COC Facilitates Contentious Community Meeting

How do you design and facilitate a community meeting on a controversial subject with 175 people who have strong and often conflicting opinions and still keep it civil and productive?  Elaine Cogan and Alisha Dishaw of Cogan Owens Cogan met that challenge recently in Union, a small community southeast of LaGrande in eastern Oregon.  The subject was an application from a national company to establish a wind farm on private property on Antelope Ridge above the city.   Working with our client, the Oregon Department of Energy, Elaine and Alisha employed several successful facilitation techniques that allowed opportunities for all who cared to express themselves within a respectful, welcoming environment during a 2 1/2 hour meeting in the town’s elementary school gymnasium.   Interested?  Read more at http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/News/Local-News/Hundreds-turn-out-for-wind-farm-hearing-in-Union.

PSU Forum May 22: Designating Urban & Rural Reserves in the Portland Metro Region

NOTICE OF FORUM ON THE ROLE FOR PLANNING
IN THE FUTURE OF OREGON

MAY 22, 2009—DESIGNATING URBAN & RURAL RESERVES IN THE
PORTLAND METROPOLITAN REGION
ROOM 204, LEARNING CENTER WING OF THE URBAN CENTER BUILDING
10 TO 11:30 AM

Guest Speaker: John Williams, Land Use Planning Manager for Metro.  John will discuss this complex project and the challenges and opportunities involved in long-range regional planning.

Today the Metro region is at a defining moment in which important long term decisions will determine the shape and size of cities, towns and rural landscapes for years to come. Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties and Metro are leading an innovative regional process to identify land for future urban development and protect farms, forests and natural areas for the next half century. Urban reserves will be designated by Metro on lands currently outside the urban growth boundary that are suitable for accommodating urban development over the next 40 to 50 years. Rural reserves will be designated by each county on lands outside the current urban growth boundary that are high value working farms and forests or have important natural features like rivers, wetlands, buttes and floodplains. These areas will be protected from urbanization for the next 40 to 50 years.

To learn more, this website link is available: www.oregonmetro.gov/reserves

The forum  is moderated by Arnold Cogan, FAICP, Planner-in-Residence in the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning.

This forum will be webcast live and archived for future viewing.  As in past forums, the event will stimulate spirited conversation, focus our expectations on the role of planning in the future and provide students, faculty and others with new insights.

For more information, please contact Arnold Cogan at:  503-225-0192 or at arnold.cogan@coganowens.com.