Wednesday, April 8, 2015

First Civic Center Community Input Meetings Held

By Brian Hodson

Ground has officially been broken in what will eventually become our new Civic Center, housing the new library and city offices.

Last month also saw the first two community input meetings held for feedback from citizens regarding this new addition to our city. One was held at the police station, the other at Hope Village.

I thought there was some really good ideas shared about what people would like to see in the library portion of the Civic Building.  The items that jumped out for me were conversations around the study rooms as well as making sure there were several quiet reading areas for people.  

I also appreciated the people in attendance keeping a focus on supporting local, already existing, businesses.  There were pictures shown of possibly having a cafe or coffee shop included in the building.  Much of the feedback was that a cafe was not needed, with Place to Be Cafe and Cutsforth Thriftway's cafe in close proximity.  For me personally, I think a cafe as part of the new civic center in Canby would take up crucial floor space needed for library programming.

There was one key point I would have liked to have seen discussed more:  what the actual building itself should look like.  We heard about a modern look to a traditional look or even historical look to tie into Canby's heritage.  Minimal glass to lots of glass.  I am confident in the next couple of community meetings, we will sort that out.  


I was a little disappointed at the number of citizens of Canby that attended.  For our first 2 meetings, we averaged 30 community members.  With any community meeting, I always hope for more of a turnout.  With our next 2 meetings in April, I am hopeful we will have more people turnout, as those meetings will have some actual designs to take a look at.

I hope to see you at these upcoming community meetings regarding the civic center project:

Wednesday, April 8th, police station, 7pm
Thursday, April 9th, Hope Village, 7pm
Tuesday, April 14th, police station, 7pm
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