River Road - Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan


River Road - Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan Overview

The neighborhood planning process is a collaborative effort among the River Road and Santa Clara Community Organizations, the City of Eugene, Lane County, and other stakeholders throughout both neighborhoods. This process will result in a neighborhood vision that will guide decision-making in River Road and Santa Clara for decades to come.


Adopted in 1987, the River Road-Santa Clara Urban Facilities Plan has governed land use and development in the River Road and Santa Clara communities for over 30 years and needs to be updated. The River Road - Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan will articulate the neighborhood vision in a goal and policy document. The plan will focus on five priority areas: Land Use, Transportation, Economic Development, Community and Parks and Natural Resources. You can learn more about the topic areas by visiting the Topic Area page.


The neighborhood plan will also include an Action Plan, containing implementation strategies to advance the determined policy direction. The final product, including policies, zone changes, and new development standards, will be adopted by the City of Eugene and Lane County to ensure action and long-term implementation.


River Road Corridor Study

Concurrently, a grant from the Federal Transit Administration has allowed us to conduct an in-depth analysis of the River Road corridor, from NW Expressway to Hunsaker Lane. The River Road Corridor Study includes stakeholder interviews, public workshops, economic and demographic research, and conceptual design work. The results of the study will include proposed land use code amendments along the corridor as well as other recommendations to support implementation of the neighborhood vision along River Road. See the Draft Preferred Zoning Concept Map here. 


Visit the Get Involved page to find out how you can be a part of the planning process!

Where are we in the planning process?

The River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan includes six phases - Reaching Out, Neighborhood Visioning, Neighborhood Priorities, Policy Development, Action Planning, and Adoption. 


Fall 2017-Summer 2018

On June 6th and 10th, 2018 nearly 300 residents attended two community events at North Eugene High School. They were asked to identify priorities in the five topic areas of the plan. In addition to these two events, we conducted targeted outreach to underrepresented communities and created an online version of the questionnaire. In total we heard from over 450 people! The Neighborhood Priority Report includes the results of these various forms of outreach. These neighborhood priorities will provide direction as we move into drafting policies and actions.

  • The Reaching Out, Visioning, and Neighborhood Priorities phases focused on raising awareness of the project and asking the community what they value now and what their hopes for the future are. This helped to establish community values and priorities to include in vision statements.

Fall 2018-Spring 2019

After laying the groundwork through the Reaching Out phase and the Neighborhood Priorities phase, we dove into writing draft goals, policies, and actions! The policy writing is led by the Community Advisory Committee and supported by staff on the Technical Advisory Committee. Working group member have also contributed many hours to policy development. At the Policy Round-Up on December 5, 2018, working group members reviewed the draft policies and sorted them into broad, cross-cutting themes. View the activity results to see how participants sorted the draft policies. At Community Event #3: Planning in Action, on April 6th and April 10th 2019, community members reviewed the draft policies and suggested additional action items. This community event marked the end of the Policy Development phase and the transition into action planning.

  • The Policy Development phase focused on drafting policies that relate to the vision and neighborhood priorities. The draft policies are organized under 18 high-level goals, which were written by the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) and vetted by Topic Area Working Groups and the community.
  • In May 2019, Eugene City Council and Lane County Board of Commissioners approved the draft goals and policies as a platform for moving into the Action Planning Phase, the current phase of the plan.

Spring 2019-Present

The Action Planning phase has focused on drafting, evaluating and prioritizing actions to implement the draft policies. Refining the action items has been a collaborative process among the Community Advisory Committee and City, County, and partner agency staff to incorporate community and technical feedback. The CAC and project staff are preparing the Action Plan with details such as who would be responsible for implementing the action and general estimates for cost , timeframe and feasibility as well as developing a strategy for ongoing implementation.

  • The Action Planning phase has focused on drafting, evaluating and prioritizing actions to implement the draft policies. Refining the action items has been a collaborative process among the CAC and City, County, and partner agency staff.
  • The CAC and project staff are preparing the Action Plan with details such as who would be responsible for implementing the action and general estimates for cost, timeframe and feasibility as well as developing a strategy for ongoing implementation.

What’s Next

  • Following the Action Planning Phase will be the Adoption phase - the final adoption of the River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan.

FAQs

There have been several recurring questions and comments in the input collected from neighbors. This section highlights those areas of interest and provides information and links to additional resources.


The City of Eugene’s Values for Public Engagement, as laid out in the neighborhood plan’s Public Involvement Plan, call for a transparent process that leads to sustained engagement. Residents are encouraged to use the provided links and contact information to follow up on the particular questions or issues that they are interested in. For an overall clarification of public services provided in the River Road-Santa Clara neighborhoods, this Guide to Urban Services is a great resource.


Please note that the topics included in these questions will not necessarily be addressed in the final neighborhood plan. Rather, this is meant to provide residents with information and resources to address questions that have emerged during the neighborhood planning process. 


FAQ on Annexations

Download the Annexation FAQ to learn more about when annexations take place and what decisions trigger annexation.


FAQ on House Bill 2001

Download this House Bill 2001 FAQ sheet or visit the webpage to learn how this will impact our ongoing neighborhood planning.

Contact Us

  1. Planning Division


    Chelsea Hartman
    Senior Planner
    99 W. 10th Avenue
    Eugene, OR 97401
    Ph: 541-682-5686
    Email