Growth Monitoring Program
Overview
What is Growth Monitoring?
The City of Eugene is developing a system to efficiently collect growth-related information like population and jobs growth the number of houses being built, and the status of our undeveloped land supply. Knowing how fast Eugene is growing and the rate of development will help us determine if we need to implement ways to grow more compact (e.g. development incentives or increase density) or grow our land supply by expanding our urban growth boundary. The goal is to have growth-related data that is complete and relevant to the community’s future needs such as those identified in the 2012 Envision Eugene Recommendation. Regularly assessing the effectiveness of how we are managing our growth community and identifying future growth trends will allow us to adjust our strategies and the monitoring program in response to changing needs. Policies establishing the growth monitoring program were adopted in the Envision Eugene Comprehensive Plan (see the Administration and Implementation chapter) in 2017.
What’s Happening Now vs. Later
Now
City staff are working to collect and verify development data since 2012, the beginning of our monitoring period. Additionally, we are beginning to develop and test the software to compute, display, and analyze the data. The main focus at this time continues to be developing the system that will collect the data and produce charts and graphics for reporting.
The Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee (EETAC) has reviewed initial charts for U.S. Census data, population and employment growth, and a draft annual monitoring report template. Click on the topic areas below to view the draft charts. Given the infancy of the program, data is draft and subject to change.
Who lives here?
Characteristics of our community like the size of households, renting and owning, race and ethnicity
How fast are we growing?
Annual population, population growth forecasts
How fast are our jobs growing?
New jobs, what kind they are, employment growth forecasts
What types of housing development have we seen?
How many new homes have been built, how many are single-family, apartments, and housing types in the middle
(Coming in the future)
How much land has been developed?
Amount of land developed since the 2012-2032 land inventory, type of development (Coming in the future)
Until then, check out our Development Web Map to see where development is happening in Eugene. The map displays the development potential of lots, as determined by the 2012-2032 Buildable Lands Inventory.
Later
The results of the monitoring system will be presented to Planning Commission and City Council to be approved for future use. Additional work includes producing the first annual monitoring report, an on-line dashboard for reviewing monitoring information, and identifying metrics for "qualitative" data that is more subjective in nature and related to the experience of our residents as the community develops. Beginning in 2021, the program will begin annual reporting that can be used as a tool to monitor growth trends and patterns for UGB planning.
City Staff are working with city partners and Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Committee (EETAC). These groups are comprised of technical experts, community members, and representatives from City Boards and Commissions. The EETAC was appointed by the City Manager and began meeting in October 2018. The group represents a range of voices in the community and will provide feedback to staff on technical-related issues. The foundational ideas behind the program were developed in conjunction with the Technical Resource Group (TRG) in 2015.
- Draft Growth Monitoring Program Framework: Includes program specifics such as goals, partners, key data, collection, reporting, and program evaluation (Attachment A to Planning Commission agenda packet).
- Buildable Lands Inventory: Adopted as part of the Envision Eugene Comprehensive Plan, this is the City’s adopted 2012-2032 inventory of land supply. As part of the monitoring program the BLI will be updated in 2020 to see how quickly our land has been developing.
Current Projects
Urban Reserves: Is an ongoing project to identify potentially developable lands outside of the UGB to accommodate and plan for up to 30 years of population growth. Future growth monitoring reports will help inform how quickly we Eugene will need to expand into urban reserve areas.
Earlier Projects
Envision Eugene: Is our Comprehensive Plan that expanded the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) in 2017 and forecasts how Eugene will grow in the next 20 years (through 2037). Envision Eugene: Vision to Action is the set of four documents that present the outcome of the Envision Eugene process and complementary ways to make the community vision a reality:
- The Community Vision explores the history, the values, and the goals that inform how Eugene should grow. The seventh pillar lays a strong mandate for the Growth Monitoring Program.
- The Comprehensive Plan is the state-mandated land use policy plan for the City of Eugene. Policies in the Administration and Implementation chapter of this document establish core elements of the Growth Monitoring Program. An appendix to the Comprehensive Plan is the Buildable Lands Inventory, the City’s adopted 2012-2032 inventory of land supply.
- The Urban Form Plan presents both local context and best practices to guide and inform the built environment in Eugene. The plan itself does not address the Growth Monitoring Program specifically. However the program will include means to evaluate whether development is achieving Envision Eugene’s quality of life or livability goals and outcomes, some of which are directly influenced by the guidelines in the Community Design Handbook, such as creating walkable neighborhoods and a beautiful downtown and key corridors.
- The Action Plan lays out specific steps to achieve the goals of Envision Eugene. The Growth Monitoring Program, as an ongoing program to support all actions taken, is presented in detail within the Action Plan. The Planning Commission reviewed the draft Action Plan (monitoring program starts on agenda package page 131) at their October 19, 2015 work session.
The Envision Eugene technical resource group met from 2011-2016 to vet the data and assumptions used in adoption of the Envision Eugene Comprehensive Plan’s technical appendices including the City’s Employment and Residential Land Supply Studies for 2012-2032 and their associated Buildable Lands Inventories. The monitoring program will track and report on many of these assumptions.
Upcoming Public Meetings
EETAC Meetings
As of spring, the EETAC meetings are now alternating between both the Growth Monitoring and Urban Reserves projects. To learn more about the data collected, see the EETAC meeting materials.
Past Public Meetings
- Eugene Planning Commission, October 26 2020. (Agenda and Webcast)
- Planning Division Project Fair, June 5 2019. (Event Flyer)
- Eugene Planning Commission, May 21 2018. (Agenda and Webcast)
- Planning Division Project Fair, October 10 2018. (Event Flyer)
- Eugene Planning Commission, October 19, 2015, (Agenda (Action Plan pg.97) and Webcast)
- Eugene Planning Commission, June 22, 2015. (Agenda and Webcast)
- Eugene Planning Commission, June 9, 2014. (Agenda and Webcast)
- Eugene Planning Commission, January 14, 2013. (Agenda and Webcast)
Contact Us
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Planning Division
Heather O'Donnell
Senior Planner / Community Engagement Lead
99 W. 10th Avenue
Eugene, OR 97401
Ph: 541-682-5488
Email