Description: The downtown planning process should be transparent, thoughtful, inclusive, and stable. The process should encompass real citizen participation from all sectors, including downtown stakeholders, neighborhood groups, small businesses, corporate entities, and culture community.
Top Three Challenges
- Consolidation of existing plans
- Ongoing community engagement
- Proactive communication of existing plans, progress, and future opportunities
Possible Solutions
- Explore ways to integrate existing plans, sustainability of plans, modify existing plans to response to change
- Identify/maintain database of all community stakeholders
- Engage community in the process
- Review and possible update of Village Planning Committees (size, number, geography)
- Look at replicating for other areas
- Investigate/use all communication tools to help deal with challenges
- Create symbiotic relationship between city, community, developers before plans start
- Develop database of individuals/developers interested in being a part of downtown
- Review/update city website/tools
- Neighborhoods must take more ownership in rallying (rules of engagement up front)
- Online forum to submit comments/thoughts
- Facilitate openness to city communications and developer meetings
- Community existing resources and positive stories
- Coordinate calendars
- Clearly articulate anticipatory governance process (sustainability)
- Reduce “silos” between city departments in order to facilitate open dialogue and idea sharing
- Explore ways to integrate many plans
- Modify existing plans to changing needs, priorities, demographics; blend thoughtfully into “big plan”
Review 2004 background information on Coordination of Planning
Downtown Voices Coalition 