Near-Northwest-Neighborhood-Plan-Final-Strategic-Plan-2019

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17 Charrette A charrette is an intensive planning session where neighbors, stakeholders, designers and others work together to develop a vision for the future. It provides a place to generate ideas and offers the unique ad- vantage of giving immediate feedback to the design- ers. The dynamic and inclusive process, with frequent presentations, is a fast method of identifying and overcoming obstacles. The shared experience helps establish interest in the design and build support for the vision. Charrettes are organized to encourage the participation of all. That includes everyone who is interested in bringing the vision to reality: residents, property owners, developers, and local government. In March, the city staff and consultant team engaged with community members during a four-day design charrette. During the charrette there were several opportunities for the public to provide their input, including an opening presentation, an open house, a brown bag lunch discussion, a walking tour, 19 hours of drop-in open studio, stakeholder meetings, and a wrap-up presentation. The opening presentation set the stage for the char- rette by presenting the project, sharing the input collected during the February community presenta- tion & workshop, sharing the schedule and additional opportunities for involvement during the four-day charrette, and finally having participants complete an interactive exercise exploring future land uses in the neighborhood. The land use exercise asked par- ticipants to break into groups and discuss a variety of land uses and where they fit into the neighborhood, marking locations on maps with dots. The public open house provided an informal review of in-progress ideas and drawings. There was an informal overview of the ideas generated to that point and the community was able to explore drawings and have conversations with the city staff and consultants. A brown bag lunch discussion was led by the Incre - mental Development Alliance and focused on the economics of neighborhood development. Commu- nity members learned about different development patterns and their value versus cost to the city. In particular, older buildings and the more urban devel- opment found in the Near Northwest is more valuable (cost less for services and generate higher per acre taxes) when compared to other development pat- terns. Residents and community members were invited to join city staff and consultants on an informal walking tour down Sherman and Harrison Avenues. Along the way, there was discussion about the existing build- ings, neighborhood building types, and opportunities for the future. The open studio offered the community times to stop in, review the concepts & drawings in real time, and talk to design team members. This provided commu- nity members another opportunity to ask questions and share their thoughts on the vision for the area. A series of stakeholder meetings were held during the charrette. These were small meetings with specif- ic individuals and organizations in order to develop feasible ideas as part of the vision. Stakeholder meet- ings included area not-for-profits, elected officials, residents from Sherman & Harrison Avenues, repre- sentatives of area financial institutions and relevant city departments. The wrap-up presentation provided a chance for the community to see and learn about the results of the design charrette, including the concepts which would continue to be refined and next steps. During the charrette there were over 250 people that participated across the events and hundreds of sticky notes and comments were shared with the city and design team. Feedback boards used during the charrette and additional comments collected can be found in Appendix 1. Meeting attendees listen to the opening presentation Participants completing the “Map Your Neighborhood” exercise