1 Ogden Creative District Master Plan Table of Contents
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Ogden Creative District Master Plan Table of Contents: I Background Information Study Area Description History Existing Conditions Challenges Opportunities Current Programming Related Planning Efforts II Precedents III Public Outreach IV Goals & Objectives V Recommendations Creative District Area Strategies Public Spaces & Projects Streetscapes Development Programs & Activities Implementation Immediate Term Medium Term Long Term Possible Funding Sources Background Information: Introduction and Overview Ogden City commissioned this Creative District Master Plan in ___ 2017 to establish an epicenter for art and culture that provides opportunities for the artistic community to live, create, share, and teach in order to benefit Ogden’s artist, citizens, and visitors. Ogden City recognizes that the arts are essential for enhancing quality of life, promoting economic development, improving education, and celebrating community. The City’s “Master Plan for Arts and Culture” emphasizes that the arts are an important economic driver for the community, both by supporting the creative industries and by attracting and retaining top talent in other trades. Additionally, the arts strengthen Ogden’s unique cultural identity, by expressing diverse perspectives in a way that brings people together and forges new connections. The four goals identified in the Master Plan for Arts and Culture are outlined below. Embed the arts as a key component in economic development and city planning strategies. Advance the arts as an integral element that celebrates Ogden’s diversity and strengthens its unique identity. Create an environment where artists can thrive. Weave the arts into the daily Ogden experience. 1 The Creative District Master Plan supports the goals and objectives outlined in the Master Plan for Arts and Culture, and recommends how they can be achieved by using placemaking strategies in a targeted geographic area. In 2015, Ogden City received a grant from the “Our Town” program of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to use creative placemaking and arts engagement for the revitalization of the area between Downtown Ogden and the adjacent East Central residential neighborhood. This area was envisioned as a Creative District that would encourage artists and other creatives to work and live, create new opportunities for the community to engage with art, and develop a vibrant connection between Downtown and East Central. The focus of the Our Town grant is to develop a community vision, conceptual plan, and identity for the Creative District. Supportive grant activities include arts events and installations that would generate activity in the district and develop resources for artists and creatives. The Creative District Master Plan presents the vision and conceptual plan for the district. Study Area The Creative District encompasses downtown Ogden City as well as other neighboring areas. The District is bounded on the north and south by 24th and 26th Streets, and runs west to east from Grant Avenue to Madison Avenue. It overlaps other existing districts including the Central Business District, the East Central Neighborhood, the Crossroads of the West, Historic 25th Street, and Jefferson Avenue Historic Districts. The current zoning includes both CBD (commercial business district) and R-3EC (multi-family residential). Historic Overview Historic 25th Street, originally named Fifth Street, was the main spine of Ogden’s historic streetcar system that connected Union Station and the city’s colorful downtown to the what was then known as the “First Bench” residential neighborhood—home to many of Ogden’s early residents. This area originally included a mix of large mansions, small to medium sized homes, and multi-family apartment buildings with a number of interspersed outbuildings. A sprinkling of pioneer homes and agricultural buildings from the city’s original settlement period were also included in this mix. Smaller neighborhood-scale commercial buildings were common throughout the district (sometimes attached to homes), as well as churches and other civic buildings. By today’s standards the original streetcar subdivision was actually mixed-use and walkable. Over time, bungalows and apartments, and commercial buildings increasingly spread throughout the district as development continued to progress east toward the mountain benches. Eventually, the streetcar lines were abandoned and paved for vehicular use. Existing Conditions: One of the area’s most defining characteristics is its inclusion within a larger national historic district, the Central Bench National Historic District. Accordingly, the study area contains a large number of historic buildings. Historic architectural styles include late 19th and early 20th century commercial structures, as well as Victorian, Arts and Crafts, and Art Deco. Numerous homes located in the local Jefferson Avenue Historic District, which have been largely restored. Although the properties throughout the Creative District are generally well maintained, there are also many properties in a state of disrepair. Many historic homes have been subdivided into apartments, some of which present substandard living conditions. 2 The district contains a mix of residential, commercial, and institutional uses, the latter of which is often located on large parcels with big parking lots. This creates a difficult situation, because county, state, and federal agencies control many of these large parcels/parking lots, and have little incentive to replace parking with more active uses, or even share parking with adjacent buildings. A large number of vacant and boarded-up buildings exists throughout the area, further contributing to an overall sense of blight. Vacant lots and large parking areas contribute to a disconnected relationship between destinations and usable space within the district. Some new development, mainly in the 500 block of 25th Street, has brought back vibrancy to the area, helping to repair the physical connections between the district and the downtown. This recent development is contemporary in style, while still sensitive to the historic neighborhood context, and also includes some adaptive reuse of historic structures. The streets themselves are wide and accommodating, providing ample travel lanes, turn lanes, and on-street parking (angled in some cases). The 300 and 400 blocks are typically more urban and do not include park-strips while the 500 and 600 blocks are typically more suburban and include wide (10’) park strips with large mature street trees. Lighting is minimal, mainly consisting of tall poles located at or near intersections and mid-blocks, leaving large expanses of the streetscape dimly or poorly illuminated. In most instances, the sidewalks are in disrepair with large sections of cracked, buckled and uneven pavement. In many cases, intersections lack ADA accessible curb-ramps Challenges: As described in the previous section, the overall appearance and quality of the study area is substandard. The age of the buildings and infrastructure, combined with neglect and disrepair, contribute to a sense of unsafe or undesirable conditions. Specific challenges for the establishment of a creative district include the following: Existing Parking: Large expanses of surface parking lots and parking structures contribute to a feeling of disconnectedness, that works against human-scale development, active use or vibrancy to the district. Furthermore, many of these parking areas are underutilized. Washington Blvd: This is a high-traffic street and a UDOT right-of-way. Its size and heavy traffic volume present a physical barrier/separation between downtown and the neighborhood. Elevation change between Washington & Adams: This short but steep hillside creates a minor physical challenge to pedestrians and cyclists. Vacant Buildings: The large number of vacant and boarded-up buildings (potentially an opportunity for new arts-related uses) are not providing any active uses to the area, and present both a real and perceived safety challenge. Substandard housing: Although affordable, many of the buildings and homes that have been subdivided into apartments, present substandard living conditions. Poorly managed properties: A number of rental properties in the area are poorly maintained and experience a high number of police calls for crime and drug-related issues. These properties created real safety issues and contribute to overall eprceptions of the area as unsafe. Half-block streets: Currently several half-block streets including Kiesel Avenue, Ogden Avenue, Porter Avenue, and Orchard Avenue have a lower visibility and accessibility 3 compared to the more well traveled and visible main streets. This presents a real and perceived safety issue. Zoning: In many cases the current zoning ordinances are directly contributing to the previously listed challenges. Parking requirements are prohibitive for many existing buildings and lot consolidations. Single family zoning doesn’t allow for commercial/arts uses, even though some buildings have been converted to commercial and are no longer well-suited for being converted back to single family homes. The real challenge of the neighborhood is a lack of human activity on the street level. The contributing factors to this are an absence of active uses (housing and businesses) in close proximity to each other and an overall lack of pedestrian-oriented urban design. The people currently using the district arrive and leave via automobile resulting in a lack