River Road - Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan

Share Your Feedback on the Final Draft Neighborhood Plan!

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 is ready to present the draft Neighborhood Plan back to the neighbors who inspired it.

The documents proposed for adoption or approval by the City Council and Board of Commissioners include:

Draft RRSC Neighborhood Plan
Draft RRSC Action Plan
Draft Neighborhood-specific Code Amendments (Summary and Full Text)

We are looking for your feedback on how well the Neighborhood Plan captures your community vision and priorities. Join an upcoming meeting or share your thoughts, questions, and ideas for improvement on the Engage Eugene Project Page.

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.

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.

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.

Adoption

In March 2023, the Community Advisory Committee approved bringing the draft plan and code documents out for community feedback. Community members have the opportunity to get up to speed and share feedback throughout the Adoption Phase.

Community input will help 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.

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.