Springfield City Club

July 18: Implementing Oregon’s Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities Rules for Climate-Friendly Areas

Join Springfield City Club on Thursday, July 18 to learn about how Springfield planning staff are working to implement the State’s Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities administrative rules. These rules were passed in July 2022 by Oregon’s Land Conservation and Development Commission in response to Governor Brown’s Executive Order 20-04.

A Bit About Climate-Friendly Areas

Oregon’s Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities rules include wide-ranging requirements for metropolitan areas, and the City of Springfield must comply with rules that influence how Springfield approaches community engagement, land use policy and development standards, and transportation policy. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, one component of the rules requires Springfield to adopt one or more Climate-Friendly Areas (CFAs), which will allow for dense, urban mixed-use centers where people have opportunities to meet most of their travel needs without relying on a car.

Progress toward identifying potential CFAs (to eventually adopt one or more) so far includes:

• Initial technical analysis to identify potential CFA locations in Springfield, which are currently Downtown, Glenwood Riverfront, Mohawk, and Gateway/RiverBend
• A “toolkit” for community engagement that provides a foundation for the project’s Community Engagement Plan, which guides the City to meaningfully seek input as it continues its process of selecting one or more CFAs
• Early community engagement to build awareness of the project and to solicit early feedback on the CFAs being considered
• Demographic analysis to better understand whether, and to what degree, any of the CFA options pose the risk of displacing community members due to higher housing costs that may come as a result of property owner-initiated development or redevelopment under the State’s new requirements
• Assessments of infrastructure availability,, major landowner willingness, and market economics to better understand what types of development could realistically occur with CFAs in place

Several CFA location scenarios could meet State requirements for CFAs. This June, the project team presented the potential benefits and tradeoffs for a few scenarios that aim to respond to community input and sought guidance from the Springfield Planning Commission and City Council on the next steps. The conversation at the City Club will share the outcome of the discussions with the Planning Commission and City Council.

More information is available on the project webpage at bit.ly/SpringfieldCFAs

Chelsea Hartman

Chelsea is a Senior Planner for the City of Springfield and is the project manager for Springfield’s Climate-Friendly Areas project. Her work focuses on long-range land use planning projects that influence how Springfield will grow and change in the future, which includes implementing State requirements. Her efforts have involved various planning aspects, such as supporting Development Code updates and recently completing Springfield’s Comprehensive Plan Map Clarification Project, which resulted in a map clearly showing how land in Springfield is intended to be used in the future.

Before becoming a City of Springfield employee, Chelsea worked for the City of Eugene on land use planning and housing efforts for nearly 5 years. Before moving to Oregon in 2017, Chelsea worked as a land use planner in Chesterfield County, Virginia where she analyzed demographics and housing trends to inform the County’s planning efforts. She earned a master’s degree in Urban & Regional Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2014. Since moving to Oregon, she has learned about the uniqueness of Oregon’s land use planning system and how that shapes Oregon communities.

Her favorite aspects of working for Springfield include having opportunities to collaborate with community members and identifying ways to support more housing choices. A home is a foundational aspect of life and influences how people experience the community they live in.

Monica Sather

Monica worked her way back to working for Springfield over many years and has felt lucky to be back since. Her time with the City of Springfield’s Development & Public Works Operations Division doing field-based work for three summers in the mid-2000s sparked her interest in why cities look and function the way they do and how to prioritize solutions for real and lasting change. She sought to help answer these questions by earning master’s degrees in Community & Regional Planning and in Public Administration from the University of Oregon in 2014.

Before returning as a City of Springfield employee in 2019, Monica sought to gain insight into what it was like working with (instead of for) city government in hopes this approach could better serve the city she hoped to work for again. She dedicated several years to Lane County’s Land Management and Transportation Engineering Divisions and to the private sector at Cameron McCarthy Landscape Architecture & Planning where she helped deliver regionally significant projects for public, non-profit, and private clients.

As a comprehensive planner, Monica’s efforts touch on varied aspects of community development, including securing grants for land use and transportation projects, updating Springfield’s natural resource studies, working with Willamalane Park & Recreation District, advancing mapping projects, and more. Monica’s current focus is to apply policy in ways that make technical information interesting and easy to access.

Serving a local community and connecting with residents to understand their lived experiences and interests brings her joy. She is fascinated with what makes people feel comfortable in our developed environment through site design and transportation lenses while simultaneously learning how to care for our natural one.

Two individuals are running in the Democratic Primary for election to House District 7, which includes much of Springfield. John Lively is the incumbent representative and Ryan Rhoads has filed to run. Mr. Lively has accepted the City Club invitation to appear at the forum on May 2, Mr. Rhoads has not yet responded to our invitation.

Mr. Lively has submitted a statement describing his candidacy:

Springfield City Club Statement – House District 7

I am honored to have served the citizens of Springfield and HD 7 now for 12 years. During that time much has changed, but how to best represent the district in the legislature has not changed.

Key issues I have worked in cooperation with the leaders and constituents in Springfield include transportation funding, land use changes and funding to support development of housing, infrastructure funding to offset costs to the local community, 0-12 education funding and policies to address the ever-changing challenges of our families and students. In addition, recently with my role as Chair of the Higher Education committee the focus has been on addressing strategies to fund additional support for students to offset the need for so much student borrowing.

Besides serving as Chair of the Higher Education Committee, I also this past two sessions served as chair of the Gambling Regulation Committee, served on the Economic Development and Small Business Committee. Also served on the Infrastructure Finance Authority with Business Oregon, the Road User Fee Task Force, the Oregon Growth Board, and others in addition to regular legislative duties.

Priorities moving forward is transportation system funding, continued work on to address the crisis in addiction and treatment, homelessness, and housing, managing the state budget to support the ongoing priorities, and finding new strategies to address the ever-increasing consequences of climate change.

John Lively

Two individuals have filed for the Republican primary to select candidates for House District 12. Charlie Conrad is the incumber and Darin Harbick has also filed for election. We have invited both candidates to participate in a forum on May 16 at noon. Mr. Conrad has accepted the invitation. Mr. Harbick’s campaign staff has indicated he has declined to participate. In response to our invitation, Mr. Conrad submitted the following statement concerning his candidacy: Conrad Statement

July 18: Implementing Oregon’s Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities Rules for Climate-Friendly Areas

Join Springfield City Club on Thursday, July 18 to learn about how Springfield planning staff are working to implement the State’s Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities administrative rules. These rules were passed in July 2022 by Oregon’s Land Conservation and Development Commission in response to Governor Brown’s Executive Order 20-04.

A Bit About Climate-Friendly Areas

Oregon’s Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities rules include wide-ranging requirements for metropolitan areas, and the City of Springfield must comply with rules that influence how Springfield approaches community engagement, land use policy and development standards, and transportation policy. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, one component of the rules requires Springfield to adopt one or more Climate-Friendly Areas (CFAs), which will allow for dense, urban mixed-use centers where people have opportunities to meet most of their travel needs without relying on a car.

Progress toward identifying potential CFAs (to eventually adopt one or more) so far includes:

• Initial technical analysis to identify potential CFA locations in Springfield, which are currently Downtown, Glenwood Riverfront, Mohawk, and Gateway/RiverBend
• A “toolkit” for community engagement that provides a foundation for the project’s Community Engagement Plan, which guides the City to meaningfully seek input as it continues its process of selecting one or more CFAs
• Early community engagement to build awareness of the project and to solicit early feedback on the CFAs being considered
• Demographic analysis to better understand whether, and to what degree, any of the CFA options pose the risk of displacing community members due to higher housing costs that may come as a result of property owner-initiated development or redevelopment under the State’s new requirements
• Assessments of infrastructure availability,, major landowner willingness, and market economics to better understand what types of development could realistically occur with CFAs in place

Several CFA location scenarios could meet State requirements for CFAs. This June, the project team presented the potential benefits and tradeoffs for a few scenarios that aim to respond to community input and sought guidance from the Springfield Planning Commission and City Council on the next steps. The conversation at the City Club will share the outcome of the discussions with the Planning Commission and City Council.

More information is available on the project webpage at bit.ly/SpringfieldCFAs

Chelsea Hartman

Chelsea is a Senior Planner for the City of Springfield and is the project manager for Springfield’s Climate-Friendly Areas project. Her work focuses on long-range land use planning projects that influence how Springfield will grow and change in the future, which includes implementing State requirements. Her efforts have involved various planning aspects, such as supporting Development Code updates and recently completing Springfield’s Comprehensive Plan Map Clarification Project, which resulted in a map clearly showing how land in Springfield is intended to be used in the future.

Before becoming a City of Springfield employee, Chelsea worked for the City of Eugene on land use planning and housing efforts for nearly 5 years. Before moving to Oregon in 2017, Chelsea worked as a land use planner in Chesterfield County, Virginia where she analyzed demographics and housing trends to inform the County’s planning efforts. She earned a master’s degree in Urban & Regional Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2014. Since moving to Oregon, she has learned about the uniqueness of Oregon’s land use planning system and how that shapes Oregon communities.

Her favorite aspects of working for Springfield include having opportunities to collaborate with community members and identifying ways to support more housing choices. A home is a foundational aspect of life and influences how people experience the community they live in.

Monica Sather

Monica worked her way back to working for Springfield over many years and has felt lucky to be back since. Her time with the City of Springfield’s Development & Public Works Operations Division doing field-based work for three summers in the mid-2000s sparked her interest in why cities look and function the way they do and how to prioritize solutions for real and lasting change. She sought to help answer these questions by earning master’s degrees in Community & Regional Planning and in Public Administration from the University of Oregon in 2014.

Before returning as a City of Springfield employee in 2019, Monica sought to gain insight into what it was like working with (instead of for) city government in hopes this approach could better serve the city she hoped to work for again. She dedicated several years to Lane County’s Land Management and Transportation Engineering Divisions and to the private sector at Cameron McCarthy Landscape Architecture & Planning where she helped deliver regionally significant projects for public, non-profit, and private clients.

As a comprehensive planner, Monica’s efforts touch on varied aspects of community development, including securing grants for land use and transportation projects, updating Springfield’s natural resource studies, working with Willamalane Park & Recreation District, advancing mapping projects, and more. Monica’s current focus is to apply policy in ways that make technical information interesting and easy to access.

Serving a local community and connecting with residents to understand their lived experiences and interests brings her joy. She is fascinated with what makes people feel comfortable in our developed environment through site design and transportation lenses while simultaneously learning how to care for our natural one.

Two individuals are running in the Democratic Primary for election to House District 7, which includes much of Springfield. John Lively is the incumbent representative and Ryan Rhoads has filed to run. Mr. Lively has accepted the City Club invitation to appear at the forum on May 2, Mr. Rhoads has not yet responded to our invitation.

Mr. Lively has submitted a statement describing his candidacy:

Springfield City Club Statement – House District 7

I am honored to have served the citizens of Springfield and HD 7 now for 12 years. During that time much has changed, but how to best represent the district in the legislature has not changed.

Key issues I have worked in cooperation with the leaders and constituents in Springfield include transportation funding, land use changes and funding to support development of housing, infrastructure funding to offset costs to the local community, 0-12 education funding and policies to address the ever-changing challenges of our families and students. In addition, recently with my role as Chair of the Higher Education committee the focus has been on addressing strategies to fund additional support for students to offset the need for so much student borrowing.

Besides serving as Chair of the Higher Education Committee, I also this past two sessions served as chair of the Gambling Regulation Committee, served on the Economic Development and Small Business Committee. Also served on the Infrastructure Finance Authority with Business Oregon, the Road User Fee Task Force, the Oregon Growth Board, and others in addition to regular legislative duties.

Priorities moving forward is transportation system funding, continued work on to address the crisis in addiction and treatment, homelessness, and housing, managing the state budget to support the ongoing priorities, and finding new strategies to address the ever-increasing consequences of climate change.

John Lively

Two individuals have filed for the Republican primary to select candidates for House District 12. Charlie Conrad is the incumber and Darin Harbick has also filed for election. We have invited both candidates to participate in a forum on May 16 at noon. Mr. Conrad has accepted the invitation. Mr. Harbick’s campaign staff has indicated he has declined to participate. In response to our invitation, Mr. Conrad submitted the following statement concerning his candidacy: Conrad Statement

Join Springfield City Club on Thursday, June 6 to hear about the impact of the Springfield Municipal Adult Rehabilitation and Treatment Court (SMART) from court coordinator Erin Selvey and Judge James Tierney. They will discuss SMART’s dual-pronged approach to addressing substance use and co-occurring disorders and how it offers essential support and structure to effect positive life changes. 

About SMART Court

The Springfield Municipal Adult Rehabilitation and Treatment Court was established in November 2023, with operations beginning in January 2024. This program aims to capitalize on decades of specialty court research to provide comprehensive treatment for individuals in our criminal justice system.

Treatment Court will provide a dual-pronged approach for individuals to tackle their substance use or co-occurring disorder. It will also provide support and structure to change their life circumstances. The Treatment Court team will partner with Lane County Parole and Probation, Quality Research Associates, Emergence, Springfield City Prosecutor, the public defender, and the Springfield Police Department to staff this program.

The Springfield Municipal Adult Rehabilitation and Treatment Court (SMART) is a minimum 12-month program with four highly structured, evidence-based phases. Read more about this program here. 

Involved participants must attend individual and group treatment sessions, submit to random drug testing, have frequent court appearances, and counsel as appropriate. Individuals must meet milestones to progress in phases and to graduate. At a minimum, individuals must be gainfully employed or in advanced schooling, have their GED or high school diploma, and have provided a give back to their community. The City recently received a federal grant of $900,000 to support the court operations. The Municipal Judge and court staff will discuss the operations and outcomes of the court’s activities in this program.

Speakers

Erin Selvey, court administrator

Erin Selvey is the Court Coordinator for the SMART Court program. She was born in raised in Springfield, attending Springfield High School before receiving a BS in Anthropology/Archaeology from Oregon State University. Both of her parents were long-time employees of the City of Springfield in the Police Department and Development/Public Works. After college, she returned to the Eugene/Springfield area and began working for the Springfield Municipal Court in 2009.

For the last 15 years she has served in many roles through the Municipal Court, from Court Clerk to Senior Clerk, and now Court Programs Coordinator. She manages the caseload of court clients sent to the Oregon State Hospital as well as the new Treatment Court program. She likes to spend her free time with her husband and 4-year-old daughter, travelling, and attending U of O football and volleyball events.

Hon. James Tierney, Presiding Judge of the Municipal Court

Judge James Tierney is the Presiding Judge for the Springfield Municipal Court and has held his position since August 2021.  He originally hails from Nevada but has been a resident of Lane County since 2015. Judge Tierney is a vocal proponent of restorative justice, in addition to having previously served as the Deputy District Attorney assigned to the Lane County Adult Treatment Court.

Restorative justice is a system that focuses on rehabilitating offenders because Springfield defendants cannot go to prison. They are charged with misdemeanors and will remain in the municipal court system. Judge Tierney hopes to show the SMART court program is beneficial for our community and expects to expand the program once further funding becomes available.