On-Line Open Houses Inform and Engage Between Project Milestones

The city of Eugene, Oregon, has been working its way through the process of planning for future growth over the past 20 months, using various public engagement tools.  Early on, it became evident that we would need new and different media formats to inform and engage people at different points in the process.   For major public conversations such as creating a community vision, we held large workshops with plenty of opportunities for small group discussion.  For feedback on interim staff proposals, we have used surveys, on-line comment forms, and meetings with community groups.  Throughout the process, staff has maintained a Facebook page and comprehensive website with current project videos, maps, and documents posted as they are developed.

Between major project milestones, significant progress is being made on the technical front, but there isn’t a lot of reason for people to come to a large public meeting.  Enter the On-Line Open House.

With embedded videos, posters, and accompanying text, visitors have access to all of the information that traditionally is available at a physical meeting.  Each page features a comment link that ties back to the specific page where the comment originated, allowing staff to easily match a comment to the content.

Multi-Family/Commercial Lands Need from COE Planning Division on Vimeo.

When researching the use of on-line open houses, we found the most comparable use of the method was for major transportation projects like the Sellwood Bridge project in Portland.  Approximately 2,700 visitors used this tool over a period of twelve days!  Compare that to the average public meeting attendance of 80-100 for this project, and it’s clear the format is a keeper. Preliminary numbers for Envision Eugene show that in the first month, over 200 visitors stopped by on-line.  Physical open houses draw anywhere from 10-100 people depending on the topic and stage of the process. 

Planners are using the on-line open house to share information on each of the land uses that Envision Eugene is planning to accommodate. Maps depict places inside the existing Urban Growth Boundary where additional homes, businesses, and industrial employers could locate under existing zoning, and where we want to increase our redevelopment efforts to add more housing options and mixed use development to the community.  The redevelopment vision is focused on our key transit corridors and core commercial areas.  The on-line videos feature recognizable places and businesses from around the community, allowing the public to relate the concepts under discussion to their favorite places on the ground.

This on-line method of doing the Open House is very convenient and very helpful.  Well –laid out, and easy to download very detailed pdf maps so we could zoom in and still see everything with great detail. I hope other City open houses can be presented this way. THANKS!

Feedback from one appreciative citizen.

If we keep getting comments like the one below, the City will surely be devoting more of our in-house resources to designing easy and fun tools to access planning project information on-line.

Learn more about Envision Eugene's On-Line Open House >>

NOTE: The on-line open house was designed and created by staff member Kayre Axe.  Videos by intern Mary Heberling.