Eugene hints city will not appeal LUBA ruling on middle housing

Third time’s the charm. After the city of Eugene’s second middle housing ordinance was sent back by LUBA (the Land Use Board of Appeals), city planners and attorneys start thinking about a third attempt. At the Planning Commission July 23:

Lauren Sommers (Eugene assistant city attorney): The city’s second round of the middle housing ordinance was appealed to LUBA. LUBA issued an opinion remanding this ordinance as well for similar reasons, based on findings and information in the record being insufficient to show compliance with Goal 11, which is the public facilities and services goal.

[00:00:40] The appeal period—the period to appeal that decision to the Court of Appeals—will run on July 31. So if at that point no one has appealed the decision, the remand will be effective, and the city will process another remand.

[00:00:58] During the remand process, city staff will apply the model code, just like we did for the first remand, and so my office has been working with PDD (Planning and Development Department) staff to kind of figure out a recommendation for how to update the middle housing ordinance.

[00:01:17] I think we got some good direction from LUBA in a way that will be acceptable and show compliance with Goal 11. So I anticipate that if LUBA’s decision is not appealed, then obviously that would be coming back to Council—probably not back to Planning Commission—to process that remand, but that’s still a little bit up in the air. We’re working on what the process looks like and what the recommendation for the change to the ordinance would look like.

[00:01:46] John Q: Oregon’s land use planning law, passed in 1973, provided high-level planning goals to guide cities. But 50 years later, with cities like Eugene faltering on Goal 1 (public involvement), Goal 10 (affordable housing for all), and Goal 11 (infrastructure), the state was forced to step in. The state set broad mandates on zoning, housing production, parking, and climate-friendly areas. With Oregon facing a housing crisis and record homelessness, some expect to see more mandates in the years ahead.

The city was asked Tuesday night to confirm that it would not appeal the LUBA ruling, and also asked how it would approach its third middle housing ordinance.