Minor Code Amendment Process (MiCAP)
*** FLASH! *** Home Builders Association (HBA) of Lane County files LUBA appeal of
City Council amendments that will help protect neighborhoods.
The LUBA appeal will hold up the amendments that would have helped protect the JWN. A
number of neighborhood advocates, including JWN residents have filed as "intervenors" in
the case to oppose the HBA appeal. The appeal decision should be issued around
January 2009.
===
On August 11, the City Council adopted the following land use code amendments:
Summary of amendments that will benefit JWN (and other neighborhood) residents:
• Reduce (by one) the excessive number of dwellings allowed on hundreds of
R-2 zoned lots in the JWN by limiting the “rounding” calculation. (#3)
• Measure maximum building height (35 feet in R-2 zone) to the top of the building, instead
of halfway up the roof. (#4)
• Properly measure required distance to nearby parks for open space credit. (#6).
• Close loopholes in the “flag lot” definition and standards. (#9)
• Set sensible lot frontage and width requirements (35’ unless there’s an approved site
review plan). Close loophole in measuring lot width. (#10)
• Close loopholes in prohibition against new alley-access-only lots. (#11)
• Require early neighborhood involvement in development process. (#14)
• Close loophole in refinement plan policies’ definition of “residential character” so
policies encompasses all relevant characteristics. (#17)
Other important amendments to protect neighborhoods
• Require reasonable building height transitions along E. 19th Ave in South University
area. (#5)
• Require adequate off-street parking for five- and six-bedroom apartment complexes near
university. (#7)
• Strengthen protection for natural storm water drainages in River Road and Santa Clara
areas. (#8)
• Properly calculate allowable dwellings by excluding streets and alleys from lot area. (#12)
Read the proposed amendments.
These twelve amendments will help protect the JWN and other neighborhoods against
degradation caused by incompatible infill. Ten of the amendments (all except #5 and #7,
which were added by City Council later in the process) were unanimously endorsed by two
citizens groups – the Neighborhood Leaders Council (NLC) and the Infill Compatibility
Standards Task Team. (Read the ICS Task Team recommendation.) The JWN Executive
Board unanimously endorsed the NLC recommendations. The other two amendments
were added by City Council at the request of neighborhood advocates.
While these amendments will not come close to providing the full set of changes needed
to prevent the kind of destructive infill that’s occurring in the Jefferson and Westside
neighborhoods, the changes would at least help plug several serious loopholes in the
approval standards that control new development in the JWN.
Over the past eighteen months, hundreds of concerned residents of the JWN and other
neighborhoods have attended numerous public meetings and worked countless hours to
get these proposals in front of the City Council.
Click here for the full description of all eighteen amendments.
You can find some additional discussion of most of these amendments in the NLC
document that presents their recommendations.
Continue on page 2
City Council amendments that will help protect neighborhoods.
The LUBA appeal will hold up the amendments that would have helped protect the JWN. A
number of neighborhood advocates, including JWN residents have filed as "intervenors" in
the case to oppose the HBA appeal. The appeal decision should be issued around
January 2009.
===
On August 11, the City Council adopted the following land use code amendments:
Summary of amendments that will benefit JWN (and other neighborhood) residents:
• Reduce (by one) the excessive number of dwellings allowed on hundreds of
R-2 zoned lots in the JWN by limiting the “rounding” calculation. (#3)
• Measure maximum building height (35 feet in R-2 zone) to the top of the building, instead
of halfway up the roof. (#4)
• Properly measure required distance to nearby parks for open space credit. (#6).
• Close loopholes in the “flag lot” definition and standards. (#9)
• Set sensible lot frontage and width requirements (35’ unless there’s an approved site
review plan). Close loophole in measuring lot width. (#10)
• Close loopholes in prohibition against new alley-access-only lots. (#11)
• Require early neighborhood involvement in development process. (#14)
• Close loophole in refinement plan policies’ definition of “residential character” so
policies encompasses all relevant characteristics. (#17)
Other important amendments to protect neighborhoods
• Require reasonable building height transitions along E. 19th Ave in South University
area. (#5)
• Require adequate off-street parking for five- and six-bedroom apartment complexes near
university. (#7)
• Strengthen protection for natural storm water drainages in River Road and Santa Clara
areas. (#8)
• Properly calculate allowable dwellings by excluding streets and alleys from lot area. (#12)
Read the proposed amendments.
These twelve amendments will help protect the JWN and other neighborhoods against
degradation caused by incompatible infill. Ten of the amendments (all except #5 and #7,
which were added by City Council later in the process) were unanimously endorsed by two
citizens groups – the Neighborhood Leaders Council (NLC) and the Infill Compatibility
Standards Task Team. (Read the ICS Task Team recommendation.) The JWN Executive
Board unanimously endorsed the NLC recommendations. The other two amendments
were added by City Council at the request of neighborhood advocates.
While these amendments will not come close to providing the full set of changes needed
to prevent the kind of destructive infill that’s occurring in the Jefferson and Westside
neighborhoods, the changes would at least help plug several serious loopholes in the
approval standards that control new development in the JWN.
Over the past eighteen months, hundreds of concerned residents of the JWN and other
neighborhoods have attended numerous public meetings and worked countless hours to
get these proposals in front of the City Council.
Click here for the full description of all eighteen amendments.
You can find some additional discussion of most of these amendments in the NLC
document that presents their recommendations.
Continue on page 2
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Jefferson Westside Neighbors