Regional Roundtables
Community Design
Agenda
September 26, 2003
Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council
City Place
50 West Main Street
Rochester, New York 14614
585-454-0190
Summary of Issues
Attendees:
Jeff Adair (Supervisor - Town of Wheatland)
John Billone (Vice President Flower City Management)
Diane Burnham (Zoning Board Member - Town of Middlebury)
Sam Casella (Supervisor Town of Canandaigua)
Tim Cullenen (Community & Econ. Vitality Support Spec. - Cornell Cooperative Extension)
Margaret DelPlato (Regional Planner - Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council)
Jason Haremza (Associate Planner - Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council)
Kris Hughes (Director - Ontario County Planning Department)
Matt Ingalls (Senior Urban Designer - City of Rochester and Fairport Village Partnership)
Kevin Miller (Regional Landscape Architect - NYS Department of Transportation)
Lars Rosenquist (Director of Business Development - Wilmorite Construction)
Peter Siegrist (Director of Preservation Services - Landmark Society of Western New York)
Jorge Villali (Planning Intern Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council)
David Zorn (Executive Director - Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council)
1. What is Community Design?
A pleasant experience in relation to an era of development. Essex, Connecticut,
as an example, is one of most livable places in United States.
Curb appeal or the feeling you get when you drive though a town.
Community design is successful when it reflects the community in a sustainable manner.
Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck was highlighted as an influence for some.
Areas across the country are losing unique community identities. There is a need to
understand the differences between communities and to preserve unique identities.
Appearance and value to residents. Where is the value of design to residents of a
certain area? This was expressed particularly by the elected officials.
A way to humanize some inhuman environments that we construct. Community
design is to humanize highways, subdivisions, etc.
There is a concern that Community Design and Urban Design is being marginalized,
(e.g. good things happening at intersections, or in some downtown areas, etc.,
but the forces of mediocre/bad design overwhelm)
There are different levels of design, from micro to macro. Think of public involvement
in the process when it comes to design.
Design should not restrain or constrict the marketplace, but move it to a
common vision. Current leaders should work to establish a public ethic, not always
easy, that gets to a common vision. Then let private sector go to work.
What is the driving economic engine in that community? What does that community
have to market?
There are many communities that are trying to recreate things that never existed.
Many small communities had very short "shelf-lives" (i.e. a canal era heyday).
Many are trying to return to a utopian historical past era that they never had.
So many communities are betting on tourism, although there is so little historic
fabric left in many towns, that they have lost much of their uniqueness.
2. Examples and locations of good and bad design:
The old Route 332 was poor a design with no consideration of the multi-modal flow
of goods and people, signage, access roads or setbacks. The new Route 332 is well
improved with: sidewalks, landscaping, streetlights, closer setbacks and nodes.
Route 19 has poor drainage and poor access to Village of Wyoming from the rest
of town.
The new Route 251 bridge in Scottsville has now become a gateway with its access to
Oakta Creek, park expansion and an access to greenway.
Elmwood Avenue between Brighton Town Hall and 12 Corners was poorly designed due
to the fact that it only had sidewalks on 1 side. Now there are sidewalks on both sides
of this heavily walked route. It is an example of a small step taken to improve design.
3. Stakeholder Challenges
Despite being a ubiquitous visual presence in our communities, utility companies
are not engaged in the consideration and development of community and
urban design.
Utilities need to be part of the process from the inception. Even though there is a
perceived lack of cooperation they still need to be invited into the planning process.
It has been difficult to find cooperation from utilities because they are not accountable
on a local level. Influence from the state and federal level must be pursued.
Interstate and/or multi-state utility corporations can "plow through" state and local laws
and lawmakers.
The post office, railroads, and utilities are often-times very difficult to work with because
they are overseen from a federal level.
On a positive note, the NYS DOT has made great strides in the past decade in terms of
community involvement in their projects.
4. Policy in Community and Urban Design
The public sector controls the policy around public infrastructure (roads, water, sewer)
Key components of design should be based around infrastructure policy.
Relaxation of strict and/or outdated zoning and the use of overlays will allow more
flexibility in creative design. Many areas of the country (including Rochesters city center
area) are de-emphasizing "use" zoning and encouraging more "form-based" or
"designbased" zoning.
There is a lack of communication between towns and villages or the multiple layers in
many municipalities what you do impacts your neighbor, and what your neighbor
does impacts you.
Comprehensive plans are excellent policy tools, but visualization is very important.
People need something along the lines of conceptual renderings to refer to as a point
of reference.
To maximize the usefulness of Comprehensive Plans, communities must utilize
professional planners who are able to effectively facilitate community input. It is also
vital that Comp. Plans be followed-up with a zoning review; otherwise the plan will just
be a report on a shelf. Revised codes help ensure compliance and also provide
structure for developers.
Smaller communities may lack the resources (for hiring professionals) that some larger
communities may have; this suggests an opportunity for multi-jurisdictional resource
sharing.
5. Ideas to improve the design of our region
All stakeholders need to be involved.
The public needs to be educated about the importance of design and brought into the
discussion. People are never too young to be educated about what their community
looks like or how it feels (school-based outreach)
Many people know that they like a certain place but dont know how to articulate
what they like or dont like about the design of a place. This is where education and
outreach is key.
Developers need to be engaged in the process in all steps of the design process.
Communities must let them know their expectations; mutual respect is important.
Greater dialogue is needed between those who want to make investments
(developers) and the communities they are investing in. Communication can make
people aware of benefits. Education and sharing information are essential. Developers
want to be involved.
Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council should increase awareness of the
services it can offer to further good community design in the region.
50
West Main Street, Suite 8107
Rochester, New York 14614
tel:
585.454.0190
fax: 585.454.0191
Last Modified: May 01, 2007