SISTERS, OR -- Like every community in Central Oregon, Sisters Country needs more affordable housing. Community Development Director Scott Woodford says the city is looking for feedback before it makes changes to its housing and growth plan. "We’re contemplating some different strategies - development code amendments, financial incentives, those kinds of things - to get more affordable housing built," He tells KBND News, "Some of those changes have impacts on the community, in terms of maybe increased building heights and densities, so we want to get some input from the community before we adopt any of these things."

Woodford says the population of Sisters could double in the next 20 years, "[We're] Looking at ways we can create more in-fill development, so we don’t have to expand outwards. And, we’re also looking to be able to make more of the housing that’s built here affordable to more folks."

Typically, the city would ask for feedback at public hearings. But this time they’re using an online public survey in an effort to get more diverse opinions. "Because these changes are maybe a little bit on the potential larger scale of impacts to the community, we wanted the residents to be aware [and] to have a voice in the process, so we thought that additional outreach efforts were necessary," says Woodford.

The survey launched this fall and has, so far, received about 100 responses. But officials hope for more before it closes Sunday. To participate, click HERE.