Southwest Hills Neighborhood Association – Eugene, Oregon
SHiNA General Meeting on Sunday February 3rd, 1:00 – 3:00pm
at Wayne Morse Family Farm – 595 Crest Drive
Please join us and come to express yourself during public comments. Eugene Civic Alliance & Youth House will also present updates. Emergency Preparedness will be discussed to help ourselves & neighbors. The meeting was moved to an earlier time to accommodate Super Bowl enthusiasts.
Informative & Fun SHiNA Gatherings plus Elections
Upcoming Southwest Hills Neighborhood Association General Membership Meetings:
* Sunday, October 7th, 2:00-4:00pm
at Good Samaritan, 3500 Hilyard Street
– Picnic Feedback
– Election’s Slate
– Frank Lawson, EWEB General Manager will speak about the state of the utility, and discuss topics and projects EWEB is working on: Emergency Water Sites, Smart Meter Deployment, Cyber Security, Affordability & Climate Change.
– Alex Rahmlow, Fire Planning Coordinator, Western Lane District, OR Dept of Forestry will speak: Let’s be Firewise, to increase the chance of surviving a wildfire event for our homes & community.
* The SHiNA Board Seeks New Members:
The Southwest Hills Neighborhood Association (SHiNA) is seeking new members to join our volunteer board this fall to keep our neighborhood well-represented within the City. At-large board positions and SHiNA officers are up for election or re-election. Candidates will be put forward for ratification at the October General Membership Meeting. Elections will take place at the Annual November General Membership Meeting.
The SHiNA board advocates on behalf of 3,689 neighborhood addresses and households. We work on housing, land use, traffic and wildlife issues, sustainability, park improvements, etc. We notify neighbors about proposed neighborhood development, city initiatives, policies and projects. We also convey our neighborhood needs to the City.
Please consider joining the SHiNA Board. We would like your input and assistance in forming the neighborhood area teams for our Emergency Preparedness efforts. A neighborhood association is an excellent way to partner with other neighbors, the City, and other organizations to develop solutions to shared problems. SHiNA is one of 23 neighborhood associations and is formally recognized by the City of Eugene.
The SHiNA Board has up to 10 members and meets every other month. There are also four informative General Meetings and an Annual Picnic with live entertainment, a fundraiser, the potluck picnic, a kid’s art table and community information tables. The term of service is one year with no term limits. Email the SHiNA Board if you would like more information about serving on the board: shina_board@googlegroups.com
* Sunday, November 4th, 2:00-4:00pm
at Wayne Morse Family Farm, 595 Crest Drive
– SHiNA Board Elections
– Pacific Northwest Mushroom & Toadstool slideshow presentation
from former LCC mycology instructor Ralph McDonald. Oregon is home to hundreds of species of edible mushrooms, several psychoactive species and to four dangerously poisonous species. Bring your mushroom questions and samples that you’d like identified.
The new Newsletter for August is being mailed out to SHiNA residents. Come to the SHiNA Picnic on Sunday, September 9th from 4:00 – 7:00pm at Wayne Morse Family Farm (595 Crest Drive). Support the Silent Auction for a chance to win! We have 35+ donations with a $1,600 value! See the list of auction items on page 3 of the newsletter.
Lane County will hold its first FREE Plastics Round-up on Sunday, September 30th, 10 am – 2 pm at the Glenwood Transfer Station, 3100 E 17th Ave, Eugene.
We’ll be collecting #2, #4 and #5 tubs, jugs, bottles, lids and beverage handles.
All materials brought to this event must be clearly stamped with a resin code (number inside chasing arrows) of #2, #4 or #5 and must be separated into shape descriptions. No other plastic types will be collected at this event.
All items must be washed clean. Remove all labels that are not printed on container.
Some examples of ACCEPTED items:
Some examples of EXCLUDED items:
Why a Round-Up?
Recent disruptions to international recycling markets has driven changes in the collection of mixed recycling (aka curbside commingled recycling) systems in Lane County. Some communities have had to prohibit plastics in order to ensure that sorting facilities can produce a marketable paper commodity for remanufacturing.
Lane County and its partners are developing strategies to maintain recycling collection for the plastics that can be successfully recycled in the Pacific Northwest. The key to successful recycling is to ensure each commodity type is uncontaminated by other plastics or debris of any kind.
Interested in volunteering for this event?
Contact Kelly Bell at 541-682-2059 or kelly.bell@co.lane.or.us
For additional information, contact: plasticsroundup@co.lane.or.us or visit the Lane County website.
Dr. Toomey from the UO Department of Earth Sciences will give a talk about earthquake hazards in Oregon and how the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system can be used by business, industry, government, and the public to become better prepared to respond to earthquakes.
Please join the Neighborhood Leaders Council (NLC) on Tuesday, April 24th at 7:15 pm. In the Atrium Building located at 99 West 10th Avenue (off Olive Street in Downtown Eugene).
When we host
Eben Fodor
For a presentation and conversation around housing, zoning, neighborhoods and potential big changes to all three looming on the horizon.
While the goal of providing a growing population with more housing choices and more affordable options is widely accepted, there is concern that the idea of increasing density in the areas of single family lots throughout the city might fail to provide increased affordability and at the same time negatively impact the character of low density neighborhoods.
Eben Fodor is a local community planning consultant.
He has been a leading researcher on the impacts of urban growth and land development. He writes on growth and sustainability issues and speaks on these topics across the US.
Second on the agenda will be a presentation and discussion with
Eric Brown, City of Eugene Planner and
Rene Kane, Human Rights & Neighborhood Involvement (HRNI) Neighborhood Planner
who will talk about the draft Neighborhood Planning Guidelines developed by the Planning Dept. & HRNI. The Neighborhood Planning Guidelines are intended to serve as a resource to residents interested in addressing local concerns and aspirations through a planning process or neighborhood project.
Bonny Bettman McCornack will present on 20-283 for an Independent Citizen’s Elected Auditor
Rob Zako will present on 20-287 for a City Council Appointed Auditor
TALKING TURKEY about THWARTING RATS
by Ralph McDonald
Community supporters would like to invite you to attend an organizational meeting to explore the feasibility of creating a Metropolitan Park District to serve the recreational needs of the Eugene area. When speaking to neighborhood groups throughout the greater Eugene area for the past 5 months, we have noted great interest in this type of district and received very favorable results.
Now it’s time to take the next steps! We would like to put together a committee of Metropolitan Park District supporters that can organize a process to achieve the goal of completing a feasibility study. This is needed to determine if a Metropolitan Park District would be in the best interest of Eugene residents. This organizational meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 17th at 7:00 pm at the River Road Park and Recreational District, located at 1400 Lake Drive.
Middle Housing Questions from the Southeast Neighbors Forum with Eben Fodor
held on March 1, 2018 at Good Samaritan.
Middle Housing (MH) is being proposed to essentially rezone existing single-family neighborhoods to allow duplexes, triplexes, multiplexes, townhouses, and cottage clusters. Proponents advocate that this can be done in a manner that is compatible with single-family homes. Typically existing homes would be torn down or redeveloped into multiple one- and two-bedroom units. To help make these MH conversion “pencil out”, advocates typically recommend that current off-street parking requirements be waived.
Here are some questions to consider on the topic:
1. What about impacts to neighbors (loss of privacy, noise, solar shading, etc.)?
2. What about parking impacts and increased traffic?
3. What about loss of onsite open space, yards, gardens, play areas?
4. With loss of yards, won’t we need more parks and community gardens?
5. What sorts of additional infrastructure (like schools, roads, and parks) is needed to accommodate increased population density? (And how will this be planned/funded/provided?)
6. What about families with children who don’t fit into one and two-bedroom floor plans?
7. Do most of these units turn into rentals?
8. Is there evidence that these MH units will be more affordable to rent or own than existing housing?
9. Aren’t traditional apartment buildings more economical and affordable than MH.
10. How does MH address low-income housing needs?
11. How do you prevent loss of modestly-priced single-family homes to MH conversions?
12. What about peoples’ expectations to live in a single-family neighborhood?
13. Demand for single-family homes is strong. What hard evidence is there for MH demand?
14. If existing urban single-family neighborhoods are converted into MH, won’t this force those who want a single-family home to the urban fringes (sprawl)?
15. Isn’t the “secondary dwelling unit” (already allowed in cities statewide) a better way to meet demand in established neighborhoods?
16. We see lots of nice pictures, but what prevents MH from being hideously ugly and overcrowded?
17. In Eugene, we just completed our Comprehensive Plan last year and determined that there is enough land and housing capacity to meet projected needs through 2035. So why do we need to rezone single-family neighborhoods?
