Thank you very much for you comment.

We can’t speak for our various panelists. But speaking on behalf of the committee organizing the conference, we have been consistent all along in wanting to benefit from outside knowledge as it applies to Lane County.

Thus, for example, every panel is being moderated by someone with local, on-the-ground knowledge. Housing advocate (and LCDC chair) John VanLandingham is moderating one panel, Lane Metro Partnership executive director Jack Roberts another, and LTD board president Gerry Gaydos yet another. A big part of their role will be to provide a “reality check” on what we might hear from out of town.

We have also been encouraging our speakers to orient their comments to Lane County. Yes, unlike much of the country, Oregon has UGBs. And within Oregon, the market in Lane County is different from, say, around Portland or Bend.

In particular, the panel with Joe Cortright and Terry Moore will probably talk about what is happening elsewhere in the country to provide context, but then move to looking at what is happening in Lane County, and how that might be changing.

Please come to the conference with your concerns, questions and an open mind.

In Lane County, the assumptions by Cortright do not hold true. Areas within the Urban Growth Boundary are dropping in value or barely holding their own. The areas showing increase in median sales price in April 2008 were: McKenzie Valley, Veneta/Elmira, Junction City, Thurston, Springfield and Mohawk Valley. East Eugene & River Road showed slight increases, all other areas decreased. I’d be happy to send the Market Watch report by the RMLS and the annual median price graphs by area to anyone who wants to study them.

While holding our urban growth boundary tightly, we have had a much better housing market than most of the US. That said, we also have a much higher ratio of housing prices compared to income. We are rapidly making home ownership un-reachable by many of our community, even in the outlying areas.

Housing in the core is a major problem here.

Our continued view that downtown revitalization will occur by helping businesses to locate there overlooks one major component… who’s going to shop there? Without providing owner-occupied housing in the down-town core (for long term support of business, rather than the more transient support a renter might bring) we will never see a revitalization. Ask any real estate broker and they’ll tell you that people want housing downtown, where they can walk to shop, the arts, etc. They need good, reasonably priced options. Several of the recent apartment developments should have been moderately priced condos (Charnelton & 8th and the highrise on High & 10th). Right now we have either very small, older units (Willamette Towers, High St Row houses) or high-end units (The Tate, Lincoln Terrace). Encouraging current apartment owners to convert to condos and to encourage developers to build condos or row houses into their projects… again at moderate prices and finishes… will do more the help the downtown than any business development.

I am looking forward to attending the conference and hearing what others have to say about where we are going as a community. I just hope that they will be using our data and statistics, not numbers and trends from a city 2000 miles away.

Lorette Waggoner
Prudential Real Estate Professionals
541-302-4480

In brief, our opening speaker will be regional planner John Fregonese. We will have panels on 1) housing and Smart Growth, 2) economics, 3) communities collaborating, and 4) transportation. Our keynote speaker will be former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening. Finally, we will have a “Next Steps” panel consisting of local elected officials.

Reading the bios of the speakers will give you a better sense of the kinds of topics features. But a more detailed program is not yet available.