Urban Reserves

Moving into the Adoption Process

Urban Reserves Timeline Phases

With the help of many stakeholders, a range of Urban Reserve Options were under review since June 2020--by the public, Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee, Eugene Planning Commission, Lane County Planning Commission, Eugene City Council and Lane County Board of Commissioners. We received consistent direction on an Urban Reserve area from City and County decision-makers, and are moving into the formal adoption process. Read more on this direction below. 

For complete information on Urban Reserves, please see  the interactive Urban Reserve Options Story Map, review the project information below, or go to our  Engage Eugene page. 

Lane County Board of Commissioners Direction

On November 10, 2020, the Lane County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a motion to support the Eugene City Council’s initiation of a public review and adoption process to consider the establishment of Urban Reserves as described in Option 3, the 27-Year Option. Option 3 includes almost 6,000 acres of land, enough to meet approximately 27 years of growth beyond 2032, and strives to protect our highest value soils by removing from consideration all agricultural properties with predominant Class 1 land and directly adjacent agricultural properties with predominant Class 2 land.

Eugene City Council Direction

On October 21, 2020, the Eugene City Council passed a motion, in a 7 - 1 vote, to support Urban Reserve Option 3, which includes enough land to meet approximately 27 years of growth beyond 2032.  The City Council’s direction is consistent with the recommendation made by the Eugene Planning Commission, the Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee’s recommendation to staff, the majority of public input, and the City Manager’s recommendation. Prior to passing the motion, the City Council held a work session on October 12, 2020, to allow for additional time to ask questions and receive information. You can watch the work session here.

City Council and County Board of Commissioners Joint Work Session

On September 21, 2020, staff presented four Urban Reserves Options to the Eugene City Council and Lane County Board of Commissioners at a joint work session. Staff also shared recommendations from the Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee (EETAC), Eugene Planning Commission, Lane County Planning Commission, and the results of our Virtual Open House survey.

Planning Commission Recommendations

The Eugene and Lane County Planning Commissions each recommended an Urban Reserve option for the City Council and the Lane Board of County Commissioners to consider before making a final decision.

  • On August 17th the Eugene Planning Commission voted 7-0 to recommend the 27-Year option 
  • On August 18th the Lane County Planning Commission voted 5-3 to recommend the 30-Year Option with a plan policy requiring the Class 1 and 2 farm land in the Awbrey subarea to be the last of the urban reserve land to be considered for expansion of Eugene’s urban growth boundary

Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee Recommendation

On July 16, 2020, after seventeen meetings over the course of 22 months, the Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee (EETAC) provided their final input and recommendation to staff on the Urban Reserve Options under consideration. Two motions were passed. The first supports the urban reserves analysis as technically sound. The second motion supports the recommendation of Option 3, the 27-year option, that preserves Class 1 and adjacent Class 2 land, with the acknowledgement that the year-range is an estimate based on current population forecasts and existing land use code.

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Check Out the Four Urban Reserves Options

Click on the thumbnails below for a downloadable PDF.

UR Suitability Map 30 Reduced (1)
UR Suitability Map 29 Reduced
UR Suitability Map 27 Reduced
UR Suitability Map 10 Reduced (1)

Way to Share Your Input!

Thank you to the 1,300+ visitors to our Virtual Open House! The Urban Reserves Options Survey is now closed. Here is a downloadable PDF of survey results. If you missed the survey, it's not too late to share your input! You can still provide public comment, contact staff, or ask questions using the Q&A feature on the Urban Reserves Engage Eugene page.

Overview FAQ
Overview FAQ (1)
Overview FAQ (2)
Overview FAQ (3)
How we got here

Planning for the Next Two Generations

Urban Reserves are a special designation, allowed by state law, for lands outside the urban growth boundary (UGB) that can be considered a first priority if and when Eugene needs to expand for its growing population. Land designated as Urban Reserves will remain rural, and cannot be urbanized, unless it is brought into the city’s UGB through a formal process for expansion.

Eugene’s UGB is currently projected to have enough land for our population through 2032. Since population and development trends can change, Urban Reserves allows us to plan beyond 2032. Urban Reserves will identify enough land for the housing, parks, schools, and jobs needed by Eugene’s population in the long-term future (between 2032 and 2062) while implementing the area’s regional open space vision, including preservation of significant farm and forest land, waterways, and natural resources.

Technical Analysis

Check out the Technical Analysis Story Map below for an interactive visual essay of the Urban Reserves technical analysis, which includes four major parts:

  • Establishing a study area
  • Estimating future land need (how much land do we need for homes and jobs over the next 50 years?)
  • Estimating the land supply (how much developable land do we have for these future neighborhoods?)
  • Conducting a capacity analysis (how many homes and jobs can be accommodated on this land?)

The Land Need Infographic has more details on the estimate of land needed for Urban Reserves.

Please note that the story map works best in Chrome.


Story map thumbnail


Suitability Analysis

After completing our technical analysis, we developed suitability criteria to further evaluate our study area. These suitability criteria were based on the state-directed outline of analysis and reflect the City’s Triple Bottom Line Framework. We subdivided the study area into 18 subareas and structured the analysis to explicitly address the suitability criteria.


The suitability analysis evaluates all the developable land in the study area by considering it in terms of the following four factors (dictated by state rules), then dismisses land that, on balance, would be unsuitable for Urban Reserves based on this evaluation:


  1. Efficient accommodation of identified land needs 
  2. Orderly and economic provision of public facilities and services
  3. Comparative environmental, energy, economic and social consequences
  4. Compatibility of the proposed urban uses with nearby agricultural and forest activities occurring on farm and forest land outside the UGB

The Urban Reserves Draft Suitability Map shows the results of our suitability analysis. Land that is ‘suitable’ was moved forward for further consideration; it will not necessarily become Urban Reserves. The amount of suitable land in the study area is slightly more than the amount of land needed for the largest Urban Reserve option, so additional land was removed from consideration as the Urban Reserve options were developed.

To review our draft analysis by subarea:

Suitability Analysis Reports were developed for 16 subareas, listed below. File sizes are large and may take time to download.


Suitable Lands Web Map

The Urban Reserves Suitable Lands Web Map is an interactive map that shows the results of the suitability analysis. Search for your property and see detailed taxlot-level information. This webmap is part of our preliminary analysis – it does not show Urban Reserve Options – see the Options Story Map for more on that.

Link to Interactive Web Map

January 2020 Public Open Houses

We held three meetings for residents in January with over 125 attendees. It was an opportunity to get updated on Urban Reserves, hear about next steps, and have questions answered. Review the information provided at the Open Houses below:

Urban Reserves Open House

Open House Materials


Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee

In August 2018, the City Manager appointed 13 community volunteers to serve on the Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee (EETAC), a new department-level advisory committee that has been playing a key role in both the Urban Reserves and Growth Monitoring projects. Members have a wide variety of interests and come from around the City, with one representative living outside the UGB.

The EETAC been guiding Urban Reserves Planning by reviewing technical information that will be used to inform policy decisions, providing feedback to staff on technical-related issues, and reviewing assumptions and analysis related to long-term growth management-related efforts. You can keep up to date on their work at the EETAC project webpage, which includes the member roster and meeting materials. 

Stay Informed

Interested in keeping tabs on the urban reserves planning work? Sign up to be on our interested parties list! We will send you monthly project updates through the EUG Planning newsletter and notify you of upcoming meetings and opportunities.

Upcoming Public Meetings

  • Please stay tuned for upcoming public meeting dates which will be posted here once available.

Past Public Meetings


Contact Us

  1. Planning Division


    Rebecca Gershow
    Senior Planner Urban Reserves
    99 W. 10th Avenue
    Eugene, OR 97401
    Ph: 541-682-8816

    Email
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