|
Proposal for CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA
<br />PROJECT APPROACH
<br />As the concept plan and alternatives are developed for the
<br />Market District, we propose that most community engagement
<br />happen during a charrette process, as was done for the Smart
<br />Streets Initiative. While we outline a charette process below,
<br />the beauty of a charrette is its flexibility: we will always modify
<br />this to meet the community’s needs.
<br />Our team’s charrette process builds upon the National
<br />Charrette Institute’s standards as a foundation and will be
<br />tailored to the needs of this project. We pride ourselves on our
<br />ability to couple community and stakeholder input with our
<br />urban design, public realm, and transportation expertise to
<br />develop concepts that communities embrace.
<br />The process we use is comprised of what we call the
<br />Four Ds: discovery, discussion, design, and documentation.
<br />We have found this process to be effective for projects
<br />when there is a desire to craft a design solution for spaces
<br />that need to serve multiple stakeholders, interests, and
<br />functions. Discovery is focused on analysis and learning
<br />about the community issues, opportunities, and constraints
<br />through meaningful discussions and shared experiences
<br />in the study area. What we learn in discovery leads us
<br />to a deeper dive with community members and staff
<br />about design ideas and concepts that can work for
<br />the community. Documentation of the concepts and
<br />supplementary materials become the foundation for
<br />communities to see the project through to implementation.
<br />We recommend a two-part charrette for this project. The
<br />first four-day event, the Discovery Charrette, will be focused
<br />on discovery and developing some initial “starter ideas”
<br />based on feedback and the work previously conducted.
<br />The second four-day event, the Design Charrette, will be
<br />focused on diving into design concepts and generating
<br />content that will become part of the recommendations.
<br />During the charrettes we will conduct stakeholder meetings,
<br />needs assessment, and develop conceptual design options
<br />for the multiple components of the Market District Plan
<br />including street layout and configurations, streetscape
<br />recommendations and concepts, gateways, wayfinding,
<br />and all elements pertaining to public realm design.
<br />As we develop alternatives, we will also perform an equity
<br />study to ensure that all data is being considered for the
<br />development of viable concepts.
<br />
<br />These analyses and charrettes will lead to a set of
<br />recommended concepts for presentation to the public
<br />through an informed, collaborative process. We envision
<br />this process being very similar to the process used by
<br />Toole during the development of the downtown two-way
<br />street conversion process. With this input we will create
<br />a final concept to be used moving forward with a right
<br />of way plan, preliminary environmental, and 20% design
<br />documents.
<br />
<br />After the consensus on the final design concept we will
<br />conduct an extensive geotechnical investigation by Terracon
<br />to enable us to accurately design and develop a viable
<br />pavement design, utility plans, and a hydraulically feasible
<br />storm sewer design that does not compromise the City’s
<br />consent decree for the combined sewer system located
<br />within the area. We will rely heavily on JQOL’s extensive utility
<br />experience to develop an accurate utility coordination plan to
<br />implement all phases of the project. Contact with all pertinent
<br />local utilities will be made early and often throughout the
<br />process to ensure there are no unknown issues or concerns
<br />that are a surprise to the design team.
<br />For the environmental requirements of the project we anticipate
<br />this project will require an Environmental Assessment (EA) level
<br />document. Because the funding comes directly from FHWA,
<br />this won’t be completed under the INDOT umbrella, thus their
<br />processes and procedures will not be available. However, there
<br />are still many US DOT/ FHWA Programmatic Agreements which
<br />can be used to streamline the process. These process are briefly
<br />outlined as follows:
<br />The project will require a full Section 106 review to document
<br />those properties over 50 years of age within the project Area
<br />of Potential Effects (APE), including both aboveground and
<br />archaeological investigation. And once specific project impacts
<br />are determined, a Finding of Effect will be prepared for the
<br />project, detailing the impact to individually-eligible properties, or
<br />districts, as appropriate.
<br />
<br />Coordination with the South Bend Parks and Recreation
<br />Department will also be required. It may be possible to negotiate
<br />some impacts to Section 4(f) resources as Section 4(f) Temporary
<br />Occupancy Exceptions. We have de minimis findings, as well as
<br />several Programmatic Evaluations such as Minor Involvement with
<br />Historic Sites; Minor Involvement with Public Parks, Recreational
<br />Lands, and Wildlife and Waterfowl Refuges; and Transportation
<br />Projects that have a Net Benefit to Section 4(f) Property in our
<br />toolbox to navigate possible Section 4(f) impacts to parks or
<br />historic resources.
<br />And finally an Environmental Justice Analysis will need
<br />to be completed to determine if the project will have a
<br />disproportionate impact to low income or minority populations.
<br />All efforts should be made to avoid disproportionate impacts, or if
<br />those impacts occur, mitigative measures would be appropriate.
<br />Those measures might need to be negotiated with the
<br />community at large, as well as with those residents or businesses
<br />specifically impacted.
<br />All of these various environmental studies will be compiled,
<br />summarized, and the conclusions presented in the Environmental
<br />Assessment, which will be presented to the FHWA for approval,
<br />and to the public through a public hearing.
<br />8
|