Zoning regulations in ecovillages would support goals of promoting the safety of the local ecosystem and the entire planet as well as individual safety, including:

• Constructing buildings that minimize their impact on the earth from the production and transport of building materials, to the service life of the building to its ultimate disposal;
• Promoting high density living within cities in a manner that is rich in nature and community while preserving fertile land for food production;
• Becoming self-reliant in our food, energy, transportation and waste disposal, minimizing our use of fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources, while maximizing the amount of wastes that we recycle on-site;
• Providing educational opportunities for students and interns to learn and practice sustainable living skills;
• Providing commercial space for various sustainability-related cottage industries, thus creating revenue necessary to make the ecovillage more fully self-sustaining;
• Providing living spaces for people choosing to live alternative, low environmental impact lifestyles.

         We would like to collaborate with the City of Eugene to create "ecovillage zoning regulations." Sources of information for informing the designing of these codes include the Living Building Challenge recently introduced by the Cascadia Green Building Council and also OUR Eco-village in British Columbia, which has successfully worked with their local government to create an ecovillage zoning code in Canada. Our hope is that Eugene can maintain its position as the "number one green city" in the United States partly through adopting the first eco-village zoning code in this country. Here are our specific requests regarding zoning:

1. Building codes
   1. Allow for the use of natural and local building materials, including earth, sustainably harvested and recycled wood, and straw. Buildings should be built to be either extremely long lasting or to be fully recyclable or compostable in addition to being structurally sound. Materials should be harvested and created in a manner that respects the earth.
   2. Prohibit the use of building materials that are toxic to produce, use or dispose of.
   3. Encourage composting toilets, rainwater catchments, greywater processing systems, zero net energy design, and other sustainable elements.
2. Density requirements and land use
   1. Allow many unrelated adults and their children to choose to share a large home with many bedrooms and a shared kitchen, dining room, and other common facilities. This is a more efficient use of land and energy than having us all live in small nuclear families or as single people in separate homes.
   2. Allow people to sleep in stand-alone bedrooms while sharing common facilities in a nearby home.
   3. Exempt farmland from acreage that is used to calculate density requirements, as long as the farmland is put into a land trust for the purpose of producing food or for natural habitat restoration. If food is grown close to where people live, it requires less energy to transport, and the nutritional value is higher due to shorter transportation time.
   4. Allow for growing food in the "greenway" area of the subject propert.
   5. We would like to be approved for two stages of development, the first to take place during the building season following approval, and the second to take place if River Road is converted to a multi-way boulevard. This is because we do not think the higher density of live-work spaces we would like to build next to River Road will be economically viable unless the multi-way boulevard is created.
3. Self-reliance and renewable energy use
   1. Allow for ecovillage residents to keep small livestock such as goats and sheep to provide milk for drinking and manure for creating fertile compost, and to control the growth of weeds such as blackberry vines. Increase the numbers of ducks and chickens allowed per lot to provide eggs for the increased density of people per lot.
   2. Encourage passive solar design with additional heating to be provided by high efficiency wood burning devices.
   3. Reduce the number of parking spaces required per dwelling unit on condition of the promotion of a car sharing co-op.
4. Sustainable education opportunities
   1. Allow for educational classes on the topic of sustainable living skills to take place on the land.
   2. Allow for research to take place on the land that furthers our understanding of how to live in ways that are both sustainable for the planet and safe for individuals. Create a city staff position or team to evaluate success in these endeavors, so that new methods of sustainable living practices can be approved. This will not only allow an ecovillage to use its own inventions, but also help others in the larger community to discover and replicate these successful practices.
5. Integrate retail and residential uses of space.
   1. Allow residents to create and sell products from their homes or in a building close to their home, such as the existing homes that are along River Road.

         Thank you for your consideration of this proposal for creating a special use area to support the creation of our ecovillage. Building codes have historically served to look after the health and safety of the public, but it is clear that the building codes in their present form are not sufficiently considering issues of toxicity, climate change, greater longevity, genuine meaningful sustainability or the legacy that we shall leave for future generations. This ecovillage zoning could begin to address that deficiency. We hope to hear from you with questions, concerns and suggestions, and would be happy to meet with the Rasor Park task force as well as the larger River Road community.