Staff recommends Glenwood Riverfront and Mohawk as primary climate‑friendly areas; downtown proposed as secondary

Chelsea Hartman, senior planner for the city’s Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities effort, told the Springfield Planning Commission that staff are recommending the Glenwood Riverfront and Mohawk corridors be designated as primary Climate Friendly Areas (CFAs), with a reduced portion of downtown designated as a secondary CFA. Hartman said staff are not recommending Gateway Riverbend as a CFA because of floodplain, infrastructure and market constraints.

Hartman summarized the state requirement that cities designated under Oregon’s Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities rules must adopt at least one CFA and said primary CFAs allow taller buildings (she said “at least 7 stories” and roughly “25 units per net acre”) while secondary CFAs would allow lower heights (roughly “4 stories” and “15 units per acre”). She told commissioners the CFA acreage requirement was not the limiting factor for Springfield; the primary constraint has been meeting the housing capacity target. “This equates to a little less than 10,000 housing units based on our current adopted residential land and housing need analysis,” Hartman said, and staff are planning CFAs to accommodate about 30% of the city’s required housing capacity under the state methodology.

Hart…