<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4Ki0Yz_1F45tHaK00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4Ki0Yz_1F45tHaK00" width="875" height="527" ><figcaption>Joe Young, chair of Laurel Hill Valley Citizens’ Floral Hill Terrace Response Committee, outlines the argument against the affordable housing project at a meeting on Sept. 2. (Alan Torres/The Register-Guard)</figcaption></figure>Leaders of a Eugene neighborhood association last week laid out their case against an affordable housing development planned in the city’s east hills. As proposed, a 3.9-acre lot off Floral Hill Drive east of Hendricks Park would be subdivided to create Floral Hill Terrace: 16 single-family homes and six fourplexes in four rows. The 40 units would range in price between $230,000 and $275,000.Laurel Hill Valley Citizens committee members who studied the project laid out their concerns at a meeting on Sept. 2 and then attendees expressed agreement, saying they believe developer DevNW should pursue another location for the project. Neighborhood leaders contended: <ul><li>The 40-unit development would be too dense for narrow, sidewalk-less Floral Hill Drive, which is 17 feet wide at its narrowest points.</li><li>The Laurel Hill Valley’s status as a fire risk area makes it unsuitable for such a dense development, especially when the design submitted by DevNW plans for one entrance/exit to the subdivision.</li><li>The road and water infrastructure are too old to accommodate development.</li><li>The structure under which the homes must be purchased is unfair to the people who would buy them.</li></ul>A recurring opinion expressed by meeting attendees was that Floral Hill Terrace would be too dense for where it’s planned, particularly because of the narrow size of Floral Hill Drive.Presenters said the increase in traffic, both during construction and thereafter, would make the street unsafe. Residents expressed concern about the potential for traffic to delay emergency responses, particularly if people are trying to evacuate while firefighters are trying to enter the area. They pointed out that with approximately 80 homes on the street already, the subdivision could increase traffic by roughly 50 percent. Karen Saxe, senior director of policy, advocacy and strategy for DevNW, said that despite the opposition shown at the meeting, she’s also heard from residents who support the development. That includes the property seller, who Saxe described as an adjacent property owner “who envisioned a moderate-income neighborhood like the one in which he grew up.” Saxe objected to the suggestion that the development would be too dense, saying that land use laws would allow DevNW to pursue up to 56 homes on the lot and it is planning 40 instead. DevNW plans to widen Floral Hill Drive adjacent to the subdivision, but not on the rest of the street. “Additional street improvement would be up to the city of Eugene,” Saxe said. The city’s Capital Improvement Plan, which lists construction projects planned through 2031, does not include any work on Floral Hill Drive. The Eugene Springfield Fire Department recently produced a regional fire plan that identified the Laurel Hill Valley neighborhood as a part of the “wildland urban interface” where the city meets the forest and creates a fire risk. According to KVAL, last summer there was a house fire on Floral Hill Drive; narrow, winding roads in the area slowed firefighters, and the structure was a total loss by the time they arrived. Laurel Hill Valley residents believe this fire risk is worsened by the area’s water infrastructure, which they understand to be approximately 100 years old, as well as Eugene and Springfield’s recent announcement that they plan to separate their fire departments. DevNW plans to upgrade water infrastructure serving the subdivision to code, and incorporate fire-conscious elements such as defensible space into the development, Saxe said. Developing the lot would ultimately make the street less of a fire risk, she said, because structures would replace the “current field of dry grasses and dying trees.” Laurel Hill Valley residents also said they believe the proposed site is a landslide risk, based on one of the documents DevNW submitted to the city. The application DevNW submitted was for a subdivision. Under the typical land use process the city evaluates the subdivision application for land-use compatibility, and future building applications would include evaluations from Eugene Water &amp; Electric Board staff and the Eugene Springfield Fire Marshal’s office. Under Oregon’s Community Land Trust (CLT) model, homeowners own their individual homes while the land under them is held in “common.” The land is exempt, but homeowners pay property taxes on the home and a monthly fee (in this case, $125 per month for the single-family homes) to maintain common areas. In this model, when homeowners sell, they can add only 25 percent of the appreciated value. For example, if a home was bought for $200,000 and was worth $300,000 when sold, the homeowner could sell it for no more than $225,000. Laurel Hill residents were critical of this model and described it as one in which the “owner is taking on risk and responsibility but not getting the rewards of full ownership.” Saxe described the model as a way to keep homes affordable for future generations. “CLT owners might not get as much appreciated value as from market-rate homeownership,” she said, but that model is only open to the people with the highest incomes. “We work with hundreds of aspiring first-time buyers who have good credit and stable income — but their income is $70,000 per year, not $130,000 per year, so they’re stuck in the rental market until a CLT home is available.” In June, the city rejected DevNW’s land use application for Floral Hill Terrace because it was incomplete. DevNW has until December to resubmit. Floral Hill Terrace is an example of “middle housing” — a broad category that includes any form of housing denser than a single-family home but less dense than an apartment complex. In 2019, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 2001, which legalized middle housing in single-family zones like this one. This year, the Oregon Legislature passed another package of housing reform bills, one of which established a streamlined process for land use applications for housing developments that meet certain requirements. DevNW is pursuing that process. Laurel Hill Valley residents strongly objected to these laws, which they said took away the input they would have had if this project had been proposed earlier. “We want to provide information, we want to make public comment, we want city appeal … those are all taken away,” said Joe Young, chair of Laurel Hill Valley Citizens’ Floral Hill Terrace Response Committee. “With the middle housing laws … developers are steamrolling communities with infill density.” Young said he shared the group’s concerns with city planners and was told the public comment period isn’t yet open. As he understands it, there will be one 14-day comment period after the city deems the application complete, but that will be the only opportunity for neighbors to weigh in. There are wetlands in the area, which means DevNW would likely need a Department of State Lands permit to disturb the wetlands. Floral Hill Terrace was passed over in the most recent round of city Affordable Housing Trust Fund awards but can apply again. The project is currently on the waitlist for possible funding from the state Local Innovation and Fast Track program. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The Register-Guard and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.</div></body>

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Leaders of a Eugene neighborhood association last week laid out their case against an affordable housing development planned in the city’s east hills. As proposed, a 3.9-acre lot off Floral Hill Drive east of Hendricks Park would be subdivided to create Floral Hill Terrace: 16 single-family homes and six fourplexes in four rows. The 40 units would range in price between $230,000 and $275,000.

DevNW housing development faces opposition in Eugene

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Leaders of a Eugene neighborhood association last week laid out their case against an affordable housing development planned in the city’s east hills. As p

DevNW housing development faces opposition in Eugene

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