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.

Hartman described the community outreach done last year — online surveys, postcards, posters at in‑person events and interviews with major landowners and infrastructure providers — and summarized results: survey respondents ranked tenant supports (including renter protections) and direct financial tools as high priorities, and expressed interest in design standards such as weather protection, active ground‑floor uses and open space. She said many of the housing tools discussed for CFAs could also be considered for citywide housing strategy work, which staff will brief to council on March 10.

On the specific sites, Hartman said Glenwood Riverfront ranks highly for a primary CFA because its refinement and master‑planning work already aligns with CFA standards; staff propose a revised boundary that excludes portions of the Willamette Greenway where a three‑story height limit is retained. For Mohawk she said the area largely already complies with primary CFA standards and would require fewer code changes; staff propose increasing required minimum densities in some districts there. For downtown Hartman recommended a smaller, secondary CFA with an eastern boundary at 14th Street (an alternative would shrink it to 8th Street) in order to reduce impacts to adjacent residential areas and to avoid removing existing height transition standards. She said Gateway Riverbend has limited potential for new housing, much of the land is influenced by hospital needs, and the area includes floodway that is not developable under CFA criteria.

Commissioners pressed staff on several points. Commissioner Greenwell asked whether the state offers a formal citywide credit to offset acreage requirements; Hartman replied, “Not in the rules. And, thankfully, the acreage requirement’s not really much of a concern — we have plenty of acreage — it’s really the housing capacity that we had to look at bigger areas to accommodate.” Several commissioners questioned the housing‑need numbers; Hartman clarified that the state’s new housing projection (which commissioners referenced as about 7,000 units) is the projected new need and that the CFA calculation staff cited — the “little less than 10,000” number — reflects the city’s approach to meeting 30% of the combined current and future need under the CFA methodology.

Commissioners also asked about infrastructure and implementation. Hartman said CFAs are intended to be priorities for transportation and utility improvements and that designating CFAs can help focus funding for biking, walking and transit. On financing tools, Hartman said the code work itself is not dependent on subsidy: “Some of it is really just a lot relying on private development to happen as it does, but we could play a role in if we wanna incentivize more development in these areas.” She noted alignment with existing financial tools, including urban renewal districts and the city’s housing diversity tax exemption, and said designating the Glenwood Riverfront would involve coordination with Lane County because some land is outside city limits and would require review by the Lane County Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners.

Hartman said staff will present these recommendations to the City Council on February 10; after council direction, staff will draft the plan and code amendments and begin the adoption process later in the year. She told the commission that a new housing capacity analysis must be completed by December 2027 using state projections, and that the city will hold more public engagement on draft plan and code amendments this summer.

No formal recommendation or vote was taken by the Planning Commission at the meeting; commissioners provided feedback that staff said would be forwarded to council ahead of Monday’s selection.