Planning commission recommends Ninth Street corridor as city’s Climate Friendly Area and approves related code and comp‑plan amendments

The Corvallis Planning Commission voted unanimously April 2 to recommend that City Council adopt a Climate Friendly Area (CFA) overlay focused on the Ninth Street corridor, and to recommend related land‑development code and comprehensive plan amendments required by state rules.

The CFA recommendation, packaged as three related items — a legislative zone change (ZDC‑2024‑06), land development code text amendments (LDT‑2024‑03) and a comprehensive plan text amendment (CPA‑2024‑03) — moves to City Council for final action. Planning staff said the package is intended to bring Corvallis into compliance with Oregon’s Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities requirements and the Transportation Planning Rule.

Senior planner Ryan Ametin told commissioners the staff recommendation narrows an earlier study of 10 candidate CFAs to one site: the Ninth Street corridor, which staff described as about 204 gross acres (167 net acres after right‑of‑way) and roughly 1.8 miles long from Polk Avenue north to just north of Walnut. Ametin said the corridor currently carries a commercial‑mixed‑use (CMU) zoning and that existing capacity calculations show it could accommodate substantially more housing than the minimum required by the state method.

Why it matters: The CFA rules require cities of Corvallis’ size to adopt at least one CFA and to ensure the adopted CFAs collectively can accommodate at least 30% of the jurisdiction’s current and projected housing need. Staff said the 30% target applies to the last housing needs analysis figure of 8,174 units; 30% of that figure is roughly 2,452 units. Adopting a CFA directs infrastructure and facility planning toward more walkable, transit‑oriented mixed‑use areas and is part of Oregon’s greenhouse gas reduction implementation strategy.

Staff recommended several targeted code changes to align the Ninth Street corridor with CFA requirements. Key changes described in the staff report and discussed at the hearing include: permitting townhouses and requiring a minimum of 20 units per acre for townhouse development within the CFA; increasing maximum building height in the CFA from 75 to 85 feet to capture additional development capacity; reducing minimum frontage lot width from 20 to 15 feet to allow narrower townhouse frontages; setting a 350‑foot maximum block‑face distance implemented through pedestrian connections; limiting new frontline lot lines under 50 feet to alley access to avoid new curb cuts on Ninth Street; and requiring a 15‑unit‑per‑acre minimum in new or expanded mixed‑use buildings to meet the state’s minimum density tests.

Ametin also summarized two technical summaries prepared for the CFA process: a multimodal gap summary (prepared with assistance from the Oregon Cascade West Council of Governments) that found only a few missing sidewalk segments in the proposed CFA and 11 Transportation System Plan projects in the area focused on bicycles and pedestrians; and a highway impact summary prepared by ODOT which, Ametin said, concluded that “because of the allowance of townhomes, [the rules] reduces the potential trip generation within the area by 23.6%” and that a higher share of trips may occur internally within the CFA.

Commission discussion and public input: The commission did not receive live public testimony on the CFA at this hearing; staff noted they had received one written submission with neutral questions that had been shared with the commissioners. During deliberations, Commissioner Adams raised a question about building code requirements — for example, fire‑protection and stair/egress rules for small‑lot, multi‑story buildings — and asked whether those requirements had been considered. Ametin said building‑code administration sits with Development Services and that the topic was outside the immediate scope of the CFA adoption; he suggested it could be examined separately by the city’s building‑code staff.

Actions taken: Commissioner Smith moved that the commission recommend City Council approve the legislative zone change (ZDC‑2024‑06) adopting the CFA overlay on the official zoning map; Commissioner Adams seconded. The motion passed unanimously (ayes recorded from the five commissioners present). The commission then voted, by majority, to recommend approval of the land‑development code text amendments (LDT‑2024‑03) and the comprehensive plan amendment (CPA‑2024‑03) needed to implement the CFA overlay. All three votes are recommendations to City Council; they do not constitute final city action and cannot be appealed at the Planning Commission level.

Implementation and next steps: Staff told the commission the package will be forwarded to City Council for a separate public hearing, expected in May. Ametin noted the city had secured a state extension and must complete adoption by June 30, 2025. The CFA study and all findings of consistency with statewide planning goals and the Transportation Planning Rule are included in the staff report attachments and will accompany the Council hearing materials.

Details and context: Staff said the CFA adoption is intended to comply with the Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities rulemaking that followed Executive Order 20‑04 and subsequent changes to the Transportation Planning Rule (Oregon Administrative Rules, Division 12). The CFA study and draft findings reference OAR sections implementing CFA requirements and the city’s Corvallis Comprehensive Plan (Article 13) and the Corvallis Land Development Code. Ametin also cited a technical consultant role for the Oregon Cascade West Council of Governments and public outreach support from 3J Consulting.

The commission’s recommendations advance the CFA adoption process but leave final code and map changes to City Council review and action.