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10 AUGUST 25, 2008
EUGENE WEEKLY
BY CAMILLA MORTENSEN
Pushing Boundaries
Lane County looking to control more land
L
Win a Burley Travoy Trailer
Bloomer’s
Nursery
news
ane County is updating its Eugene-
Springfi eld
Metropolitan Area
General Plan, and the changes in
the Metro Plan could have far-reaching
effects on everything from new homes to
new gravel pits to clean drinking water. Mia
Nelson of 1000 Friends of Oregon says the
boundary changes affect 20,000 acres and
have “unintended consequences” to vast
land areas and tens of thousands of people.
The Metro Plan is the offi cial long-
range comprehensive plan for metropolitan
Lane County and the cities of Eugene
and Springfi eld. It sets forth general
planning policies and land use allocations,
and it designates “urbanizable land” to
accommodate urban expansion. The plan
is periodically updated, and in February
2011 the commissioners directed the
Land Management Division (LMD) to
amend the plan and adjust the boundaries.
Commissioner Rob Handy says the plan to
amend “started innocently enough but has
some deep ramifi cations.”
acquisition, putting those lands under the
control of the county alone. Other areas
involved include farmland around the airport
and land around Lane Community College.
Springfi eld Utility Board (SUB) has
expressed concern about the plan and its
effects on drinking water. In a memo to
the LMD in April, SUB pointed out that if
the Metro Plan boundary is altered so that
it is coterminous with Springfi eld’s UGB,
Springfi eld will no longer have a deciding
vote on certain land use actions outside of
the UGB, which might affect the city’s water
source.
According the Metro Plan webpage,
the Delta Sand and Gravel debacle was
one impetus for the plan changes, and
“Specifi cally, commissioners have expressed
frustration about the ability of the cities to
override board decisions on county land use
issues.” Knife River — Northwest, a gravel
mining company that owns property within
the area affected by Lane County’s proposal
and within the area SUB is concerned about,
Amending the Metro Plan ‘started innocently enough but
has some deep ramifi cations.’ — Commissioner Rob Handy
The process involves Eugene, Springfi eld
and Lane County planning commissioners,
city councils and the county commissioners.
Keir Miller, a senior planner with the
Lane County Department of Public Works
confi rms that the record on the proposed
Metro Plan changes will close Sept. 13,
meaning deliberations on the changes
will be based only on the information and
comments entered before that date.
The Metro Plan has historically acted as
a “check and balance” on land use decisions.
For example, when Delta Sand and Gravel
attempted to expand its gravel mining
operations, nearby neighbors objected,
citing noise, dust and groundwater issues.
Lane County agreed to the expansion, but
the city of Eugene voted against it in 2008.
Because of the Metro Plan, the gravel mine’s
72-acre planned growth was held at bay.
The proposed Metro Plan updates would
take place in two phases. Phase 1 would
modify the Metro Plan boundary east of
I-5 so that the plan boundary would be
coterminous with the city of Springfi eld’s
UGB. Phase 2 would result in a similar
boundary change to Eugene. This means that
the county, without city input, would have
control over 20,000 acres of land previously
under joint control.
Nelson says the two-phase plan is not
only unnecessary; it could create problems.
She says, for example, if the Eugene and
Springfi eld city councils and the County
Commission agree to Phase 1 but not to
Phase 2, Eugene and Lane County wind up
alone on the west side of I-5 making land
use decisions on the “urbanizable land,” but
Springfi eld alone making decisions to the
east.
Nelson says the proposal will remove
the entire Howard Buford Recreation Area
from the Metro Plan, as well as the Nature
Conservancy’s 1,270-acre Wildish lands
has presented testimony in favor of the
amendments that would allow Lane County
to make the land use decisions without city
input. Knife River specifi cally objected
to SUB’s attempts to protect Springfi eld’s
drinking water.
Nelson says, “The interests of Knife
River and Lane County are not the public’s
interest.”
In order to protect drinking water, SUB
proposed three options at the June 30
Metro Plan meeting: retain the Metro Plan
boundary around the water resource areas,
create an intergovernmental agreement
(IGA) that would allow the city to participate
in decisions that would affect the water
resource areas, or adopt the Springfi eld
Drinking Water Protection Plan into the
Lane County Code. Knife River calls those
proposals “unnecessary.”
Springfi eld city staff agreed originally
agreed with the third option, but Miller
wrote in a July 18 memo that it is “unclear
if the board would be willing to undertake”
that option “for a variety of reasons.” Last
year an attempt by Lane County to protect its
drinking water was defeated in response to
politics, misinformation and loud opposition
by some landowners.
As of the August public hearing on the
issue, Springfi eld staff have recommended
that the IGA be formed, and it would sunset
when Lane County adopts a drinking water
protection plan.
Handy says these changes to the Metro
Plan would put decisions into the hands of
the county, which has shown “little oversight
on county rules and compliance follow up.”
He adds, “The county has not shown the
ability or the will to hold the line” on land
use protection.
For more information go to http://wkly.
ws/13n or contact Deanna Wright at 682-
4082 and Deanna.Wright@co.lane.or.us ew
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