Here is a guest opinion for the local daily newspaper describing the planning process.
Its a rare opportunity when people can help create a plan that can positively benefit their own homes, neighborhoods, businesses and lifestyles for decades to come.
The residents of River Road and Santa Clara Neighborhoods have such an opportunity. Its a neighborhood planning process with the City of Eugene, that will craft a refinement plan that can guide how River Road and Santa Clara evolve into the future.
Land use, transportation, open spaces, economic development, public participation, housing are all vital elements to this planning process. It may look a bit wonky but the process and outcome have both practical and historical significance.
For generations, our country’s growth and development has been dominated by suburbia, oil and automobiles. The assumption has been that planet earth could provide the resources and manage the pollution forever. We are finding those assumptions are not true.
A sign of the times, resilience and sustainability are words used with increasing frequency. To a growing number of people, sustainability and resilience should be the over arching considerations for how to manage land use, transportation, economic development and just about every other aspect of human culture and economy.
The City of Eugene is aware of these issues. In fact, state and city planning documents feature a great deal of content that relates to resilience and sustainability. Any refinement plan for River Road and Santa Clara [and other neighborhoods in Eugene] must abide by these state and local planning documents. Make no mistake, these documents have much to work with.
Envision Eugene, Eugene's current comprehensive plan calls for walkable neighborhoods, land use and transportation design that reduces need for cars, reducing green house gasses, conservation of natural resources, public participation in community decision making and improving public safety.
With strong public participation, citizens of River Road and Santa Clara can translate Envision Eugene's eco friendly language into a pioneering refinement plan with bold and timely policies.
A refinement plan with strong resilience content could be a far reaching tool for addressing, in a local way, many of the greatest environmental, economic and social challenges of our time.
The plan could encourage and provide incentives for people to go solar at home, create new living spaces at home, plant edible landscapes, manage rain water in sensible ways, start up new businesses to service an eco friendly community and culture, to suggest only a few.
The plan can help enhance existing city programs like Neighborhood Watch, Matching Grants, CERT Training and Mapping Your Neighborhood so they could be strengthened for creating a more green, safe, prepared, cohesive and resilient community.
The refinement plan can help reduce green house gases and traffic crashes and decrease pressure to build more roads by encouraging mixed use re-development along the River Road corridor that could include accessible shops providing products and services so people nearby can walk or bike instead of drive.
Above the shops could be apartments with features for people who want to live without cars or work close to home and for baby boomers who want to downsize but stay in the neighborhood in a place that has progressive amenities.
These eco and people friendly improvements to the neighborhood, both residential and commercial, can create a lot of jobs for construction skills, landscapers, entrepreneurs and many others.
How can we help pay for these sensible ideas? A well crafted and popular refinement plan could be a powerful tool to help people in the neighborhood understand how they can participate and support making the neighborhood a better place.
Imagine the benefits if people invested their own money and time in their own homes and neighborhood.
Consider an economic development corporation [EDC]. An EDC is an organization, usually a non profit, whose mission is to promote economic development within a specific geographical area.
A River Road – Santa Clara refinement plan could assist the creation of an EDC, perhaps in partnership with a local credit union, that could channel investments from neighborhood residents and other sources into projects, public and private, that would benefit the neighborhood’s culture, economy, resilience and well being.
Imagine people in the neighborhood redirecting millions of discretionary spending dollars towards creating a better neighborhood with projects such as a natural food store, aging in place cooperatives, shops with healthy products and services, green home improvements, startups, neighborhood food production that boost resilience, cohesion and preparedness.
Imagine a vigorous civic culture where people volunteered eight or ten hours a month for restoring habitat, helping neighbors or volunteering at a school, the lending library, Sarah’s or other worthy causes.
A pioneering refinement plan can create exciting new opportunities for a better neighborhood but it can't make magic.
Ultimately, its up to the residents of River Road and Santa Clara to value themselves, their families, homes, environment and neighborhoods enough to learn about the issues and take action with friends and neighbors for pioneering the resilient, healthy and uplifted places to live we all deserve.
Its a rare opportunity when people can help create a plan that can positively benefit their own homes, neighborhoods, businesses and lifestyles for decades to come.
The residents of River Road and Santa Clara Neighborhoods have such an opportunity. Its a neighborhood planning process with the City of Eugene, that will craft a refinement plan that can guide how River Road and Santa Clara evolve into the future.
Land use, transportation, open spaces, economic development, public participation, housing are all vital elements to this planning process. It may look a bit wonky but the process and outcome have both practical and historical significance.
For generations, our country’s growth and development has been dominated by suburbia, oil and automobiles. The assumption has been that planet earth could provide the resources and manage the pollution forever. We are finding those assumptions are not true.
A sign of the times, resilience and sustainability are words used with increasing frequency. To a growing number of people, sustainability and resilience should be the over arching considerations for how to manage land use, transportation, economic development and just about every other aspect of human culture and economy.
The City of Eugene is aware of these issues. In fact, state and city planning documents feature a great deal of content that relates to resilience and sustainability. Any refinement plan for River Road and Santa Clara [and other neighborhoods in Eugene] must abide by these state and local planning documents. Make no mistake, these documents have much to work with.
Envision Eugene, Eugene's current comprehensive plan calls for walkable neighborhoods, land use and transportation design that reduces need for cars, reducing green house gasses, conservation of natural resources, public participation in community decision making and improving public safety.
With strong public participation, citizens of River Road and Santa Clara can translate Envision Eugene's eco friendly language into a pioneering refinement plan with bold and timely policies.
A refinement plan with strong resilience content could be a far reaching tool for addressing, in a local way, many of the greatest environmental, economic and social challenges of our time.
The plan could encourage and provide incentives for people to go solar at home, create new living spaces at home, plant edible landscapes, manage rain water in sensible ways, start up new businesses to service an eco friendly community and culture, to suggest only a few.
The plan can help enhance existing city programs like Neighborhood Watch, Matching Grants, CERT Training and Mapping Your Neighborhood so they could be strengthened for creating a more green, safe, prepared, cohesive and resilient community.
The refinement plan can help reduce green house gases and traffic crashes and decrease pressure to build more roads by encouraging mixed use re-development along the River Road corridor that could include accessible shops providing products and services so people nearby can walk or bike instead of drive.
Above the shops could be apartments with features for people who want to live without cars or work close to home and for baby boomers who want to downsize but stay in the neighborhood in a place that has progressive amenities.
These eco and people friendly improvements to the neighborhood, both residential and commercial, can create a lot of jobs for construction skills, landscapers, entrepreneurs and many others.
How can we help pay for these sensible ideas? A well crafted and popular refinement plan could be a powerful tool to help people in the neighborhood understand how they can participate and support making the neighborhood a better place.
Imagine the benefits if people invested their own money and time in their own homes and neighborhood.
Consider an economic development corporation [EDC]. An EDC is an organization, usually a non profit, whose mission is to promote economic development within a specific geographical area.
A River Road – Santa Clara refinement plan could assist the creation of an EDC, perhaps in partnership with a local credit union, that could channel investments from neighborhood residents and other sources into projects, public and private, that would benefit the neighborhood’s culture, economy, resilience and well being.
Imagine people in the neighborhood redirecting millions of discretionary spending dollars towards creating a better neighborhood with projects such as a natural food store, aging in place cooperatives, shops with healthy products and services, green home improvements, startups, neighborhood food production that boost resilience, cohesion and preparedness.
Imagine a vigorous civic culture where people volunteered eight or ten hours a month for restoring habitat, helping neighbors or volunteering at a school, the lending library, Sarah’s or other worthy causes.
A pioneering refinement plan can create exciting new opportunities for a better neighborhood but it can't make magic.
Ultimately, its up to the residents of River Road and Santa Clara to value themselves, their families, homes, environment and neighborhoods enough to learn about the issues and take action with friends and neighbors for pioneering the resilient, healthy and uplifted places to live we all deserve.