West Trinity Charrette

The Process: Community Input and Involvement

The Planning Department’s Community Design team worked with neighborhood and business leaders to set up a project Steering Committee.

The Steering Committee met with planners to discuss long-range land use policy, the upcoming charrette, and their role in the process (setting study area boundaries, community outreach, sharing information, feedback loop)

Planners mailed 3,500 meeting notices to property owners in and near the study area. Planners emailed flyers to Steering Committee members and contacts to post and share.

photo of table discussion

The Steering Committee and Community Design team toured the study area and discussed history and opportunities. Noted were existing neighborhoods with quality housing, new housing being constructed, numerous institutions, long-time businesses, opportunities of available sites for development, proximity to the Cumberland River, and views of Downtown.
Community participation was strong at a Community Visioning Session, the first discussion to identify big ideas and goals for the area. Planners had to open a second room and set up additional discussion tables to accommodate an overflow crowd of nearly 200.

photo of hands on map

An all-day Open Design Studio provided an opportunity for the public to drop in, see planners at work, ask questions, and provide input as the Community Design Team compiled results from the Visioning Session table maps and worked on a draft vision statement.
The Community Design team also held a stakeholder discussion with some area business leaders and commercial property owners, and presented results of the visioning session to the Steering Committee to recap and to check whether planners were missing any important concepts discussed at Visioning Session tables.

photo of planners working on plan

The Community Design team worked on major issues/solutions as the Open Design Studio continued, including a vision statement, mobility/connectivity, open space network, assigning policy categories, and sketching concept plan.

community members reviewing map boards

The Community Design team produced graphics, including concept map/policy map, mobility map, and open space map.
The team presented initial concepts and results of the Visioning Session to the public (approximately 125 attendees) for initial review and comment. The Team also asked public which important sites should have illustrations (design scenarios) prepared for them.