Eugene, Lane County propose urban reserves for future growth. How to give feedback.
Eugene and Lane County officials are holding a public hearing Tuesday night to get feedback on urban reserves as the city prepares for growth.
The chunks of land would provide room for Eugene to grow outside the current urban growth boundary in the coming decades.
The city and county have identified various areas officials think are appropriate as urban reserves.
People can give feedback during a virtual public hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday or via email.
What are urban reserves?
Urban reserves are lands outside the urban growth boundary that Eugene can consider as a first priority if and when the city needs to expand to accommodate a growing population.
The land included in urban reserves remains rural until the city brings it into the UGB through a formal process for expansion. Until that happens, officials and developers cannot urbanize the land.
The proposed urban reserves are enough to meet projected growth until 2059. According to the city, they preserve the highest-value farmland and additional properties with higher-value soils.
What land is included?
The proposed urban reserves include chunks of land along the city’s borders.
The largest area identified as a possible urban reserve is to the southwest of the city and includes properties leading out to Fern Ridge Reservoir.
Another large chunk includes Lane Community College and other land north and south of East 30th Avenue.
People can see if their property is in the proposed urban reserves through a searchable map at bit.ly/eugene-urban-reserves-searchable-map.
The map is also available as a PDF at eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/59954/Proposed-Urban-Reserve.
How do I give feedback?
Eugene City Council and the Lane County Board of Commissioners are holding a joint public hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The hearing is virtual. People can attend using the Zoom link at eugene-or-gov.zoom.us/j/85012146540. They can also attend through Zoom using webinar ID 850 1214 6540 and the passcode council9.
To sign up to speak, people can use the request to speak form, which will be available from 6 p.m. Monday until 6:05 p.m. Tuesday at forms.office.com/g/aGb9PtWZ2i.
There’s also an option to call in using 833-548-0282 or any of the other numbers at eugene-or.gov/3360/Webcasts-and-Meeting-Materials then use the webinar ID from above.
People also can email comments to UrbanReserves@eugene-or.gov.
Contact city government watchdog Megan Banta at mbanta@registerguard.com. Follow her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: How to give feedback on Eugene's proposal for future growth areas
