River Road - Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan

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Plan Adoption

Launched in fall 2017, the neighborhood planning process has been a collaborative effort among community members, River Road Community Organization (RRCO), Santa Clara Community Organization (SCCO), City of Eugene, Lane County, and other stakeholders throughout both neighborhoods.

After five phases and countless volunteer and staff hours, neighborhood planning has entered the final phase – Adoption! After years of gathering community input for the visions, goals, and policies in the Neighborhood Plan, the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) made their recommendation to the Eugene and Lane County Planning Commissions to approve the Neighborhood Plan, Action Plan, and Neighborhood-specific Code Amendments with some small staff and community-generated revisions.

The CAC recommendation was informed by unanimous recommendations from both the River Road and Santa Clara community organizations earlier in July.

These recommendations bring neighborhood planning one step closer to adoption! Staff made refinements to the draft plan documents in alignment with the community recommendations before bringing an updated version to both Planning Commissions for a joint public hearing.


Share Your Testimony with Planning Commission

At 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 17, 2023, the Eugene and Lane County Planning Commissions will jointly hold a public hearing.

Eugene and Lane County are considering amendments to the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan (Metro Plan) to adopt the River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan and repeal the 1987 River Road-Santa Clara Urban Facilities Plan. Eugene is also considering neighborhood-specific land use code amendments within the River Road and Santa Clara neighborhood boundaries (these changes would only apply to properties within city limits).

City and County officials are now formally accepting written comments on these proposals and will be accepting spoken testimony on the proposals during a virtual public hearing.

  • Written Testimony: Send a written statement to the Eugene and/or Lane County Planning Commissions, c/o Elena Domingo, City of Eugene Planning Division, 99 West 10th Avenue, Eugene, OR 97401.
  • Email Testimony: Send e-mail testimony to RRSCPlan@eugene-or.gov.
  • Spoken Testimony: Attend the virtual public hearing at 6:00 p.m. on October 17, 2023, and provide spoken testimony. Your spoken testimony will be recorded. Instructions for providing testimony during the public hearing will be provided during the hearing. The Planning Commissions may limit the time for each speaker to a few minutes. You are encouraged to submit written testimony prior to the close of the public hearing if you have detailed comments you wish to make.

To be included in the agenda packet for the October 17, 2023 public hearing, your written or email statement must be received by staff no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday October 6, 2023. Testimony received after 5:00 p.m. on October 6 will be provided to the Planning Commissions but the Commissioners may not have as much time to review it prior to the public hearing. 

All public testimony received will also be forwarded to the Eugene City Council and Lane County Board of Commissioners for their consideration before any final action is taken. 

The complete agenda, meeting materials, and staff report for the joint public hearing will be available for viewing by 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, on the Eugene Planning Commission webpage and on the Lane County Planning Commission webpage.

Neighborhood Planning

The River Road and Santa Clara Community Organizations, City and County staff,  and neighborhood volunteers have been working together since the spring of 2017 to create a neighborhood plan for the River Road and Santa Clara neighborhoods. The earlier phases of the neighborhood planning process focused on outreach and engagement, asking community members what they value in their neighborhoods now and about their hopes and visions for the future. The community input was used by the CAC and Topic Area Working Groups to draft goals and policies in the Neighborhood Plan that reflect the neighborhood priorities under five Topic Areas - Land Use, Economic Development, Transportation, Parks and Natural Resources, and Community. 

Read the Draft River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan. 

Neighborhood Plan Cover Capture

Action Planning

The Action Plan includes community identified actions that are possible strategies to implement the adopted policies in the Neighborhood Plan. The Action Plan will guide implementation of the Neighborhood Plan incrementally over the long-term and will require continued coordination between the City, County, River Road and Santa Clara communities, and other community partners, as well as advocacy for additional resources.

Read the Draft River Road-Santa Clara Action Plan.

Action Plan - Cover Capture

Neighborhood-specific Code Amendments

This set of proposed code changes amends the Low Density Residential (R-1) and Community Commercial (C-2) zones to incorporate the most critical items originally included in the Draft River Road Corridor Code and important to the neighborhoods. This includes building height limits, expanding farm sales opportunities, prohibiting or limiting certain auto-oriented uses, and adding transition standards between commercial and residential zones.

Read the Draft Neighborhood-specific Code Amendments.

Neighborhood-specific Code Amendments Cover

Adoption Timeline

In March 2023, the Community Advisory Committee approved bringing the draft plan and code documents out for community feedback. You can review the Adoption Phase Feedback Summary Report here, including staff recommended revisions to the draft Neighborhood Plan and Action Plan, as well as a summary of survey responses.

Community helped inform recommendations from the River Road and Santa Clara Community Organizations and the Community Advisory Committee, which will be shared with the Eugene and Lane County Planning Commissions as part of the formal adoption process. There will be additional opportunities for input, including a joint public hearing with both Planning Commissions, who will each form recommendations to City Council and the Lane County Board of Commissioners. The Council and Board will also hold a joint public hearing, and then will separately deliberate and take action on the Neighborhood Plan and Code Amendments.

Adoption Phase Timeline v042723


Implementation

Adoption of the Neighborhood Plan is a key step in implementing the community vision and sets the policy direction for ongoing collaboration. The River Road and Santa Clara communities will continue to represent the Neighborhood Plan and collaborate with City and County staff as on-going implementation and advocacy occurs. Neighborhood Plan representatives from the River Road and Santa Clara community organizations will meet with key City and County staff during an annual coordination and information sharing meeting.

Though being in the Action Plan doesn’t guarantee that these actions occur, it does help agency staff apply for funding and prioritize and recommend projects when considering city-wide needs. The actions will also help guide the community when advocating for implementation and identifying community priorities as they change.

Read the Adoption Phase Overview. 

  1. What is the River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan?
  2. Why are we developing a neighborhood plan for the River Road and Santa Clara neighborhoods?
  3. What will the Neighborhood Plan do?
  4. What is the Action Plan? How does it support the Neighborhood Plan?
  5. What happens after adoption? What does Plan implementation look like?
  6. What changes might affect the River Road and Santa Clara neighborhoods?
View All

Contact Us

  1. Planning Division

    Terri Harding
    Principal Planner
    99 W. 10th Avenue
    Eugene, OR 97401
    Ph: 541-682-5635
    Fx: 541-682-5572

    Email