Florence Planning Commission
City of Florence
P.O. Box 340
Florence, Oregon 97439

RE:   Comprehensive Plan Update

On behalf of Citizens For Florence, I want to state that our group’s primary goal is to improve the long overdue Florence Comprehensive Plan.  The Planning Commission has done their part.  They have provided a draft document for the public to review.  Without the dedication and hard work of the Planning Commission members and the Planning staff, we wouldn’t be as far in this process as we are.  But it is necessary to remember that this is a process, and as such, subject to change.  We hope that with the aid of our comments the Planning Commission will be able to more clearly identify parts of the draft Comprehensive Plan which need refinement, enhancement, and modification before the document is presented to the City Council.

Our group’s incentive for participation in revision of the Comprehensive Plan evolved from the
realization that many of Florence’s existing problems could have been prevented by an adequate Comprehensive Plan:

Flooding Problems: A March 24, 1999 survey by Brown & Caldwell (the City’s engineering firm) of some of Florence’s problem flooding areas (Coastal Highlands, Creekside Pines, Florentine Estates-1, Florentine Estates-2, Mariners Village, Coast Guard Estates, Sand Pines Golf Subdivision, 35th Street, Kingwood at 17th, Post Office parking lot, SVB driveway, and Laurel Street) showed that the flooding problems were due to design deficiencies - deficiencies which could have been prevented with proper planning and oversight during the planning stages of the developments.

Sewage System Inadequacies: Our old out-sized, inadequate sewage treatment plant subjected the city to considerable legal expense and fines from DEQ before the city was forced to replace it.  This could have been avoided with proper planning for growth.

Stormwater Runoff: Even though this has been a known problem for decades, an inadequate
comprehensive plan allowed short-sighted development in areas which should have been reserved for stormwater management.   Munsel Creek has been turned into a storm ditch.  Only now, as the short-term drought has come to an end, are we being forced to come to grips with a woefully inadequate stormwater management system.

Strip Development: Time and again, study after study has shown that small communities suffer a loss of livability when strip development is not curtailed.  Our old Comprehensive Plan was inadequate to stop the sprawl we are currently witnessing.  Florence is fast on its way to becoming another Lincoln City, a city which few realize has about the same population as Florence.  Again, this can, and should be prevented with an adequate Comprehensive Plan.

Our goal is to prevent similar problems in the future through the wise development of a
Comprehensive Plan.  With that goal in mind, we offer the following comments, and thank the
Planning Commission for this opportunity to submit our thoughts.

Sincerely,

(signed)
Zane Ziemer
President