Staff outlines final draft for Ninth Street climate‑friendly area; recommends overlay and zone‑change process

Planning staff presented a final draft of a Climate Friendly Area (CFA) overlay for the Ninth Street corridor during a Feb. 5 work session and sought Planning Commission feedback before scheduling a public hearing.

Ryan Amminton, identified in the record as a senior planner with the planning division, said the city must adopt at least one CFA under Oregon Administrative Rules implementing the transportation planning rule and Climate Friendly & Equitable Communities requirements. Staff recommended adopting the Ninth Street corridor (study site E) as the city’s initial CFA and outlined code changes to meet the rule’s requirements.

Key elements in the draft CFA overlay and related amendments presented by staff include:

- A CFA overlay chapter (proposed Chapter 3.45) and edits to related chapters to bring the area into compliance with the OARs. - Allowing townhomes and requiring them as an allowed housing type in the CFA. - Increasing allowable building height within the CFA up to 85 feet (10 feet higher than the underlying zone) to add capacity. - A minimum density of 20 units per acre for townhome development; a 15 units per acre minimum for most new or expanded mixed‑use buildings (staff chose density rather than an FAR option after earlier discussion). - No direct vehicular access for new lots with a front lot line under 50 feet (a modification to Chapter 2.4). - A maximum block face length of 350 feet (OAR requirement), and new bicycle parking minimums for certain uses, initially scoped to the CFA to limit notice requirements. - A proposed administrative zone‑change process in Chapter 2.2 to allow property owners to convert RS12 to RMU12 or RS20 to RMU20 where eligible (application would require public notice and apply only within designated neighborhood center circles on the comprehensive plan map).

Amminton told commissioners the combined capacity of the Ninth Street CFA plus adjacent high‑density residential areas would meet the rule’s requirement to accommodate at least 30% of Corvallis’s current and future housing need; staff said the total capacity calculation is roughly 9,000 units (about 9% more than the rule’s minimum of ~8,000 for Corvallis). Amminton also noted the CFA must be at least 750 feet wide and the primary CFA be at least 25 acres under the rules.

Commissioners and councilors asked clarifying questions about specific definitions and standards. Councilor Bottas asked staff to elaborate on proposed changes to the frontage‑occupation definition (a downtown/CMU standard intended to ensure active frontage and usable public‑facing spaces). Amminton explained the change was intended to clarify what counts as usable frontage (for example, private plazas that are genuinely accessible and not merely landscaped strips) and to remove the difficult‑to‑administer element allowing customer seating reservations to count toward frontage because uses can change over time and staff cannot readily enforce ongoing use. Commissioners discussed meeting formats and hybrid options in a separate administrative conversation after the CFA presentation.

Next steps

Staff said the CFA work session was intended to be final review before a Planning Commission public hearing tentatively scheduled for April 2, with the City Council hearing likely in May. Staff also noted minor code cleanup items across other chapters, removal of unused definitions, and clarification of terms such as alley, frontage occupation, front lot line, and tenant space.