River Road and Santa Clara Neighborhood Action Planning - A Collaborative Path Forward

The River Road-Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan was officially adopted by the Eugene City Council and the Lane County Board of Commissioners on April 22 and 23, 2024. This milestone reflects a shared commitment to the community’s vision and lays the foundation for a continued partnership between the City of Eugene, Lane County, and the neighborhoods of River Road and Santa Clara. At the same time, the two neighborhoods developed the Area Plan which is the catalogue of community-identified strategies or actions which could be used to implement the goals and policies of the Neighborhood Plan over time. These actions may be used to help focus community work on the vision articulated in the Neighborhood Plan for how the River Road and Santa Clara neighborhoods will look, feel and function over the next 20 years and beyond.

The Area Plan outlines a range of strategies designed to implement the adopted policies and code amendments. More importantly, it sets a collaborative framework for how we move forward together.

Through extensive community engagement, residents helped identify key priorities across five focus areas:

• Land Use
• Economic Development
• Transportation
• Parks and Natural Resources
• Community

The Plan includes 256 action items organized under 18 goals, each aligned with these focus areas. Moving from vision to action will require collaboration between the City of Eugene and neighborhood residents to prioritize and implement these items effectively. A transparent system for tracking progress will also be essential to ensure accountability and shared success.

Supporting Neighborhood Collaboration

The Office of Equity & Community Engagement (OECE) is committed to supporting River Road and Santa Clara neighborhood representative throughout the implementation process. Together, we will collaborate to:

• Develop a public-facing website to monitor and share updates on plan implementation with the ability to track each action item individually.
• Partner with neighborhood associations to facilitate prioritization activities—both online and at community events—ensuring broad and inclusive participation.
• Host quarterly coordination meetings with City staff from relevant departments based on progress updates and neighborhood needs.
• Publish annual implementation reports to keep community informed and engaged.

While this plan focuses on collaboration with the City of Eugene, coordination with Lane County staff will occur on a project-by-project basis, led by the respective teams involved.