John Brown, Southtowne member, partner at Evan, Elder & Brown, and commissioner for EWEB’s Board of Commissioners presented on trends in Lane County Development and future predictions. If you ever want to know anything about what is happening in Eugene, John is the man.

Highlights of the presentation:

  • John has been in Eugene over 60 years and spoke about the changes over the years.
  • John predicts is that the next 10 years hold a greater magnitude of change than what he’s seen the past 50-60 years.
  • The urban growth boundary was created in the 70s.
  • Envision Eugene is happening now to figure out how we are going to grow over the next 20-30 years. They will expand the urban growth boundary in some ways including the areas around LCC and West Eugene for residential and industrial.
  • We are totally out of industrial land.
  • Another possible area of growth is out by the airport.
  • Rezoning will happen for multi-family and commercial.
  • There will be maximum lot sizes and density will increase similar to how it is down Patterson and up Hilyard.
  • Goodpasture Island Road is growing dramatically and an expanded bridge is going up over Delta in order to accommodate traffic.
  • Traffic is about to get a lot worse and reliance on alternative modes of transportation will increase. All the new buildings are being built right up to the road and so roads will not widen.
  • Ferry Street Bridge is the area that will change the most. Apartments, small lots, and senior housing are all coming in to that area and traffic is already challenging.
  • University district development is beginning to slow because of current density levels.
  • Springfield is growing also, just not to as much of a degree.
  • We used to be reactive in terms of economic development but the tide is shifting to promote this area. No land to develop on and a challenging development environment are obstacles in that process.
  • Hynix, even though they are no longer here, are still one of the top 10 taxpayers in lane county. Large companies add a lot of revenue to our economy.
  • Monaco’s property consisted of over a million square feet. All of that property is leased and becoming not enough for the companies that have moved in.
  • Probable Rumor: Occupation of Hynix is close to becoming a reality
  • Probable Rumor: A hotel near Valley River.
  • Probable Rumor: A Conference center.
  • Oregon state police will relocate and build new buildings.
  • Probable Rumor: Whole Foods is coming.
  • Other growth: Natural Grocers is almost built on Coburg, Starbucks is moving from Pearl to an expanded location on Broadway, Crazy student housing projects are almost complete, Civic stadium will finally become something new and prosporous and the new YMCA will be built, new and remodeled schools are happening all over the city, the beer district continues to grow and expand (Ninkasi is the 5th largest brewery in the nation and doesn’t even have a national presence yet) – and there is much more.
  • This is the most extensive growth we’ve seen in the past 30 years.
  • John’s opinion is we need to grow, but we need to grow smart. Fortunately we’ve been able to keep this an attractive area to live in but it will be a challenge to maintain that over the next decade or two.
  • Downtown Springfield and Glenwood are both growing and expanding and will look much different a few years from now.
  • Drastic change is a reality.
  • It’s becoming very important to look at where you live and are going to live because everything around you is changing.
  • There are 7-8000 apartment units being built that won’t be used by students.
  • A new State Mental Hospital in Junction City is proving to provide infrastructure challenges. But Junction City is a huge area of opportunity.
  • EWEB is in good shape to support the growth and riverfront properties are up for sale and negotiations are ongoing with major developers for that riverfront area.