Springfield Seeks Applicants for Comprehensive Plan Map Clarification Project Advisory Committee

The City of Springfield is accepting applications from community members, current and future property owners and renters, people who do business with the City, and people with diverse perspectives to serve on the Project Advisory Committee (PAC) to provide feedback and advice to help guide the Comprehensive Plan Map Clarification Project. Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m., Tuesday, May 3. The recruitment may remain open as needed, but meetings are estimated to begin early summer 2022.

Members of the PAC will meet 2 to 5 times, for 1.5 to 2 hours each time, over the estimated 1.5-year duration of the project. PAC meetings will occur virtually unless otherwise scheduled based on group interest. Tentatively, meetings could be scheduled during the workday, in the evenings or both. 

The primary purpose for the committee is to provide a project team with advice and feedback necessary to create a well-informed, property-specific comprehensive Plan Map for Springfield. This will be done by providing input on the project’s assumptions and key decisions about information display on the map, including policy-based questions that emerge, such as whether to:

• Show plan designations for public rights-of-way (e.g., streets)
• Add information about adopted neighborhood refinement plans
• Provide information that is in addition to basic plan designations (e.g. “overlay” areas)

The PAC is not a decision-making body, and no formal vote or unanimous Committee recommendation will be requested. The Springfield Planning Commission acting as the Springfield Committee for Citizen Involvement will appoint members to the project advisory committee at a future meeting.

Committee members will be responsible for attending meetings, reviewing materials, providing insight on concerns or issues, and sharing their advice and feedback with the project team.

Who: Springfield community members, current and future property owners, people who do business with the City, and people with diverse perspectives

What: Applications being accepted for Springfield’s Comprehensive Plan Map Clarification Project Advisory Committee

When: Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m., Tuesday, May 3 at the Development Counter of the Development & Public Works Department at 225 Fifth Street in Downtown Springfield

Where: Applications are available at the Development Counter of the Development & Public Works Department at 225 Fifth Street in Downtown Springfield or on the project webpage at https://springfield-or.gov/compmap/ 

Project Purpose: The purpose of the Comprehensive Plan Map Clarification Project is to create a property-specific Comprehensive Plan Map for Springfield. This map will add greater certainty to Springfield’s plan designations. Currently, the Metro Plan and its Diagram, i.e., map, serve as a combined Eugene-Springfield comprehensive plan to guide decisions about how to use land within the region.

The Metro Plan Diagram does not meet today’s needs for showing which plan designations, general land use types, apply to each property within the region. The Metro Plan Diagram is a “broad brush,” graphic depiction of projected land uses and major transportation corridors. Clarifying the location of the plan designations by interpreting the Metro Plan Diagram for each property within Springfield’s urban growth boundary will provide a solid understanding of existing policies and plan documents in a visual way and will streamline the land use research process with better property lookup tools.

Why is this project important? In the short term: Clarifying the location of the plan designations for properties throughout Springfield will help provide a solid visual understanding of existing policies and plan documents and will streamline the land use research process with better property lookup tools.

In the long term: Having an accurate Comprehensive Plan Map is an important first step in determining and addressing Springfield’s housing needs for the next 20 years.

Additional Information: Senior Planner, Monica Sather at 541.736.1038 or msather@springfield-or.gov