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Collaboration Corvallis has been working on matters concerning the growth in student population at Oregon State University since February 2012. Progress in each of the three committees, Neighborhood Planning, Parking and Traffic & Neighborhood Livability, has been tepid at best. Yesterday I sat in on the Neighborhood Livability Work Group committee meeting. Some of the individuals have moved on and new members have taken their spots at the table. A new student representative from Oregon State and a new citizen member from one of the nearby Corvallis neighborhoods are on board.
Unfortunately these groups are far from presenting to the Corvallis Collaboration Steering Committee and to the greater Corvallis citizenry anything substantive. At the last Steering Committee Meeting I attended Oregon State President Ed Ray essentially asked just this question. President Ray commented to the entire group, "We need to give the community something." He was correct.
Yesterday Corvallis City Manager Jim Patterson spoke these same sentiments to the sub-committee. Yet nothing appears even close to getting onto the "Radar screen". Perhaps process is hindering results? Not certain about mission, direction, and sense of urgency within these work groups? For lack of a better term these sub-committees are and have been morphing into just another meeting at least by my reckoning.
I would caution Corvallis residents to take heed of at least one proposal I heard spoken of yesterday. Project leader Eric Adams mentioned one of the ideas coming out of the Neighborhood Planning sub-committee. Something to the matter of changing zoning throughout the City of Corvallis to allow for more dense growth in heretofore low density zoning areas.
My first thought was, and I do believe I heard it correctly, what in the world are they thinking? Corvallis does not need or want sprawl all over the City. It is already bad enough within the R-20 zoning areas.
Surely Corvallis residents will have more to show for the several hundred thousand dollars spent than this idea!?
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