Corvallis Council gets sustainability plan

Some balk at land use revisions

Gazette-Times, by Matt Neznanski, reporter - Although the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition received a standing ovation from some people at the noon meeting of the City Council, councilors were a little cooler toward the group’s final body of work. Councilors chose to “receive and accept” a report that reflected the work of hundreds of volunteers and contained initiatives and ideas for tackling specific topics such as energy use, transportation, education and housing citywide.

“There’s a lot of work yet to be done,” Ward 9 Councilor Hal Brauner said. “As I look through this plan, a lot of things I can agree with and a lot of things I don’t. I think a lot of people feel that way.”

In the report, the coalition outlined goals and recommendations including the reduction per-capita energy consumption by 50 percent, encouraging half of residents, organizations, government and business to buy local first and creation of compact, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use neighborhoods over 80 percent of the city’s area.

Ward 2 Councilor Patricia Daniels tried to strengthen the Council’s action to a flat-out acceptance of the plan, but that was voted down 5 to 3.

“Accepting this plan does not mean we are adopting everything in it without discussion and refinement,” she said.

But the idea of tweaking the city’s land-use laws caused enough hesitation for the majority of the Council that its support was a bit muted.

“I’m trying to avoid giving the impression to future councils and the public that this is something we’ve adopted,” said Ward 6 Councilor Stewart Wershow. “There are certain items that will fall away either because the people we represent do not support them or because we do not have the money.”

Coalition town hall meetings drew as many as 650 people to Oregon State University’s CH2M Hill Alumni Center.

The coalition is a network of more than 130 organizations and individuals in Benton County dedicated to creating a community in which resources are renewed at the same rate as they are used. Partner organizations include nonprofits, businesses, churches, schools and local government.

City leaders invested $30,000 in the town hall meetings and promised to use the plan when crafting city policies promoting sustainability next year.

Matt Neznanski can be reached at 758-9518 or by email.

Copyright © 2008 Corvallis Gazette Times, A Lee Enterprises subsidiary