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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 02 Springfield 2030 Refinement Plan (SRP) Urbanization Element AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: 5/6/2013 Meeting Type: Work Session Staff Contact/Dept.: Linda Pauly/DPW Staff Phone No: (541)726-4608 Estimated Time: 20 minutes S P R I N G F I E L D C I T Y C O U N C I L Council Goals: Encourage Economic Development and Revitalization through Community Partnerships ITEM TITLE: SPRINGFIELD 2030 REFINEMENT PLAN (SRP) URBANIZATION ELEMENT (METRO PLAN AMENDMENT FILE NO. LRP 2009-00014) ACTION REQUESTED: Staff will present the draft Springfield 2030 Growth Concept graphic map, a visual communication tool to highlight locations where the most growth and development is planned to occur through 2030 and to suggest potential types of future development in each area. ISSUE STATEMENT: Adoption of the Springfield 2030 Refinement Plan (SRP) Urbanization Element will allow the City to identify areas where the UGB will be expanded to establish future growth areas for economic development and infrastructure planning purposes in accordance with Statewide Planning Goal 9, Economic Development, Goal 14 Urbanization, other applicable land use goals, rules and statutes and local community development, livability and environmental quality goals. Springfield’s UGB expansion proposal will also include a public land, parks, and open space component. ATTACHMENTS: 1. Council Briefing Memorandum 2. Prime Industrial Land Characteristics Comparison (enlarged and printed chart from March 18th packet) 3. Letter to Property Owners in the UGB Study Areas DISCUSSION/ FINANCIAL IMPACT: Staff is preparing the Urbanization Element of the Springfield 2030 Refinement Plan — a new comprehensive plan policy document that amends the Metro Plan for Metro area lands east of Interstate 5 to provide guidance for managing and balancing Springfield’s urban growth needs over the 20-year planning period. The Plan will include maps and descriptions of Springfield’s planned growth areas within the City Limits and existing UGB and in locations where the UGB may be expanded. Springfield is in the process of considering how and where the UGB might be expanded to provide suitable large employment sites, public land, open space and parks. The Council has reviewed the results of the employment land suitability analysis, including information comparing estimated cost and difficulty of extending urban services Springfield’s to five potential UGB expansion areas. At the March 18th work session, the Council requested information from staff to help visualize the types of industrial development and other employment uses that would be suitable and well-matched to the site characteristics and unique potential of each distinct location. M E M O R A N D U M City of Springfield Date: 5/6/2013 COUNCIL BRIEFING MEMORANDUM To: Gino Grimaldi From: Len Goodwin, DPW Director Linda Pauly, DPW Principal Planner Subject: SPRINGFIELD 2030 REFINEMENT PLAN (SRP) URBANIZATION ELEMENT (METRO PLAN AMENDMENT FILE NO. LRP 2009- 00014) ISSUE: Adoption of the Springfield 2030 Refinement Plan (SRP) Urbanization Element will allow the City to identify areas where the UGB will be expanded to establish future growth areas for economic development and infrastructure planning purposes in accordance with Statewide Planning Goal 9, Economic Development, Goal 14 Urbanization, other applicable land use goals, rules and statutes and local community development, livability and environmental quality goals. Springfield’s UGB expansion proposal will also include a public land, parks, and open space component. COUNCIL GOALS/ MANDATE: Community and Economic Development and Revitalization A key policy issue for Springfield will be to determine when, where and how infrastructure and urban services could be provided to new Employment Opportunity sites and public facilities within an expanded Urban Growth Boundary. DISCUSSION AND BACKGROUND: At the February 22 and March 18th work sessions, the council reviewed: • information about Springfield’s employment land needs, as determined through the Commercial and Industrial Buildable Lands Inventory and Economic Opportunities Analysis; • maps identifying five potential UGB expansion areas with suitable employment land for development of employment uses; • comparative cost and difficulty of providing urban services to five potential UGB expansion areas; and • information from Business Oregon comparing the characteristics of prime industrial land. At the March 18th work session, the Council requested information regarding the short, medium and long term potential of the five UGB study areas. Short Term Land Supply: Comprehensive Planning Requirements Statewide Planning Goal 9 requires Springfield (as a city within a Metropolitan Planning Organization) to make a commitment to provide a competitive short-term supply of land and established targets for the short-term land supply. “Cities and counties within a Metropolitan Planning Organization must adopt a policy stating that a competitive short-term supply of land as a community economic development objective for the industrial and other employment uses selected through the economic opportunities analysis pursuant to OAR 660-009-0015.” [OAR 660-009-0020(1)(b)] Goal 9 defines short-term supply as: "Short-term Supply of Land" means suitable land that is ready for construction within one year of an application for a building permit or request for service extension. Engineering feasibility is sufficient Attachment 1-1 5/1/2013 Page 2 to qualify land for the short-term supply of land. Funding availability is not required. "Competitive Short-term Supply" means the short-term supply of land provides a range of site sizes and locations to accommodate the market needs of a variety of industrial and other employment uses. [OAR 660- 009-0005 (10)] The Springfield 2030 Refinement Plan addresses the short-term land supply requirement through the policies and implementation strategies incorporated into the Economic Element of the plan and the Economic Opportunities Analysis (EOA) that will be adopted as a Technical Supplement of the Plan. Pages 25-27 of the EOA provide an analysis of Springfield’s short-term supply of land. The Goal 9 rule requires Springfield to assess the short-term supply of land based on the criteria that land can be ready for construction within one year. The determination is based on “engineering feasibility.” All land within the existing Springfield UGB can be considered to technically meet the Goal 9 rule criteria for “engineering feasibility.” 1 Only one area — Jasper Natron—was identified in the 2009 EOA as unlikely to meet the short-term supply criteria, due to presence of wetlands and drainage issues and distance from existing water and trunk sewers. Short- Term Land Supply2 • 91% of Springfield’s vacant commercial and industrial land is considered available as short-term supply. • 85% of land with redevelopment potential is available as short-term supply. • Buildable land in Jasper-Natron is not assumed part of the short-term land supply (NOTE: In 2013, a trunk sewer is being constructed to this area). • Newly-urbanizable land added to the UGB is not assumed part of the short-term land supply. Short, medium and long term potential of the five UGB study areas. Springfield’s analysis assumes that newly-urbanizable lands added to Springfield’s UGB would not be part of the City’s competitive short-term land supply as defined by Goal 9. Given that these lands located outside of the existing planned growth area are not included in the existing regional and local functional plans for providing urban levels of infrastructure (Metro Public Facilities and Service Plan, Metro Wastewater system, wastewater and stormwater master plans, regional and local transportation plans), it is likely that it will be several years before infrastructure plans are updated, master plans approved and annexation requests are submitted to the City, assuming an land owner was interested in moving forward with development. Inclusion of newly-urbanizable land in the UGB would be only the first step in making sites available in the medium and long term, and it is expected that these lands would slowly and incrementally transition into the short-term supply category as infrastructure is planned and constructed in conjunction with development proposals. Once sites are annexed they could be considered short term land supply, assuming that services can be extended to the site. Projecting when the different study areas or sites could become ready for development would only be conjecture by staff because the land owner will decide if and when they wish to begin the development process. Staff considers a site’s location in proximity to the City limits, and difficulty of extending wastewater service and other urban services as key factors in estimating how quickly sites could be prepared for development. Based on the geography of the potential expansion areas and staff’s analysis of infrastructure deficiencies and development constraints (floodplain, distance to existing water and trunk sewers, the need for street system extensions, etc.) staff suggests that one area — North Highway 126— may contain a site or sites that could possibly be prepared for development within the next few years. This area has five single-ownership sites that directly abut the city limits. These parcels would likely develop as an access street parallel with High Banks Road is planned and constructed to serve this land, 1 ECONorthwest 2009 Springfield EOA p 25-27 2 ECONorthwest Springfield 2009 EOA, page 27. Attachment 1-2 5/1/2013 Page 3 and development could proceed west and/or east of N. 52nd Street. Two sites in the southern portion of the North Gateway site are also contiguous with the City limits, however staff expects a more lengthy planning process would likely be entailed here because infrastructure planning will need to consider the entire North Gateway areas as a whole given the existing multiple ownerships and north-south configuration of property ownerships. NORTH HIGHWAY 126 UGB STUDY AREA Study Area # of suitable taxlots contiguous with City Limits Total suitable taxlots/ ownerships in Study Area Total Suitable Acres in Study Area North Highway 126 5 7 265 North Gateway 2 9 226 South Mill Race 2 12 126 Mahogany (north portion So. of Jasper Road) 0 3 574 Mahogany (south portion 0 7 Seavey Loop 0 13 152 City Limits City Limits Attachment 1-3 5/1/2013 Page 4 NORTH GATEWAY UGB STUDY AREA Due to its distance from the City Limits, the location of unsuitable parcels intervening between City Limits and suitable employment parcels, and the difficulty of extending wastewater service, staff suggests that the Seavey Loop study area is likely to take the longest amount of time to bring into the short-term supply. The other three areas are intermediary, with the northern portion of the South Mill Race site abutting the City limits. Large Mahogany/South of Jasper Road sites, while not contiguous with the City limits, do abut Jasper Road and are relatively close to services. More detailed economic analysis to determine short, medium and long term economic development potential is beyond the scope of the Economic Opportunities Analysis and Springfield 2030 Refinement Plan project and is not required for the UGB Alternatives Analysis and UGB expansion. Instead the UGB study must closely adhere to the UGB expansion prioritization process in Statewide Planning Goal 14. Economic Development staff could provide additional information to the Council regarding land development economics and marketability of sites. Next Steps: Staff is beginning a focused outreach to property owners in the five study areas to seek input to inform the UGB expansion proposal, and the development of Springfield 2030 Refinement Plan Urbanization Element policies and Springfield Development Code standards that will be applicable to the Urban Holding Areas. A copy of the letter mailed to land owners in the five UGB study areas is included as Attachment 3. RECOMMENDED ACTION: None. This item is for Council’s information and discussion only City Limits Royal Caribbean Hawes Attachment 1-4 Attachment 2-1 CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, OREGON DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS 225 FIFTH STREET SPRINGFIELD, OR 97477 Springfield 2030 Refinement Plan Project & Proposed Urban Growth Boundary Change PHONE: 541.726.3753 FAX: 541.736.1021 www.springfield-or.gov April 26, 2013 Dear Sir/Madam, Later this year, the City of Springfield and Lane County will be considering changes to the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan (Metro Plan) that would expand Springfield’s Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) to add land for future job creation. You are receiving this letter because you own land in one of five areas that are being studied for possible expansion of the UGB. The attached maps show the areas that are being studied in more detail. You should be able to see your property on the more detailed map. All five study areas contain suitable “Employment Opportunity” sites for City expansion. Springfield’s proposal to expand the UGB may include land from some — but not necessarily all — of the five study areas. If land is included in Springfield’s UGB, these areas could, over time, transition from rural to urban as the owner chooses to develop or sells their property to others who wish to develop. In my work with the Springfield City Council to prepare the City’s UGB expansion proposal and to draft the policies that will guide new development in these areas, now and in the future, key policies being considered include: • Lands brought into the UGB would be planned as “Urban Holding Area – Employment Opportunity sites” and would require additional plan changes prior to annexation and development to address all of Oregon’s Statewide Planning Goals and to make provision for extending urban services. • Existing agriculture uses would continue until the “Urban Holding Area – Employment Opportunity site” plan designation is changed to an Employment designation and the owner requests annexation to allow development. The proposal to add more employment land to Springfield’s UGB is based on the results of Springfield’s Commercial and Industrial Lands Inventory and Economic Opportunities Analysis — a technical study required by Statewide Planning Goal 9 — to determine Springfield’s needs for jobs and the amount and type of industrial and commercial land needed to meet projected needs. The study identifies a need for 13,000+ new jobs for Springfield’s population through the year 2030, and a need for large (20 acres+), flat sites that cannot be Attachment 3-1 found within the existing UGB. Adding large sites to Springfield’s UGB is intended to support our local, regional and state economic prosperity goals through diversification and growth of the economy. The study identifies a need for 640 acres of suitable employment land. The expanded UGB may also include land for parks and open space. The final size and location(s) of the expansion will be determined by the elected officials after they receive additional input through the public hearing process. The final UGB could include your property or other suitable lands that may be identified through the public hearing process. I invite you to share your opinions, concerns and suggestions with me and with other Springfield staff over the next several months. Please feel free to call me (or email) to discuss your views about including your property in Springfield’s Urban Growth Boundary, and ultimately, in the City of Springfield as land is developed. We will be conducting open houses at City Hall this summer, followed by a joint public hearing before the Springfield City Council and Lane County Board of Commissioners scheduled later this year. Please let me know if you’d like to organize a neighborhood focus group and invite staff to come and hear your opinions and suggestions at a time and place more convenient to you. Thank you to the hundreds of people who have already participated in and contributed to planning Springfield’s future over the past several years. The valuable information and perspectives you’ve provided have informed this study greatly and we invite you to join us in this important next step. Sincerely, Linda Pauly, Project Manager Principal Planner City of Springfield Development and Public Works Department Springfield OR 97477 (541) 726-4608 lpauly@springfield-or.gov http://www.springfield-or.gov/dpw/2030Plan.htm cc: Christine Lundberg, Springfield Mayor Gino Grimaldi, City Manager Len Goodwin, Development and Public Works Director Sid Leiken, Chair, Lane County Board of Commissioners Matt Laird, Lane County Land Management Division Manager Attachment 3-2