A College Place resident and former member of the city planning commission, Stanley Green, urged the Parks Board on Oct. 24 to emphasize tree canopy and heat resilience in the city’s ongoing comprehensive plan update.

Green described walking in his Harvest Meadows neighborhood on July afternoons and finding “it's scorching, and there's almost no shade,” and contrasted College Place streets with those in nearby Walla Walla, which he said have wider planting strips and larger trees. He suggested the city consider narrower street designs and more planting strips so neighborhoods provide more shade and reduce heat retained by asphalt surfaces.

Senior planner Michael Merritt told the board the city is in the midst of its comprehensive plan update and is pushing a public survey and an open house ahead of a council meeting next Tuesday, with the goal of collecting community input. Merritt asked board members to distribute the survey and materials through their networks; he reported the city had received a little more than 50 survey responses at the time of the meeting and planned an open house from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. before council.

Board members connected the tree-planting suggestion to the parks and urban forestry work the board oversees and welcomed the idea of more community engagement on heat resilience and street design. They also noted that the city is hiring a certified arborist, Chelsea Goldsmith, who will support street trees, inventory and related planning work and whose position is funded through stormwater.