Roseburg council moves forward with Charter Oaks UGB swap after hours-long hearing

The Roseburg City Council on July 22 voted unanimously to ask staff to prepare findings supporting a proposed urban growth boundary (UGB) swap that would add the Charter Oaks area to the city's UGB and remove two privately held properties currently inside the boundary.

Staff presentations framed the swap as a tool to expand housing opportunity. “Our objective in regards to this — the entirety of this UGB swap — is to provide housing opportunity,” said a city planning staff member during the presentation, describing the multi-year process and the materials in the council packet, including Planning Commission findings and letters of support and concern.

The staff report described a targeted exchange: about 290 acres would be removed from the UGB while roughly 220 acres would be added, and project analysts estimated 673 dwelling units would be removed and 673 added in the swap’s accounting. City staff emphasized that the swap does not guarantee development at that intensity and that buildout could be substantially less. The report cited the city’s 2019 Housing Needs Analysis, which forecasts the UGB population growing…