hear from you, firm and clear, that now is the time to walk our talk and make a decisively sustainable Envision Eugene plan... THEN they will be willing and able to hear the technical details it really takes to forge the effective plan for prosperous change that our community needs.

You need to make it safe for the Eugene City Council to step up and take the risk of decisive change, from plans that sound sustainable, to plans that really are sustainable.

- To plans that FIRMLY protect our established neighborhoods, surrounding farmland, and remaining natural habitat areas.

- To plans that will gradually convert our sprawling, low density commercial areas, downtown and across the inner half of the UGB, into more productive, livable, walkable mixed-use urban neighborhoods.

- To plans that will reduce our vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) by putting growth in those commercial areas in the inner half of the UGB, so we have a chance of reducing our community carbon footprint.

TALKING POINTS

- Ask for a housing mix of 40% single-family-detached, 60% everything else.  This is the right mix demographically, it will fit the real housing market, and we need it to stay inside the UGB.
- Ask for no UGB expansion for residential lands.  Yes, we CAN make this work!
- Ask for firm, unwavering, protections for our established neighborhoods.
   - Transition zones between mixed-use and residential areas must not add density to the residential side unless the residents and the neighborhood associations want it.
   - The "Opportunity Siting" process must not add density in residential zoned areas unless the residents and the neighborhood associations want it.
- Ask that as we densify, it becomes essential to provide parks, protect our inside-the-UGB natural areas, and to always work toward improving residential affordability.
- Remind the Council that the consensus "New Vision for West Eugene" by the West Eugene Collaborative full-spectrum community project provides a clear roadmap for how to grow better, not just bigger.

BACKGROUND

You can read the current draft pillars, the current proposal to the City Council, online at:
  http://www.friendsofeugene.org/files/EE_Pillars_Draft_02-01-11.pdf

I think it is time for a clear change in how we grow Eugene, and that's what I want to see happen through Envision Eugene.  A clear change of direction, in the right direction, might be my litmus test for the whole big EE project.

The West Eugene Collaborative consensus report is a really important piece, painting out a broad, well-balanced overview representing many interests, is online here:
   http://www.eugeneneighbors.org/w/images/a/a4/WEC_Report_Final_3_18_09.pdf

You can find a background essay on how to create a win-win approach to growing better, not bigger, while protecting our existing resources and assets - by putting a big chunk of our growth into high-quality mixed-use buildings located in our existing underused commercial areas - in the July 2009 SEN Newsletter, online:
  Infill, Climate Change, and Our Neighborhood
  http://www.southeastneighbors.org/files/SEN_Newsletter_20090702-01.pdf

Another background piece at the technical planning level on why it is so important to concentrate our growth in the inner half of the urban growth boundary - using a win-win approach to neighborhood preservation - is online here:
  On 'Travel and the Built Environment' 
  http://www.architectureweek.com/2010/0818/

It's more than ten years since Eugene as a city took a serious look at our growth plan and policies.  In these challenging times, I think it's more important than ever for us to work together as a community to get it right this time.

We'll keep working on all this stuff over the coming weeks and months.

Tonight is a chance to say what you feel, to the eight-plus-one people with the actual hands-on votes on Eugene's future.

Good luck!

with best wishes,

Kevin




----- Begin forwarded message -----
From: Kevin Matthews <matthews at artifice.com>
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2011 21:33:42 -0800
To: FoE Members <foe_members at friendsofeugene.org>
Cc: Friends of Eugene Board of Directors <foe_board at friendsofeugene.org>
Subject: [FoE-M] Tuesday - Envision Eugene Public Hearing - 2/22/2011

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I'd like to be sure everyone knows about the important public hearing this Tuesday evening on Envision Eugene, the City's planning process for the next 20 years of growth in Eugene:

   Envision Eugene Public Hearing
   7:30pm on Tuesday
   February 22, 2011
   City Council Chamber
   Eugene City Hall
   http://www.envisioneugene.org

City staff will have an information table for questions, starting at 6 pm for the February 22 hearing.

I'm not going to be able to speak at the Tuesday hearing, due to a personal schedule conflict, so we're counting especially on members of the progressive planning community to speak up and express our environmentally-conscious, sustainability-oriented vision for Eugene.  

I will be submitting written testimony for the hearing, based on participation in the collaborative Community Resource Group you may have heard about as well continuing work in its committees and in many related staff and community conversations.  

And I will be following up on requests for an outline of some important points that could be discussed in testimony, whether written or in-person on Tuesday.  Given how much is going on, that email is likely to circulate sometime late Monday night.

Things are moving fast right now on this crucial long-range planning framework.  After the hearing on Feb, 22, the City Council will have its second work session at 5:30pm on Monday, Feb. 28 (in the McNutt Room), and they are likely to vote on key aspects of the planning framework during the 5:30p, work session on Monday, March 14.

So this hearing, this Tuesday, seems to represent the one formal chance for input to the City Council, on the record, before positions are set on much of the vision in Envision Eugene.

If you care about getting serious on redevelopment of our core commercial areas with high-quality mixed-use buildings, providing more modern places to live in the inner half of the metropolitan area so we can maintain the current UGB and reduce our community carbon footprint while protecting established neighborhoods and remaining natural habitat areas, increasing overall housing affordability, walkability, and livability - then this hearing is a key time to let your voice be heard.

Whether or not you can speak on Tuesday, written testimony can be submitted up to 7:30pm on Tuesday by email to Lisa Gardner, City of Eugene Planning Director, "Lisa.A.Gardner at ci.eugene.or.us".

with best wishes,

Kevin Matthews
President
Friends of Eugene
matthews at artifice.com






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