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Citizen Involvement in Land Use Planning
in
Jackson County, Oregon
IS IT
HAPPENING?
Survey May
31, 2006
Introduction
Beginning in late fall 2005, a
committee of the Ashland and Rogue Valley
Leagues of Women Voters (LWV) undertook a
six-month survey of the incorporated
municipalities in Jackson County, OR, to assess
compliance with State Planning Goal 1 (citizen
involvement) as it relates to land use planning.
This report is the result of that survey.
Goal 1’s stated intent is for
every municipality “to develop a citizen
involvement program that insures the opportunity
for citizens to be involved in all phases of the
planning process” (OAR 660-015-0000(1)).
The LWV supports Oregon’s land
use planning program which includes a
requirement for open and meaningful citizen
involvement at all levels of government. This
requirement is core to the League’s mission - to
encourage the informed participation of citizens
in government. Jackson County members of the LWV
wanted to understand how the citizen involvement
program envisioned under Goal 1 was actually
working in land use planning in Jackson County.
Eleven incorporated
municipalities in Jackson County agreed to
participate in the survey. Those communities,
listed by population size, are: Medford,
Ashland, Central Point, Eagle Point, Talent,
Phoenix, Jacksonville, Shady Cove, Gold Hill,
Rogue River and Butte Falls.
Interviews with key officials in
each municipality were conducted by small teams
of LWV committee members using a standardized
questionnaire. Typically, the Planning Director
or City Administrator, sometimes accompanied by
the Mayor or Planning Commission Chairperson,
was/were the interviewee(s).
Terminology
During our survey we
found considerable confusion about the acronyms
"CCI" and "CAC". A CCI is not the same as a CAC.
Goal 1 requires a local government to assign to
a CCI (Committee for Citizen Involvement) the
mission of helping develop and implement a
program for fostering citizen involvement in
land use decisions.
Formal citizen involvement, when it occurs, is
typically carried out by one or more CACs
(Citizen Advisory Committees) - ad hoc or
standing committees appointed by the governing
body to address particular land use issues.
There are many other modes of citizen
involvement, however, that could and should be
employed in a robust program.
read about the findings on
page - 2 - |
