Climate-Friendly Areas Evaluation Report

Medford Climate Friendly Area Study – Evalua Ɵon of Candidate Loca Ɵons Revised December 2023 16 Yes, the Central Business Distri ct (CBD) overlay regulations align with no maximum density (minimum density would need to be adjusted), building height, and no parking requirements. Areas outside of the CBD overlay and areas adde d from subareas A2 or A3 may require land use amendments depending on the zoning dist rict to address minimu m residential density requirements, block length, lot coverage, building height, and setbacks. What is the preliminary estimate of the number of residential units that could be accommodated in this area? Vacant and Redevelopable Land Development Capacity An estimate of redevelopable and vacant la nd within the boundary of Candidate A-1 (Downtown Medford) indicates 67.3 acres is ava ilable are more or less immediately available for development. Many of these properties are currently used for surface parking; none are occupied by buildings used for housing or employment. Assuming that two residential stories are developed on these properties, 6,460 residential units could be developed without a ffecting existing historically signi ficant structures or other signi ficant existing buildings. Increasing the devel opment assumption to three floors of residential it is estimated that 9,691 residential units could be accommodated within the same geography. As mentioned previously, recent residential development has occurred at similar densities and recent residential market studies suggest that building formats that accommodate much higher densities (for example four or more residential stories over parking and/or employment uses) are feasible or nearly fe asible under current market conditions. Total Estimated Capacity Calculating the existing developed land, redevelop able land, and vacant land together, yields the following potential residential units: Units per acre (2 floors) Candidate A Acreage Potential Residential Unit Total 96 265.4 25,478.4 Units per acre (3 floors) Candidate A Acreage Potential Residential Unit Total 144 265.4 38,217.6 Table 6: Candidate A total estimated pote ntial residential development capacity Mathematically, the land proposed to be designated in this CFA has the capacity to exceed 14,060 residential dwelling units. Of course , this assumes uniform development across the entire Candidate A geography at the average dens ities used in Table 6. In reality, reaching this goal would look much di fferent. To achieve the goal of housing 30 percent of Medford’s 2042 population in Candidate A, what would likely need to happen is that some larger developments with densities at or beyond 150 uni ts/net acre would need to occur, and many smaller in fill developments with densities at or belo w 96 units/net acre would need to be developed. Table 7 depicts a development mix th at would nearly achieve the number of units