<br />March 12, 2018, Work Session – Item B <br /> <br />4. Refine the Metro Plan and Envision Eugene Comprehensive Plan for the Santa Clara and River Road communities. 5. Create a process that may serve as a transferable model for other neighborhood or key transit corridor planning initiatives. <br />Reaching Out Update From September to December 2017, the project team (City and County staff, public involvement firm Cogito, and neighborhood volunteers) reached out to a wide variety of groups and individuals to facilitate conversations and collect information about what the people of River Road and Santa Clara value about their neighborhood today and what they would like to see in the future. We have worked to raise awareness of the neighborhood plan, invite residents to attend community events, and gather input along the way. We hosted a major community event on October 17, 2017, with nearly 400 attendees and also conducted mobile outreach, hosted small group meetings, and canvassed businesses throughout both communities. These additional efforts attempted to reach people that do not typically attend conventional public outreach events—e.g., youth, Latinos, affordable housing residents, business interests, and Santa Clara residents outside the urban growth boundary. People engaged by playing with a set of “values cards” depicting common activities or themes in the neighborhood, writing on maps, and completing “My Idea” worksheets to offer future concepts. In December, the project team began reporting back to the broader community what had been heard in the various outreach sessions. Staff attempted to summarize the abundant information, while also respecting the need for transparency. Therefore, summary memos were provided along with the larger set of raw data (e.g., entire database of values, all the ‘My Idea’ worksheets). This approach allows readers to review based on interest level or time available. The project updates have been distributed in three parts. The first summarized the input received at the Community Event at North Eugene High School in October (Attachment A). The second installment gave readers access to an interactive, web-based map containing every comment received that could be geographically referenced. The final installment (Attachment B and C) highlighted outreach to groups that are often under-represented in outreach efforts. Each group—communities of color, rural residents, youth, low-income residents, people with disabilities and business entities—often do not participate in conventional meeting venues, although each for their own distinct reasons. Our team made an intentional effort to bring those voices into the Reaching Out phase by using existing meetings, setting up special meetings, and visiting shopping centers. As the Reaching Out phase concluded, the project team reviewed and catalogued the public input gathered over the past four months. In December, staff shared project summaries through e-newsletters and the project website (www.RiverRoad-SantaClaraPlan.org). All project newsletters are archived on the project website: https://www.eugene-or.gov/3698/Newsletters. The Reaching Out summaries, more detailed reports, PDFs of the original worksheets, and the interactive web map can be reviewed on the project website’s “What Have We Heard?” page: https://www.eugene-or.gov/3668/What-Have-We-Heard.