Month: December 2013

Impacting Change at the Local Level

Posted on by Julia Havens

Leigh Anne Michael Business Incentives and Economic Development, Lane County, Community Service CenterStarting in June and going through October 2013, I had the privilege to work on the Business Incentives and Economic Development in Lane County project with the Community Service Center. I was overjoyed when our project assignments were given because I am passionate about economic development. I decided to get a Master of Community and Regional Planning because it combines my economic background with my love for helping the community; and to me, economic development is the perfect marriage of the two.

As you can imagine, I was excited and ready to hit the ground running; and hit the ground running we did. The purpose of our project was to assist Lane County in understanding how their business incentive program compares to others in the State of Oregon and nationwide. For the next four months, our team interviewed Oregon counties along the I-5 corridor to identify their incentive programs; researched best practices of business incentives programs across the nation; and identified elements of good incentive policies including application criteria, evaluation mechanisms, and management strategies.

All of our hard work culminated in a report outlining our findings from the interviews and research of best practices. Not only did we provide Lane County with useful information regarding the use of business incentives in Oregon and nationwide, we also identified four guiding principles and four implementation strategies Lane County can consider for their own business incentives.

The “icing on top of the cake” for this project was when I was given the opportunity to present our research to the Lane County Board of Commissioners. The presentation went very well and the Board of Commissioners was genuinely interested in our findings and recommendations. The Board of Commissioners conclusion at the end of the presentation was to take our research and continue discussions regarding a policy for business incentives in Lane County. It was extremely exciting as a student to see how our work through the Community Service Center and Community Planning Workshop has the potential to impact decisions at the local level!

 

Leigh Anne Michael Community Service Center GTF Community Planning WorkshopAbout the Author: Leigh Anne Michael is a project coordinator for the Community Planning Workshop (CPW) and is in her second year of the Master of Community and Regional Planning Program at the University of Oregon, focusing on economic development. Leigh Anne moved from Tennessee to Oregon in 2012 to pursue her graduate studies. She now considers Oregon her home and plans to stay in the Pacific Northwest upon graduation in June 2014. 

Everyone’s Parks, Everyone’s Input

Posted on by Julia Havens

City of Turner Parks Plan Sarah AllisonCommunity Planning Workshop (CPW) is currently helping the City of Turner, Oregon to update its Parks Master Plan. Parks offer a space for the community to come together, to play, to connect with nature, or to find a quiet space to be. Parks are meant to serve everyone in the community, so we worked to give everyone an opportunity to share their views on what the parks system should be.  One of the opportunities that we offered was a community workshop, held at the City of Turner’s Fire Hall. We offered a four hour block of time for residents to come in as they were able on a Saturday.

At the workshop, community members were able to engage in a few different ways. We had a questionnaire, two stations for people to talk and leave their comments, and a station where they could express what they wanted in parks through art. This enabled our younger participants in particular a chance to voice their opinion.

Meet Conner. Of all of our young visitors, Connor spent the most time exploring what he believes are ‘must-haves’ in his city parks. And he wants his parks to have A LOT! On his wish list are separate trails for walking and biking, areas with swing sets and playground equipment, places to camp, watch birds, swim, fish, and have picnics. But if you look at his drawings, you will see that that’s not all. He also wants a sports area for basketball and baseball, and an arts and crafts area (preferably next to a pond). My personal favorite of Connor’s requests was a giant tree house. One of the greatest opportunities at this station was to show not only what he wanted, but where he wanted things in relation to each other.

Because not everyone was able to attend the workshop, we also incorporate input from a survey that the City of Turner sent out about their parks system, and work with an advisory committee of stakeholders to develop the plan. By taking overyone’s hopes and desires into account, we can better provide the kind of parks that they will actually use and love, benefiting the entire community.

 

Sarah Allison, Community Planning Workshop Project Coordinator

About the Author: Sarah Allison is a project manager for the Community Planning Workshop. She is a second year concurrent Community and Regional Planning and Oregon Leadership in Sustainability graduate student.