Thank you to the 1,300+ visitors to our Virtual Open House and the 210 people that completed the Urban Reserves Options Survey! The survey is now closed. Overall, participants supported the 27-Year Option(External link) the most. Here is a downloadable PDF of survey results(External link).

You can still review the story map(External link) and other materials, provide public comment to decision-makers during the adoption process in 2021, contact staff, or ask questions using the Q&A feature. We look forward to hearing from you!

On November 10, 2020,(External link) the Lane County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a motion to support the Eugene City Council’s direction for the initiation of a public review and adoption process to consider the establishment of Urban Reserves as described in Option 3, the 27-year option. Option 3 includes almost 6,000 acres of land, enough to meet approximately 27 years of growth beyond 2032, and strives to protect our highest value soils by removing from consideration all agricultural properties with predominant Class 1 land and directly adjacent agricultural properties with predominant Class 2 land.

On October 21, 2020(External link), the Eugene City Council passed a motion, in a 7 - 1 vote, to support Urban Reserve Option 3, which includes enough land to meet approximately 27 years of growth beyond 2032. The City Council’s direction is consistent with the recommendation made by the Eugene Planning Commission, the Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee’s recommendation to staff, the majority of public input, and the City Manager’s recommendation.

Prior to passing the motion, the City Council held a work session on October 12, 2020, to allow for additional time to ask questions and receive information. The work session can be viewed here.

On September 21st, staff presented four Urban Reserves Options to the Eugene City Council and Lane County Board of Commissioners at a joint work session(External link). Staff also shared recommendations from the Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee (EETAC), Eugene Planning Commission, Lane County Planning Commission, and the results of our Virtual Open House survey.

For links to meeting information and webcasts, visit the Urban Reserves website(External link).

The Eugene and Lane County Planning Commissions each recommended an Urban Reserve option for the City Council and the Lane Board of County Commissioners to consider before providing direction to staff.

On August 17th the Eugene Planning Commission voted 7-0 to recommend the 27-Year option

On August 18th the Lane County Planning Commission voted 5-3 to recommend the 30-Year Option with a plan policy requiring the Class 1 and 2 farmland in the Awbrey subarea to be the last of the urban reserve land to be considered for expansion of Eugene’s urban growth boundary

For links to meeting information and webcasts, visit the Urban Reserves website(External link).

The City of Eugene and Lane County have been working on Urban Reserves planning since January 2018. With the help of our project partners, we have completed the technical and suitability analysis and have developed a range of Urban Reserves Options for review.

On July 16, 2020, after seventeen meetings over the course of 22 months, the EETAC provided their final input and recommendation to staff on the Urban Reserve Options under consideration. Two motions were passed. The first supports the urban reserves analysis as technically sound. The second motion supports the recommendation of Option 3, the 27-year option, that preserves Class 1 and adjacent Class 2 land, with the acknowledgment that the year-range is an estimate based on current population forecasts and existing land use code.