Creating a Downtown Vitality Strategy

Shoppers strolling through downtown Corvallis on a sunny fall day. Photo by Verena Dohman

The downtown district is the heart of Corvallis — an engaging, diverse neighborhood full of bustling businesses, offices, hotels, and residences, with more than 100 years of history etched into the streets and sidewalks.

We're working to create a new vitality strategy for downtown Corvallis, and you have a role to play in this endeavor. Downtowns aren't created overnight. They're nurtured over decades by generations of civic stewards. It's our turn to guide the downtown district into the next chapter.

Visit this page or sign up for e-notifications to stay up-to-date and learn how to get involved. 

How Can I Get Involved?

How We Got Here

Downtown Corvallis has been a focus of the City Council for many years, starting with our Imagine Corvallis 2040 vision and continuing in the newly adopted Strategic Plan.

Over the years, the Council has made progress on various topics and issues downtown. Read more about this recent work at the links.

  • 2025-2029 Strategic Plan - The economic vitality section of the plan highlights the need to "nurture a thriving downtown as the hub and character of Corvallis." The Council's 2025-2029 Strategic Plan calls for In 2025, the City Council initiated a project to examine economic vitality, infrastructure, and livability issues in downtown Corvallis.
  • Downtown Parking Study (PDF) - This 2023 plan pulled together data about parking options in the downtown district to help understand where parking constraints and surpluses exist.  This data will aid in longer-term city planning for future development activity, new regulations from recent City zoning changes, and the State of Oregon’s Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities rules.
  • Investing in Corvallis Facility Needs - Decades of under-investment in City facilities have resulted in buildings and public spaces that are increasingly undersized, outmoded, and approaching the end of their service life. This project encompasses the proposed Civic Campus and Police Station — two key City facilities in the downtown core.

Civic Campus & Police Station

A key goal that the Council has set for the City's downtown vitality outreach is evaluating the impact and benefits of the current proposal to redevelop the City Hall block at 5th & Madison to create a new Civic Campus and Police Station. The Council has selected a conceptual design for a Civic Campus and Police Station at the current City Hall location.

A Civic Campus Task Force carried out community outreach in 2024 to gather feedback and input about the Civic Campus proposal. The Task Force's recommendations are detailed in a final report that was published in October 2024.

In 2025, the City engaged an independent third party financial consultant to evaluate funding options to build the Civic Campus and Police Station. The funding feasibility analysis was published in October 2025 and is available on the City website.

Community Engagement

The Task Force has developed a four-phase plan for engaging the Corvallis community around these important downtown discussions.

  • Phase 1: Inform Community and Stakeholders - Task Force Executive Committee and three subcommittees in August will identify stakeholders, stakeholder groups and technical experts involved in, impacted by and interested in Corvallis’ downtown.
  • Phase 2: Consult/Involve/Collaborate with Community and Stakeholders - Following its engagement and communications strategies, the Task Force will work to gather preliminary insights from community members, downtown stakeholders, and technical experts.
  • Phase 3: Inform and Consult/Involve/Collaborate with Community and Stakeholders - The Task Force Executive Committee will follow its outreach and communications strategies to broadly inform and engage with stakeholders, stakeholder groups, technical experts and the general Corvallis community to share preliminary information and gather input from community members.
  • Phase 4: Inform and Consult/Involve/Collaborate with Community and Stakeholders - The Task Force will gather input and seek to build consensus of support from community members regarding vision, goals, and outcomes for downtown Corvallis, and what strategies and tactics will be recommended as now, next, or later priorities.

More Resources

The work of the task force builds on numerous city initiatives and strategic planning efforts involving downtown. You can explore those resources at the links below.

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