If Sauvie Island’s future matters to you, here’s your chance to shape it.
County planners who are working to update the island’s outdated land use and transportation plans want to know what “rural” means to you and the other million-plus people who use the island each year.
Until Jan. 17, anyone with Internet access can give their opinion.
Taking a cue from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology project that uses visual cues to capture impressions that can be hard to describe with words, county planners have created an online survey to gauge how island residents and visitors view the island’s rural character.
They hope the results will help guide discussions among community advisory groups tasked with making recommendations to the County Planning Commission. A large focus of their recommendations is maintaining the island’s rural character for the next 20 years.
Committee members hope to finish updating the plans this year. A lot has changed since the existing plans were drafted 1997.
Mainly, Sauvie Island’s popularity has spiked. These days, the island with a year-round population 1,300 sees more than a million visitors annually. The heavy use has fueled tension between residents and the bicyclists, pumpkin-pickers, beach-goers and birdwatchers who come to soak up the country vibe.
Although disagreements abound about how much tourism is too much and who should pay for the improvements needed to accommodate the crush of visitors, most everyone agrees on one thing: Sauvie Island’s rural character makes it special.
But the term “rural” means a different thing to different people. The survey is meant to help planners pinpoint the word’s many and varied definitions.
The survey asks participants to rank various iconic Sauvie Island images from most rural to least rural. Images include a silhouetted forest sunset over the water, a view of the floating homes that line the island’s west end, an al fresco farm-to-table dinner party, a rainbow over a farm field and bicycles parked on the edge of a farm.
The survey goes on to ask participants how they would define “rural character,” and pinpoint it on a map of Sauvie Island.
To take the survey, visit the Sauvie Island/Multnomah Channel Plan Updates webpage, and click on the link to the survey. And, because we’re also interested, comment below with your thoughts on what makes Sauvie Island “rural,” how you use the island, and how you hope it looks in the future.
Originally Published in The Oregonian
1320 S.W. Broadway
Portland, Oregon 97201
Phone: 541-221-8327