Salem residents share their opinions about the city’s future at National Night Out July 24, 2019. City staff will be at more events to hear what you have to say about city needs and issues.

Keep an eye out for Our Salem booths at community events in August and September. We want to hear your thoughts and ideas about how Salem should grow and develop in the future.

We'll be at events throughout the summer, starting with Family Fest, Saturday, August 3, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Riverfront Park. This is part of the Our Salem project, a multi-year project to update the Salem Area Comprehensive Plan, which guides future development in the Salem area. We've started community-wide visioning, which will occur throughout this year and into 2020.

Salem is expected to add 60,000 people by 2035. With growth comes the chance to better plan for how and where we want to grow, build on what's working, and adjust what needs improvement.

The Our Salem project started with a look at existing conditions and how Salem could grow under current policies. That first phase resulted in a report card that evaluated whether Salem is headed in the right direction. Check out this story map to see what we did and what we learned.

As part of this visioning phase, we'll be asking questions such as:

• How do we want Salem to grow and develop?
• What goals do we have?

• How can we improve our community?

Find Our Salem booths here:

• Family Fest: Aug. 3, 10 a.m.- 2 p.m, Riverfront Park


• Donald Street National Night Out Block Party: Aug. 6, 5:30 -8 p.m., 3480 Donald St NE


• Wednesday Farmers Market: Aug. 7 and 21, 9:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m, Courthouse Square Plaza (530 Chemeketa St NE)


• Englewood Forest Festival: Aug. 10, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., Englewood Park, 1260 19^th St NE


• Lancaster Health Fair: Aug. 17, 10 a.m.- 2 p.m., Lancaster  Family Health Center, 255 Lancaster Dr NE   


• West Salem Farmers Market: Aug. 29, 9:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m., 1260 Edgewater St NW


• East Salem Day of Play: Sept. 27, 5-7 p.m., Swegle Elementary School, 1751 Aguilas Ct

You are also welcome to attend the City Council and Planning Commission joint work session on the Our Salem project on Monday, August 19, at 6 p.m. The work session will be at the Salem Public Library in the Anderson Room.

Sign up to get email updates about the project, and learn more at Our Salem: Planning for Growth.