The document and the hearing are important, said Sandi Young, the city's community development director, because the plan will become the framework for future city decisions regarding land use, economic development and the local transportation system.

The new plan is long overdue, Young said, because the existing one dates back to 1988 and doesn't reflect the current situation in the community. State planning standards called for the plan to be updated by 1993.  "Nobody ever makes those deadlines. It certainly should have been done in 1995, but it wasn't," she said.  Young is Florence's fourth community development director since work began in 1992 to update the plan.

Volume 1 of the plan is 195 pages long. It and six volumes of supporting documentation, stacked on top of one another, stand more than a foot high. The plan is the product of years of work by the planning staff, the city planning commission, the Citizen Advisory Committee and a number of other city advisory groups. Young estimated that more than 100 people have been involved and to her, that's good. "I'm not of the school that says the planner is a professional, they know what is best, and they write the plan," she said.

Three parts of the plan that Young said are major departures from the old plan are:
A "north commercial node" along Highway 101 between 46th Street and the city limits that's intended to accommodate larger retail uses. Much of the work developing the concept was done when a Fred Meyer store was built in the area.

A limited industrial/commercial district north of the commercial node and extending into the city's urban growth area (land outside the city slated for future annexation) almost to Heceta Beach Road. The proposed district, along Highway 101, would provide room for future businesses such as excavation companies or cement  plants, Young said, adding that the buildings would be next to the highway so they would screen heavy equipment stored behind the buildings.

A formal downtown plan previously adopted by the council and now in the early stages of implementation. It calls for a downtown green on Highway 101 just north of City Hall to serve as an entrance to Florence's riverfront Old Town.

Other elements include improving the appearance of the areaalong the highway from the Siuslaw River bridge to Highway 126with features such as old-fashioned street lights, "bulb-out" concrete extensions into the street near crosswalks, and requiring that new buildings front on the sidewalk with parking in back.

The plan calls for creating "interior parking courtyards" in Old Town area to make better use of available parking space and streetside commercial areas. Recent expressions of dissatisfaction by business and property owners along the part of Highway 101 covered in the downtown plan are expected to surface again at the Nov. 6 hearing. Many are upset because their properties would lose access to the highway as they are redeveloped or as their land uses change.  At a recent work session with the business owners, councilors talked about the possibility of appointing a special committee to review the access question.

"The council will decide whether to keep the access map in the draft (comprehensive plan), or take it out subject to the recommendations of this access committee," Young said.  The draft comprehensive plan could be approved without the access map, she said, and the map submitted to state reviewing authorities later.

Review by the state Department of Land Conservation and Development and other agencies could take three months or longer, Young said.  Other issues could attract considerable testimony as well. Citizens for Florence, a local government watchdog group, has concerns about the north commercial node, the limited industrial/commercial district and plans to develop certain parts of Oak Street as an alternative to north-south travel on Highway 101.

If too many people sign up to testify Nov. 6, the council may schedule a second hearing. Young expects the plan to be adopted in late November or December. Approval by the state could be delayed if people unhappy with parts of the plan raise issues at subsequent hearings conducted by state reviewing officials.

A number of zoning changes to begin implementing the plan are ready and waiting for state approval, or at least informal feedback on which sections of the plan state officials find acceptable. Young said some of the zoning may have to await the outcome of a court challenge of state Ballot Measure 7, which would amend the Oregon Constitution to require that owners be reimbursed when government regulations reduce the value of their property.  The measure was approved by voters in the 2000 general election. If it is allowed to stand, it will expose cities to claims from property owners for losses suffered as the result of land-use restrictions. Source:  October 29, 2001, The Register Guard, by Larry Bacon.

Also see:  CFF Vision for Florence