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Chapter 1
What is Citizen Involvement?

Oregon's statewide planning program calls for each city and county to develop and maintain a "citizen involvement program that insures the opportunity for citizens to be involved in all phases of the planning process."

But what is a citizen involvement program? How does it work? What can planners do to help the public get involved? This handbook answers those questions and many others. It starts by answering the most basic question of all.

What is citizen involvement?

"Citizen involvement" means participation in planning by people who are not professional planners or government officials. It is a process through which everyday people take part in developing, administering, and amending local comprehensive plans and land use regulations. It is citizens participating in the planning and decision making that affect their community.

What is a citizen?

Oregon's planning goals define the term "citizen" very broadly. The definition encompasses corporations, government agencies, and interest groups as well as individuals. That's important because today organizations play a big role in land use planning. Twenty years ago, the most common form of citizen involvement was individuals speaking to a city council or writing a letter to a county planning commission. Today, many citizens participate in planning indirectly, by getting involved in an organization that represents their interests.

What is "participation"?

To "participate" is to express one's self at the proper time and in the proper forum. Suppose, for example, that two weeks before the city council is to hear a proposal for rezoning a certain piece of property, a citizen writes a letter to the council saying she supports the proposal. That's participation. She has communicated her opinion to the right people at the right time, so it may affect the decision. If the same citizen states her support in a letter to the local newspaper a month after the hearing, that's not participating, at least in a legal sense: the forum and timing are wrong.

A key part of any citizen involvement program is to inform citizens about how, when, and where they may participate.

For some types of planning decisions, the law limits a citizen's right to participate. It's important for citizens to know about such limitations. Therefore, a key part of any local citizen involvement program is to inform citizens about how, when, and where they may participate.

Why get the public involved in planning?

There are several reasons why citizens should have the opportunity to participate in planning. The most important is simply that our system of government gives citizens the right to have a strong voice in all matters of public policy, including planning. The law requires that citizens get that opportunity.

A second reason is that only citizens can provide the information needed to develop, maintain, and carry out an effective comprehensive plan. Professional planners and local officials need comments and ideas from those who know the community best: the people who live and work there.

Third, citizen involvement educates the public about planning and land use. It creates an informed community, which in turn leads to better planning.

Fourth, it gives members of the community a sense of ownership of the plan. It fosters cooperation among citizens and between them and their government. That leads to fewer conflicts and less litigation.

Finally, citizen involvement is an important means of enforcing our land use laws. Having citizens informed about planning laws and giving them access to the planning process ensures that the laws are applied properly.

What are the "phases of the planning process"?

"Planning" is more than just writing and adopting a plan. It is a process made up of many steps, including these:

gathering the technical data and facts needed to make sound policies and decisions;
evaluating community needs, values, and goals;
adding new policies to the plan or amending existing ones;
adding items to the plan's inventory of community resources;
periodically reviewing and revising the plan;
applying the plan's policies to specific land use decisions;
developing, maintaining, and applying the ordinances used to carry out the plan;
creating a new element of the comprehensive plan, such as a transportation plan.

Oregon's 277 cities and counties all have adopted comprehensive plans, and the state's Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) has reviewed and approved ("acknowledged") them all. But that doesn't mean that planning in Oregon is done. It is a continuing effort to shape our communities and guide the use of our land. As such, it can never be "done."

The activities that make up this continuing effort are referred to in Goal 1 as "phases of the planning process." Goal 1 requires that citizens be given opportunities to participate in all those phases.

Planning doesn't end with the adoption of the comprehensive plan -- and neither does citizen involvement.