Lane County staff outline land‑banking program to speed housing supply in smaller cities

Lane County policy staff on Tuesday laid out a proposal to create a county land‑banking program intended to acquire, upzone and ready parcels to accelerate housing production, particularly in smaller cities outside the Eugene–Springfield metro area.

The presentation, led by Eric Mongan, a policy team member working on housing, recommended a revolving acquisition fund that the county would seed, use to acquire parcels and then replenish by selling parcels at cost to developers who would deliver higher‑density housing. "The effort would be to find larger tracts, work with the communities... and look at either up‑zoning them, partitioning them," Mongan said. He described the approach as a way to lower development costs without ongoing subsidy to the end developer.

The proposal referenced Cottage Grove as an example: the city purchased 61 acres zoned R‑2 (a medium‑density residential zone with a stated minimum of eight units per acre in the discussion) and partitioned and readied the land to attract both regulated affordable housing providers and market‑rate developers. Mongan said the city sold some parcels at about $1 per square foot so regulated affordable developers could acquire land at low or no cost and market developers could pay the county’s acquisition price to proceed. He told commissioners the county…