Planning Commission

AGENDA Meeting Location: Sloat Room—Atrium Building Phone: 541-682-5481 99 W. 10th Avenue www.eugene-or.gov/pc Eugene, Oregon 97401 The Eugene Planning Commission welcomes your interest in these agenda items. Feel free to come and go as you please at any of the meetings. This meeting location is wheelchair-accessible. For the hearing impaired, FM assistive-listening devices are available or an interpreter can be provided with 48 hour notice prior to the meeting. Spanish-language interpretation will also be provided with 48 hour notice. To arrange for these services, contact the Planning Division at 541-682-5675. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2016 – REGULAR MEETING (11:30 a.m.) 11:30 a.m. I. PUBLIC COMMENT The Planning Commission reserves 10 minutes at the beginning of this meeting for public comment. The public may comment on any matter, except for items scheduled for public hearing or public hearing items for which the record has already closed. Generally, the time limit for public comment is three minutes; however, the Planning Commission reserves the option to reduce the time allowed each speaker based on the number of people requesting to speak. 11:40 a.m. II. FINAL ACTION: APPEAL OF HEARINGS OFFICIAL DECISION FOR EUGENE TOWNEPLACE SUITES (WG 16-1/SR 16-1/ARB 16-3) Lead Staff: Erik Berg-Johansen, 541-682-5437 erik.berg@ci.eugene.or.us 11:55 a.m. III. DOWNTOWN PLACEMAKING Lead Staff: Will Dowdy, 541-682-5561 will.g.dowdy@ci.eugene.or.us 1:00 p.m. IV. ITEMS FROM COMMISSION AND STAFF A. Other Items from Commission B. Other Items from Staff C. Learning: How are we doing? Commissioners: Steven Baker; John Barofsky (Vice Chair); John Jaworski; Jeffrey Mills; Brianna Nicolello; William Randall; Kristen Taylor (Chair)  AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY September 19, 2016 To: Eugene Planning Commission From: Will Dowdy, Urban Designer; City of Eugene Planning Division Subject: Downtown Placemaking Project and Public involvement Plan ISSUE STATEMENT This work session will provide an overview of the recently initiated Downtown Placemaking project, and staff requests Commission input on the proposed public involvement plan. BACKGROUND Downtown is Eugene’s civic center and the economic, cultural and governmental focus of the region. Parks and open spaces play a critical role in the vitality of the area and how people experience downtown. In June 2016, the Eugene City Council approved an ordinance making the downtown Park Blocks and other open spaces eligible for up to $5.2 million of urban renewal funding for improvements. The project includes four existing spaces, the Park Blocks, the Plaza at the Hult, Broadway Plaza (Kesey Square), and Library Plaza, as well as two future spaces, the City Hall Plaza and Riverfront Park at the EWEB redevelopment site. Before funding is allocated the Council wants to hear from the community. (Attachment 1) As part of a broad public engagement process, community members are being invited to help create a vision of what’s best for the downtown parks and open spaces and provide input on what improvements are most important to them. The City staff selected a consultant through a public Request for Proposals (RFP) process. Our request received local, regional, national and international responses, including for-profit and non-profit organizations. Out of a competitive pool of proposers, Project for Public Spaces (PPS) was selected. PPS is a New York City-based, internationally-recognized non-profit with a long history of helping communities create and improve their public spaces to become vital places that highlight local assets, spur rejuvenation and serve common needs. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PLAN Starting in the summer, the City began working with PPS to hear the community’s experiences and aspirations for downtown public spaces. In August, PPS held a series of interviews and focus groups with over 60 downtown stakeholders representing many diverse interests and perspectives in our community. They observed and charted activity in the public spaces. In addition, they set up “pop-up” Placemaking Stations at the Plaza at the Hult and LTD’s downtown station to collect input from community members. Larger community conversations and workshops on downtown public spaces will be scheduled in October to gather more community input. That work will include:  a public presentation on downtown placemaking;  public workshops to dive into the particular successes, problems and opportunities of the public spaces;  broader community input through more interviews;  pop-up stations; and  an online survey. PPS has added more names to their list of community members to interview, and they have learned about parts of the community that may not participate in these downtown events, but have important perspectives that we need to hear. They intend to connect with people who were unavailable for stakeholder interviews in August; and they will launch an online survey to collect thoughts and opinions from those who prefer to participate in that way. PROJECT CONCLUSIONS PPS will conclude their work in February 2017 with a three-prong report:  Conceptual Plans for the downtown public spaces that will include recommendations for infrastructure improvements, park and landscape amenities, integration of existing and new development, and linkages to transit and the surrounding city;  A Programming Plan with strategies for appropriate and sustainable programming to activate these spaces; and  A Management Plan to identify operations and maintenance tasks, and propose options with relevant case studies for the ongoing management of the spaces. These three elements will be presented to the City Council next winter. NEXT STEPS PPS returns in October to begin the public involvement components of this project noted above. ATTACHMENTS 1. Map: Downtown Public open spaces FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact Will Dowdy at 541-682-5561, will.g.dowdy@ci.eugene.or.us  Riverfront Park Plaza at the Hult Park Blocks City Hall Plaza Broadway (Kesey) Plaza Library Plaza