Proposed Changes for Blue River Bring Hope
I have never been as optimistic for Blue River as I am today.
Wednesday’s night presentation of the proposed changes for Blue River gave me that hope.
The Lane County Planning team has developed a plan to help Blue River come back!!!
The proposed rules will reduce barriers to rebuilding after the fire.
Some highlights include:
- Rural Residential lot sizes are to be reduced to 1 acre min (down from 2)
- Allows multi-family development
- Allows mixed-use (both business and residential)
- New flex zone in that allows for a residential, business or mixed use without required property owner to rezone to one or the other
A goal is to provide more housing, support the return of businesses, create a walkable community and limit sprawl.
You are invited to give your thoughts. (If you are outside of the area, please be thoughtful in your comments and how negative responses could hurt victims of the Holiday Fire and the larger surrounding community.)
Link to Virtual Workshop: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XKJ3NDV
Details can be found here:
County Website: https://www.lanecountyor.gov/cms/one.aspx?pageId=19171354
Here is a copy of the draft plan:
1. Blue River Complete Community Plan Alternatives Memo DRAFT 10-26-2023
Why am I so excited?
This is the first time that Lane County has spent any Planning Development time on an unincorporated Rural Community.
In response to the housing crisis, Oregon made some major changes to its development code to add more flexibility to encourage more housing yet maintain urban sprawl. These new rules have given counties more flexibility in rural areas as well.
The new rules will allow flexible building options to support more housing, mixed use and multi-family development in downtown rural cores for unincorporated communities.
Our community members have been trying to get help for decades.
Our organization, McKenzie Community Partnership, has been working on this for over 20 years. It’s been an uphill struggle. So to see large-scale efforts to fix the underlying problems that keep small rural communities like Blue River from thriving, success and sustainability – I am overwhelmed.
(McKenzie Community Partnership started as Blue River Community Development Corporation – for the sole purpose of helping Blue River, as our name suggests we have expanded to serve the entire McKenzie River Communities.)
In 2007, we had a plan to work with Goal One, an Oregon conservation group, to create an innovative zoning overlay for small rural towns like ours that would create a small, walkable European style community. However the giant recession in 2008 destroyed those plans.
We have continued to speak out and advocate for changes at every opportunity we could find.
The Holiday Farm Fire provided a catalyst for the State and the County to look at solutions. We took the opportunity to press the county for solutions.
We couldn’t be more pleased with the work that they have done.
Some Blue River Oregon History
Gold was struck in the Blue River area in 1863, and had quickly become a popular place. Samual Sparks developed Blue River as a mining town back in the late 1800’s. It featured hotels, shops, liver stables and other services.
The town’s heyday was in the early 1900’s, yet as the gold ran out, the town shrank. It began to grow again with the timber industry and really hit full steam in the 60’s when the Army Corps of Engineers had 3 large dam projects.
In the 1970’s, Oregon’s new Land Use Planning Goals 2 drastically limited small rural towns from new development. Making it difficult or impossible for many business owners to expand or redevelop for changing needs. It also kept others from opening new businesses in rural areas. Many of Oregon’s Land Use Planners say the goal of this statewide planning initiative was to kill off small rural towns and only in the last few years have they realized the importance of rural communities.
“The national recession of the early 1980s hit resource-dependent communities particularly hard.”1 Timber prices were cut in half, unemployment was as high as 25% in areas.
Another huge hit to Blue River was the diversion of the highway around Blue River in the 1980’s. The diversion robbed the businesses of the visibility and drive-by traffic that once sustained them. Highway signage was promised to help provide visibility to offset the diversion, yet never materialized.
In the early 1990’s, the spotted owl issue continued to hamper Oregon timber industry.
“The dams were built, the timber industry dollars went away, and the Forest Service shuttered one ranger station and cut jobs. Blue River, at one time a thriving community with a beautiful three-story hotel with saloon, three restaurants, two bars, three gas stations, a mechanic, a library, and so much more, began to fail. Sadly, the businesses closed one after the other until most of it was gone.” 3
The Call of the McKenzie River – Tourism
Tourism has always been a draw for McKenzie River Communities. “In the 1870s the McKenzie River’s hot springs and fishing lodges started to draw tourists, and this increased when the road was paved in the 1900s” 4
Tourism has become one of the more stable economic drivers for the area. The beauty of the area draws people from all over the world.
Over the last few decades, people have tried to build businesses in Blue River, yet Land Use Planning Goals continue to prohibit many uses that were desired and viable in the area. Hotels aren’t allowed. In addition, building codes made it nearly impossible for land owners in Blue River to build or remodel their properties in ways that were viable.
Solutions for Blue River
- Change the zoning to make it easier to
- Build housing affordably
- Build multifamily and mixed use
- Build smart development that fits our local economy
- Improve roads to encourage business traffic flow
- Increase business traffic and access with improvements to River St and Dexter St
- Upgrade and realign River St to create a true Business Loop for Blue River – unifying the commercial core
- As an added benefit, this will discourage business traffic on the residential side of Blue River Drive.
- Allow Signage on the highway for our businesses
- Now only businesses with highway frontage can have signage
- Create decorative Blue River Entrance Signs at improved Business Loop that include signage for all retail storefronts in Blue River.
These are foundational elements. The starting building blocks to start the process.
We still need to look for ways to provide affordable financing and support for fire impacted businesses to recover, as well as help attract new business investment (the new zoning improvements now make this a possibility.)
Let’s not kid ourselves, there’s a long road to recover, yet these are critical foundations on the path to recovery. I don’t want to imply that the town will completely change overnight. While there are several commendable projects currently underway, such as the construction of the library, fire department, and medical clinic, the true effects of these developments will only begin to materialize once the County Commissioners finalize their implementation.
Yet the changes will finally turn some of the impossible dreams for Blue River into achievable realities.
Chris LaVoie
Executive Director
541-204-1001 Office 541-844-5990 Cell
Formerly McKenzie Community Development Corporation
A Non-Profit Community Development Organization
PO Box 406, Walterville, OR 97489
1Wells, Gail. “Restructuring the Timber Economy.” Oregon History Project, https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/narratives/the-oregon-coastforists-and-green-verdent-launs/the-oregon-coast-in-modern-times/restructuring-the-timber-economy/. Accessed 10 November 2023.