City of Brunswick, Georgia COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION PROGRAM
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City of Brunswick, Georgia COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION PROGRAM Prepared for City of Brunswick Comprehensive Plan Prepared by EDAW Inc Malvada Consulting October 2007 Development Department and the consultant team are Introduction herein referred to as “the planning team” This Community Participation Program has been developed Background for the City’s latest Comprehensive Plan process which was The City of Brunswick is a historic coastal city with origins kicked off in August of 2007 and is expected to conclude in dating back to the pre‐Revolutionary period. In recent April of 2008. decades, the City of Brunswick saw a stagnant economy and population loss even as the surrounding communities were The Comprehensive Plan will be the City’s primary guide seeing growth and development. The most recent trend, for managing future growth and development. This will however, is that the City of Brunswick is starting to see include not just the regulation of development, but also the revitalization, particularly in its historic downtown core. protection of natural areas, the preservation of cultural Much of this revitalization is attributable to the successful features, and the provision of community facilities such as Blueprint Brunswick project, which laid out a vision for the roads, sidewalks, sewers, and parks. redevelopment of key parcels in the City in 2003. The Comprehensive Plan will have three parts: The revitalization that the City has seen recently is Community Participation Program – A plan for buttressed by new leadership in the City. Most interviewed how to get the public involved in the planning stakeholders feel the current direction of the City is positive process. and think that the City’s new leadership has engaged the Community Assessment – An overview of the state community broadly. As a result, most stakeholders have a of the community, including a review of the City’s hopeful attitude about the future of Brunswick and its ability population, housing, economic development, to address its problems. transportation, cultural resources, natural resources, and community facilities. The City of Brunswick is a majority African‐American city Community Agenda e– A guid to future physical and has a large concentration of low‐ and middle‐income development and to addressing the issues and households. The surrounding coastal area, on the other opportunities that are of concern to the Brunswick hand, is predominantly Caucasian and largely high‐income community. households. In particular there are concentrations of wealth on St. Simon’s Island and Sea Island. Because of the The Community Participation Program and the Community economic dichotomy of the region, the issues which are a Assessment will be developed between August and priority for the City and its residents often will not hold the November of 2007, and the Community Agenda will be same priority for the larger community. At the same time, developed between November of 2007 and April of 2008. there are many well‐functioning regional service providers that serve the entire regional community, including residents of the City. Direction-Setting The larger context for the City of Brunswick includes Each piece of the Comprehensive Plan helps to set the important national trends towards increasing coastal direction for the future growth and development of the City. development and downtown revitalization. Both of these These decisions will be made by the planning team with national trends suggest that the City of Brunswick will continuous consultation from public stakeholders. The continue to experience revitalization, growth, and following is a review of the direction‐setting that will be development in coming years. Helping the City shape this settled during the development of each part of the development is the key objective of this Comprehensive Comprehensive Plan. Plan. Community Participation Program Planning Process How to get the word out about the A consultant team, led by the planning and design firm Comprehensive Plan. The planning team must EDAW, will be developing the Comprehensive Plan for the develop strategies and methods for making City of City of Brunswick and guiding the Community Participation Brunswick stakeholders aware that the process. The EDAW Team will be working closely with the Comprehensive Plan is being developed, and must City of Brunswick’s Community Development Department educate stakeholders on the contents of the plan throughout the process. Together, the Community and their opportunities for input into the plan. C I T Y O F B R U N S W I C K , G E O R G I A C O M P R E H E N S I V E P L A N COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION PROGRAM 2 How to involve different stakeholder groups. design characteristics that are appropriate for each. Different stakeholder groups in the City of This may include, for example, areas of historic Brunswick have different needs, interests, and character, limitations on building scale and height, abilities. The planning team must seek out ways to or definitions of appropriate street types. reach out to different stakeholder groups. Implementation Program. The Implementation Program includes strategies for addressing the Community Assessment Community Issues and Opportunities, long term Potential Issues and Opportunities. Based on policies to guide local government, and the research and data collected on the City of development of a Short Term Work Program. The Brunswick, the planning team will develop a list of Short Term Work Program (STWP) is a five year potential issues and opportunities that the plan which includes projects the City should community is facing. This list is developed based undertake to realize the Vision and to address on the professional knowledge and experience of Issues and Opportunities. A list of actions will be the planning team, but it will be modified in developed and scheduled for the City to undertake consultation with community stakeholders during during this five year period. Long term policies the Community Agenda phase of .the project will be developed to help provide ongoing Areas Requiring Special Concern. The planning guidance to decision makers on how to achieve the team will identify geographic locations in the City Vision and how to address identified Issues and of Brunswick that require special attention due to Opportunities. particular issues or concerns. Preliminary Character Areas. Based on existing maps, data, and field visits around the City, the planning team will divide the City into Character Areas. Character Areas are parts of the City with a distinctive physical character and clear boundaries, such as a particular neighborhood or group of neighborhoods. The Character Area map will be modified with public input during the Community Agenda phase of the project. Community Agenda General Vision Statement. A vision statement articulates what the community wishes to keep the same and what it wishes to change over a long period of time – for example 20 years. The statement should paint a picture of what the City will be like at the end of the planning period if the plan is completely successful. Community Issues and Opportunities. This is a list of issues and opportunities that currently face the City and affect the quality of life of its residents, workforce, and property owners. Defining the issues and opportunities helps to set priorities for the rest of the Comprehensive Plan. Identification of Character Areas. The City will be divided into a series of separate areas that cover the entire City. Each area will be given boundaries, a name, and its own vision of how it should develop. Desired Development in Each Character Area. Each Character Area will be defined by the appropriate types of development and the urban C I T Y O F B R U N S W I C K , G E O R G I A C O M P R E H E N S I V E P L A N COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION PROGRAM 3 Preliminary Stakeholder Groups and Issues Nine in‐person stakeholder interviews were conducted to identify the concerns of different stakeholders groups within the City. Additional stakeholder concerns will be integrated into the Community Participation Program throughout the planning process. This table provides a useful preview of different stakeholder groups and their areas of concern. Preliminary Stakeholder Groups and Issues Stakeholder Group Issues of Concern Public Participation Needs African-Americans -Recent increase in violent crime in certain City -Involve the religious community neighborhoods -Do not rely solely on internet; use radio and -Managing new development without displacing newspaper to get the word out current residents -Tuesday and Thursday evenings are best -Improve the quality of the neighborhoods -Concern that community will not come out for long -Need for increased community involvement term visioning (apathy) -Increase and disperse the supply of quality -Avoid terminology/jargon that might intimidate low affordable housing income residents from participating -Need to motivate kids to stay in school and offer vocational alternatives Hispanics / Latinos -Adequate support in the school system for children -Use trusted community institutions as the base for who do not speak English Hispanic outreach -Lack of public transportation -Provide bilingual opportunities for participation -Changing immigration policies -Avoid meetings at City Hall or government institutions -Avoid weekend meetings Neighborhood Groups -Improve the quality of the neighborhoods -Concern that community will not come out for long -Need for increased