City News: City Council | Visioning | Parks (Building a Better Beaverton)
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City Council Meetings
Important Announcement: the Beaverton City Council meeting schedule will change beginning in March. Regular council meetings will occur on the first and third Tuesday of each month, with the fourth Tuesday of each month held for Beaverton Urban Redevelopment Agency (BURA) meetings. The Council will no longer meet for regular business items on the second or fourth Tuesday of the month, unless a Special Council meeting is required to discuss or act on important, timely city items. Please note: an upcoming exception to this schedule change will occur when the City Council meets on May 10, 2022. Other May meetings are cancelled in observance of Eid al-Fitr and due to the Primary Election and already scheduled Budget meetings.
Your Vision: What Do You Want the City to Look Like in 10 Years?
Community Vision Work Continues in 2022 Get ready to share your thoughts about Beaverton’s future. The Community Vision is a citywide project and opportunity for community members to help inform city priorities and activities.
What Is the Community Vision? The Community Vision is an opportunity for residents to help guide city functions. The vision identifies the actions that the city will work on over the next decade and is determined through a community outreach process that includes surveys, focus groups, interviews, and other opportunities for public comment. The last Community Vision was completed in 2016.
The Visioning Advisory Committee (VAC) is the volunteer group that leads this process and gives community members a say in the visioning process. The VAC is prioritizing public participation as well as involvement from underrepresented communities.
Why Does the Community Vision Matter? The Community Vision is the guiding document for the city. The 2016 Community Vision realized and inspired many city projects that have been completed or are currently in development. The current update will reflect outcomes that will inform the city’s vision in a new and different way.
What Has the Community Vision Accomplished? The 2016 Beaverton Community Visioning process resulted in five key themes to guide city programming, as well as 104 specific projects. The Community Vision focuses on a wide range of topics like climate action, transportation, housing, equity, public safety, and so much more!
2022 Community Vision Process. The 2022 Visioning Process began with a brief in-the-moment survey to capture community thoughts on topics of interest. More than 600 city residents responded to this initial survey, identifying some key areas of interest. Those topics were housing, transportation, public safety, climate action, economic development, emergency preparedness, land-use planning, community building/inclusion, and homelessness. Look out for a community survey and other engagement happening this spring.
Visit www.BeavertonOregon.gov/Vision to find out more!
Downtown Parks and Open Space Planning Effort Underway
Exciting things have been happening in downtown Beaverton. New housing, diverse restaurants and the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts are making it a vibrant place.
It’s time to plan for the additional parks and open spaces we need in our downtown. The city is partnering with Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD) on a new downtown parks and open space framework.
We’ve seen the magic shared outdoor spaces bring to our downtown. The Beaverton Farmer’s Market and City Park have long brought visitors of all ages, cultures, and abilities. Now, let’s plan for our next great outdoor spaces.
The city and THPRD will be reaching out to see what additional parks and open spaces you want in downtown. What unique design features or amenities do we need? How do we make the spaces welcoming, inclusive, and reflective of our full community?
The city and THPRD will spend much of 2022 developing this new plan, with strategies to achieve downtown Beaverton’s future as a parks and open space magnet.
For more on this exciting project, sign up on Beaverton Notify Me List at www. BeavertonOregon.gov/NotifyMe, or contact Sara King in the Community Development Department at downtownparks@ BeavertonOregon.gov.
Find out how you can take part at www.BeavertonOregon.gov/Vision.
Making Downtown Welcoming to All
The Downtown Equity Strategy is a joint initiative of the city and the Beaverton Urban Redevelopment Agency (BURA) that aims to guide redevelopment in and around downtown Beaverton to ensure that downtown develops as an inclusive place for racially diverse communities, and that displacement is prevented, minimized and mitigated. Six top themes emerged in previous community feedback, which we are following up on during community engagement for this project:
- Community gathering spaces.
- Increase in thriving small businesses.
- Increase in housing security and affordability.
- Increases in green space in the project area.
- Systems of accountability, transparency and trust between the community and the city.
- Real inclusion.
Get involved! The project team is involving community members throughout this important work. Visit www.BeavertonOregon.gov/DES to sign up for project updates and learn more about upcoming engagement opportunities. For more information, contact Rachel Thieme, Community Development Department, at rthieme@BeavertonOregon.gov.
Visit www.BeavertonOregon.gov/taxprep for requirements and more.
