Rebuild vote coming

EUGENE: The Lane County Board of Commissioners could write a prescription for relief from rebuilding anxiety at their April 25th meeting. On the agenda are possible code amendments that were developed in response to concerns faced by owners of buildings destroyed by the Holiday Farm Fire in Blue River.

According to senior planner Becky Taylor, the existing rights-of-way in the “downtown” area of Blue River were formally established by plats originally developed when the town was created. Most of the rights-of-way in the area are from 40 to 60 feet wide. But, the county’s existing code language requires widths of from 50 to 80 feet.

In addition, many buildings in the area had been constructed right up to their property lines. Since the fire, several have been allowed to be built back in their old locations under grandfathering provisions.

“To require other structures to be built with different setbacks would result in an inconsistent frontage alignment,” Taylor

has said.

Some relief could come from removing the 10-foot setback meant for topographical constraints from the downtown portion of Blue River Drive. Another option would be to allow development setbacks to be based on a board of commissioners-approved design that would describe the right-of-way, rather than defaulting to a code-prescribed width.

People can attend the commissioner’s meeting in person on Tuesday, April 25th, at 1:30 p.m. at Harris Hall, 125 E. 8th Avenue, in Eugene. An online option is available at tinyurl.com/4nszah9h.