Planning Commission Meeting May 27

On May 27th staff, the Planning Commission and the public had another opportunity to review and discuss the issues identified during the Delayering analysis recently completed.

The discussion centered on park and walkway design, and connections between walkways, transit facilities and subdivisions.

The next meeting will be on June 24 and will focus on alternative short plat requirements to support infill development; as well as, the remaining five items from the issues list.

I will be posting a complete list of talking points from these Commission meetings shortly.

Roundtable Meeting May 14th

On May 14th I facilitated the first stakeholder roundtable meeting.

The 7 participants included representatives from the development industry (including locally based builders), and community members that have a long history of community service through participation in various planning initiatives.

The discussion went very well with many important points raised. The overall themes included:

• providing clear design direction;
• allowing for site specific flexibility;
• performance based measures for requirements; and,
• infill development with alternative short plat regulations.

I will be posting a complete list of items from this, the April 9th and May 7th meetings shortly; as well as, adding items to the Ideas/Concepts Flip Chart.

Video Report - Planning Commission April 22

The video report about the first phase findings has been posted (22 min). It shows the presentation I made to the Planning Commission on April 22. The complex urban design principles are explained with visually interesting and insightful images generated through an innovative mapping technique called delayering.

The information is also available, and can be commented on, at www.cohdelayered.blogspot.com.

First Phase Findings

A companion site ( www.cohdelayered.blogspot.com ) detailing the findings of the first phase of subdivision analysis has been set up. This outlines the general characteristics of “existing conditions”, in terms of how our subdivisions look and function. The intent is to provide information on this major component of the project in a cohesive way and facilitate discussion.

The information on the companion site is essentially the same as presented to the Planning Commission on April 22, 2008. Some changes have been made to suit the blog format. Also, unlike a typical blog this second site is meant to be read from top to bottom as a single report. (see video of presentation)