Parks and Natural Resources
Most Recent Version of Draft Vision Statement, Goals, Policies, and Actions
Draft Vision Statement
River Road and Santa Clara celebrate a rich diversity of private and shared green spaces, including parks for recreation, natural areas that support native plants and wildlife, and farmland for food production. All residents have a clean, safe, accessible and well maintained park or recreation facility close to their home. Residents have access to the Willamette River, which is celebrated as a natural asset, a defining characteristic of both neighborhoods, and a statewide resource to be protected for future generations. Natural assets, such as the tree canopy, soils and the watershed, are highly valued and cared for as natural infrastructure that enhances ecosystem health, provides opportunities for recreation, and supports the working landscape.
Draft Goals
Goal 7: Provide natural areas which are healthy, thriving spaces that provide habitat for native species and function as natural infrastructure.
Goal 8: Provide neighborhood access to recreational opportunities, parks, and community centers.
Goal 9: Make the Willamette River a vital, healthy and accessible part of the neighborhoods.
Goal 10: Preserve agricultural land and open spaces within and around our neighborhood boundaries.
Draft Policies and Actions
Review the most recent draft policies and actions for the Parks and Natural Resources Goals below.
Click on each draft goal, policy, or action to provide feedback!
Tell us what you like, what you have concerns about, or questions you may have about these drafts.
Goal 7
Provide natural areas which are healthy, thriving spaces that provide habitat for native species and function as natural infrastructure.
7.1
Stormwater Conveyances: Enhance natural stormwater conveyances, including lesser waterways not protected by Goal 5 or WQ regulations, to reduce pollution, increase infiltration, protect against flooding and improve habitat through local land use regulations, incentives and programs.
7.1.1
Determine extent of surface waterway drainage system necessary for stormwater functions, considering future impacts of climate change.
7.1.2
Identify, protect and enhance waterways that are not currently protected:
a. Public Easements - Identify location of easements and which easements are protected by goal 5 or goal 6 (WQ).
b. Pursue County adoption of Goal 5 and Goal 6 (WQ) protections for parcels inside neighborhood boundaries.
7.1.3
Enhance natural infrastructure of publicly owned stormwater waterways through selective revegetation with native plants.
7.1.4
Create a program of tax incentives for private landowners of recognized stormwater conveyances who create long term natural infrastructure improvements.
7.1.5
Create a program to provide native plants free of charge to private landowners for waterway revegetation of stormwater conveyances.
7.2
Education: Educate the public about the interconnectedness of function and safety in our natural stormwater system.
7.2.1
Collaborate with the city for technical assistance in teaching appropriate vegetative management of waterways through information sharing, demonstrations, and volunteer opportunities on proximate waterways.
7.2.2
Encourage and enable planting more trees through education of the value of mature tree canopy for multiple benefits of air quality, water quality, habitat, water temperature control, stormwater uptake and ambient temperature control.
7.2.3
Teach value of “function stacking” in relation to waterways (better vegetation=better habitat=better water quality outcomes=better flood control).
7.2.4
Identify lots encumbered with waterways and work with the City to create informational material that automatically gets sent to a property owner when the lot sells notifying about existing waterway on the property and providing information about use restrictions, setbacks, and best practices.. Materials tailored to individual or developer. "waterways welcome wagon."
7.3
Habitat Corridors: Create new and enhance existing habitat corridors throughout River Road and Santa Clara.
7.3.1
Identify volunteers and funding to map existing habitat corridors, identify gaps in connectivity, and catalogue present day baseline of species diversity.
7.4
Public Natural Areas: Provide natural areas, including the Willamette River Greenway, accessible to all residents (may include public land not designated as parks).
7.4.1
Identify natural areas on public lands and collaborate with public agencies to manage with ecological values in mind.
7.4.2
Minimize light pollution in natural areas through better lighting fixtures and more sensitive placement.
7.4.3
Find stable funding for maintenance without the use of pesticides or herbicides. (this is a priority!)
7.5
Tree canopy: Promote, conserve, protect and improve our urban forest, while flexibly accommodating a diverse range of land ownerships, uses and activities.
7.5.1
Preserve and increase street tree plantings wherever possible.
7.5.2
Encourage planting of trees on private property through education and incentives, collaborate with Friends of Trees (ie providing trees or some of the cost for trees).
Goal 8
Provide neighborhood access to recreational opportunities, parks, and community centers.
8.1
Parks Access and Maintenance: Plan for all residents have access to parks or publicly owned open space within 1/2-mile walking distance
8.1.1
Continue to acquire neighborhood park spaces within ½ mile of all residents.
8.1.2
Continue to develop, with neighborhood input, neighborhood parks already in park inventory, but currently lacking amenities. Include facilities for children.
8.1.3
Include natural areas as part of neighborhood parks.
8.1.4
Create walking paths through natural areas.
8.1.5
Support plantings of fruit and nut trees in parks, specifically: along river path.
8.1.6
Purchase and develop an urban plaza for residents, perhaps at new Lane Transit District transfer station site.
8.2
Connectivity: Improve connectivity between parks, natural areas and public open spaces
8.2.1
Pursue opportunities for purchase of land, easements, or other agreements for connectivity
8.2.2
Continue the West Bank Multi Use Path northward through Santa Clara and beyond.
8.2.3
Work with rural residents to craft a vision for a greenbelt/agricultural parkway using existing paths, streets, and pedestrian ways to create a way through and around Santa Clara for alternative transportation.
8.2.4
Promote an ethic of neighborhood pride around enhancing habitat corridors by providing education to private land owners and collaboration between neighbors.
8.3
Recreational Opportunities and Community Centers: Enhance equitable access to safe and well-maintained recreational opportunities and community centers
8.3.1
Work with the City of Eugene to preserve Santa Clara Schoolhouse on Community park property for use by Santa Clara residents.
8.3.2
Promote the creation of a community center in Santa Clara.
8.3.3
Provide facilities and programming for all ages and abilities of residents. See Goal 17 for more details.
Goal 9
Make the Willamette River a vital, healthy and accessible part of the neighborhoods.
9.1
Safe and Convenient Access: Provide safe and convenient access to the riverbank park system for pedestrians and bicyclists. (see Transportation 6.5)
9.2
Stewardship of the Willamette River Ecosystem.
9.2.1
Evaluate long range plans for the Willamette River (including Lane County and the McKenzie River Trust), determine goals consistent with the Neighborhood Plan, and partner to implement common goals. (also see 7.3.1)
9.2.2
Support efforts to maintain the Greenway as a riparian area and wildlife corridor, identify the high value areas for ecosystem management, and work to enlarge the Water Resources Conservation areas to enhance high value areas.
9.2.3
Work with Delta Sand and Gravel to transfer ownership or easement to City of Eugene and/or Lane County for short term multi use path extension and long term eventual park/natural area possibility.
9.2.4
Partner with local river conservation/preservation groups to meet goals and promote volunteer work parties along the river greenway through participation incentives (example: Willamette River Keepers, McKenzie River Trust).
9.2.5
Create an interactive web page promoting the riverine opportunities in the River Road and Santa Clara neighborhoods.
9.3
Recreational Uses: Promote recreational uses along the river’s edge.
9.3.1
Improve access to and function of boat ramp under Beltline overpass.
9.3.2
Develop more canoe/kayak access points along the river’s edge.
9.3.3
Promote recreational programming along the river’s edge to include, but not be limited to: food or produce market, music/theatre events, running and/or biking events, fishing and/or fishing education, wading access and weekend docents.
9.3.4
Create intermittent informational displays along the river highlighting the history, geology and ecology of the river.
9.3.5
Install more benches along the path.
Goal 10
Preserve agricultural land and open spaces within and around our neighborhood boundaries.
10.1
Agricultural Land Preservation outside the UGB: Preserve high value farmland outside the current UGB exclusively for farm use.
10.1.1
Incorporate agricultural land preservation into all long range planning at municipal and county levels.
10.1.2
Investigate potential changes to state law and Lane Code to limit non-agricultural development on type l and ll soils to protect agricultural
10.1.3
Investigate feasibility of amending Land Code zoning regulations to limit non-agricultural development to rural densities, uses and development patterns in order to reduce conflict with existing farm uses.
10.1.4
Investigate the Creation and funding of a farmland preservation program centered around the transfer of development rights and conservation easements.
10.1.5
Develop local incentives to support small farm owners in order to preserve a buffer between EFU zoned land and land within the UGB.
10.1.6
Pursue creation of land classification that permanently protects prime farmland adjacent to the current UGB i.e. rural reserves.
10.2
Open Space Preservation: Promote a network of publicly and privately owned open space
10.2.1
Identify publicly owned land operating as open space currently.
10.2.2
Identify parcels of privately owned open space valued by community as open space currently and target for future public acquisition.
10.2.3
Form an “appreciation brigade” to express acknowledgment of the value of privately owned open space to landowners.
10.3
Agricultural enterprises within the UGB: promote agricultural enterprises within the UGB through local land use regulations, incentives and collaboration with private property owners.
10.3.1
Create small scale urban agricultural enterprise zoning (i.e. tax incentive for land in UGB used for food production).
10.3.2
Allow property owners who control more than ½ acre of undeveloped land to apply for and receive a property tax credit for that portion of land specifically dedicated to small scale commercial agricultural food production.
10.3.3
Amend zoning to explicitly allow the vending of farm produce at the address where it was produced and permit small scale collective sale of neighborhood grown produce.
10.3.4
Facilitate and encourage conversion of open space on church properties to food production. Encourage churches to de-pave oversized parking areas and replace with agriculture, rain gardens and native plants.
10.3.5
Allow for increased opportunities for urban animal husbandry while balancing compatibility with neighboring uses
Parks & Recreation Working Group Materials
December 5, 2018
Working group members reviewed the draft policies by sorting them into cross-cutting themes and identifying gaps.
- Meeting Handout: Full list of draft goals, policies and actions
- Meeting Results:: Draft policies sorted by theme
September 27, 2018
At the September 27 working group meeting, working group members, their Community Advisory Committee leaders, and Technical Advisory Committee members provided their final edits to the draft goals. They then began consolidating and reworking the draft policies that were submitted.
August 28, 2018
At the August 28 working group meeting, participants signed up to write draft policies under each goal using the accompanying worksheets. Goals on these worksheets reflect the August draft of the goals, which have been updated by working group members since.
Working group members will also use the following documents while drafting goals, policies and actions.
- Worksheet Glossary (A cheat sheet with definitions and a guide to completing the worksheet)
- Parks and Natural Resources Data packet (Data collected over the course of the fall related to parks and natural resources)
April 23, 2018
- Parks and Natural Resources Action Planning
- Parks and Natural Resources Vision Themes (Produced at the March 20, 2018 workshop)
March 20, 2018
- SCRRIPT Vision Statements (created in 2015)
- Summary of "Value Now" Activity
- Parks and Natural Resources Values Statements (Produced at the February 7, 2018 workshop)
February 7, 2018
Want to learn about ongoing parks projects in River Road-Santa Clara?
- Check out the Eugene Parks and Recreation System Plan Planning District Summary for River Road-Santa Clara
- View Parks and Recreation Bond Projects in River Road and Santa Clara
- Get involved in active projects such as the Santa Clara Community Park and the East Santa Clara Waterway
- Volunteer for Lane County Parks Projects at Hileman Park and Whitely Landing.