Camas begins to craft 20-year vision plan

The event will be held Wednesday, Nov. 5, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., at the Grass Valley Fire Station, 4321 N.W. Parker St. Doors will open at 5:30. All ages are welcome. A light dinner will be provided, and Camas Parks and Recreation staff will provide craft activities for kids. Door prizes will be awarded.

For more information about the comprehensive plan update’s visioning process, visit www.camas2035.com.

The city of Camas is on a journey toward creating a comprehensive plan update that will provide the framework to guide how the city will develop during the next 20 years. Officials are hoping to get the community’s feedback as part of that process.

With that in mind, a Camas 2035 Vision Summit will be held the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 5.

According to city officials, the purpose of the comprehensive plan update is to “envision our desired future 20 years from now, and identify the policies and actions needed to get us there.”

Portland-based consulting firm Cogan Owens Cogan has been hired by the city to help lead the public outreach and engagement plan.

According to Camas Senior Planner Sarah Fox, during the summit, participants will be asked to share their outlook for the city.

“We will divide everyone into small groups and talk with them,” Fox said. “A group reporter will take notes, then post the ideas around the room, for everyone to discuss.”

The visioning process was launched in July, with an online questionnaire that focused on finding out what residents value in the community today, and what they see in the future.

According to Camas City Councilwoman Shannon Turk, a member of the Comprehensive Plan Ad Hoc Steering Committee, approximately 360 people took the survey. The results will be presented at the summit.

“In a community our size, (the consultants) thought that was fantastic,” she said during the Oct. 20 City Council workshop. “Usually they get around 80. The preliminary results of the survey are good. I think it’s a good start for the vision.”

The last time a comprehensive plan update was conducted was in 2004.

Camas has seen a number of changes during the past two decades.

The city’s population has nearly tripled. With 7,430 residents in 1994, the city currently has 20,880 residents. Their average age is 36 years old, and 46.8 percent of households include children who are younger than age 18.

While the city was initially established more than 130 years ago as the home to a paper mill, the city’s industrial dynamic has changed dramatically during the past two decades as well. The city’s largest employers are currently WaferTech (900 employees), Fisher Investments (851), the Camas School District (804), Georgia-Pacific (450) and Linear Technology Corp. (280).

The median household income is $80,184, while its median home value is $337,700. Approximately 88 percent of the city’s 7,500 housing units are single family homes.

The comprehensive plan update process is an effort that is required by the state’s Growth Management Act. It must be completed by June 2016.