March 11, 2024 3:30 a.m.
The Roseburg City Council will get an update on a potential Urban Growth Boundary Swap as part of its meeting Monday night. The process began in 2018 when staff were approached by two property owners who have a significant amount of land within the UGB. The properties face substantial development constraints and the owners asked that their acreage be de-annexed from the city limits and the UGB. Staff is proposing that the approximately 229 acres of land removed from the de-annexed property be used to expand the UGB into the Charter Oaks area through what is referred to as a UGB swap.
Significant discussion with the Department of State Lands and the affected city departments has occurred to determine the feasibility of this process. The city also updated its long-range planning documents concerning its Housing Needs Analysis and Buildable Lands Inventory. An application has been submitted to both the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development and the Douglas County Planning Department for their official review. A webpage on the city’s website has been created to detail the proposal: https://www.cityofroseburg.org/departments/community-development.special-projects/ugb. An open house regarding the plan will be held at the Roseburg Public Library in April. The Douglas County Planning Commission will have a public hearing on the proposal on May 6th.
The council will consider a resolution authorizing submission of a grant application to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department for improvements at Brown Park. In January the city enlarged the park’s footprint by purchasing a decades long vacant piece of ground on West Francis Street, which is directly south of the existing park on West Harvard Avenue. Staff is seeking just over $650,000 from the state for the project which will cost just shy of $1.1 million. A playground consultant has designed a universally accessible park with a multi-age group play area and internal pathways. The plan reorients the play area away from Harvard over to the recently purchased parcel.
Other items are on the agenda as well. The meeting be held in the city council chambers beginning at 7:00 p.m. It can be seen on the city’s Facebook page or viewed later at www.cityofroseburg.org.