How do city planners decide what to put where?

The Jefferson Exchange

Stephanie Powers, Director of Planning at the City of Central Point, Oregon with JPR host, Mike Green.(JPR Senior Producer Natalie Golay)

City zoning laws and planning strategies have wide-ranging effects across every sector of society.

Zoning laws and planning strategies for many people can seem like a sleepy subject ... until you want to open a business, buy a home, rent a place, attend a school, play in a park, ride a horse ... or do just about anything. Communities often struggle with where to put things, like an industrial park, a multifamily complex, a wastewater treatment plant, a jail or prison, and more. That's the job of city planners.

Stephanie Powers is the Director of Planning at the City of Central Point, Oregon and joins the Exchange to discuss the challenges and opportunities cities face when growing.

Central Point has a population around 19,000 and just over 7,500 housing units, according to the latest Census data. That's an increase of 2,000 in population over the last decade with an increase of more than 1,000 housing units in the same time period. All of this fits neatly into four square miles. The city has an economic plan that projects robust population growth that it predicts will surpass the City of Ashland over the next 20 years.