Town of Riverhead Peconic River/Route 25 Corridor
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TOWN OF RIVERHEAD PECONIC RIVER/ROUTE 25 CORRIDOR Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) Step II Nomination Study Creative Placemaking Supplement Town of Riverhead Suffolk County, New York Prepared by: WaterFire International 101 Regent Avenue Providence, RI 02908 March 2016 This document was prepared for the Town of Riverhead and the New York State Department of State with state funds provided through the Brownfield Opportunity Areas Program. Town of Riverhead, Peconic River, NY Table of Contents General BOA Introduction .................................................................................................... 7 Lead Project Sponsors........................................................................................................... 7 Project Overview and Description ........................................................................................ 8 Creative Placemaking Plan Recommendations for Riverhead ................................................. 10 What is Creative Placemaking? .......................................................................................... 10 0.1.1 Introduction: .............................................................................................................. 10 0.1.2 Recommendations Cover Seven Areas of Interest .................................................... 12 0.1.3 Enhancing Community Corridors for the Town of Riverhead ................................. 13 0.1.4 Recommendations for Downtown: Main St., Grangebel & River Walk area: ........ 16 0.1.4.1 Creation of Managed Program of Community Corridors ...................................... 16 0.1.5 Recommendations for Downtown Riverhead – East ................................................ 26 0.1.5.1 Evaluation of the Visual Quality of Community Corridors .................................... 26 0.1.6 Recommendations for Central (West) Riverhead District: ....................................... 29 0.1.6.1 Evaluation of Visual Quality of Community Corridors and Traffic Routes ........... 29 0.2 Parking and Shuttles .................................................................................................... 37 0.3 Audience and Demographics: ...................................................................................... 38 0.4 Capturing Economic Impact and Satisfying Demand: Lodging and Food .................. 39 0.5 Unified Marketing and Programming for the Town of Riverhead .............................. 41 0.6 Building and Expanding Existing Events/Attractions ................................................. 42 0.7 Suggestions on Leveraging the Plan ............................................................................ 46 1. Introduction to Creative Placemaking Core Concepts .......................................................... 47 Introduction to Creative Placemaking Supplement ............................................................ 48 A note on the Riverhead site ............................................................................................... 49 1.0 Overview of the field of Creative Placemaking ........................................................... 52 1.1 Creative Placemaking established at the National Endowment for the Arts ............... 52 1.2 A Brief History of Art and Placemaking in Civic Life ................................................ 53 1.3 NEA’s Expansion of Creative Placemaking ................................................................ 55 1.4 The Arts are the Critical Element in Creative Placemaking ........................................ 56 1.5 Components of a Creative Placemaking Plan .............................................................. 58 WaterFire International Creative Placemaking Plan - p 2 Town of Riverhead, Peconic River, NY 1.6 Strategic Ways that Creative Placemaking Can Achieve Community Impact ............ 61 1.7 Examples and Case Studies of Creative Placemaking ................................................. 64 1.7.1 Database Sources of Comparative Creative Placemaking Projects ........................... 64 1.7.2 Exemplary examples of successful Creative Placemaking projects .......................... 65 1.8 Case study of WaterFire outcomes and benefits in Providence, RI .............................. 65 1.9 Case study of WaterFire outcomes and benefits in Sharon, PA ................................... 67 1.10 Benefits of innovative Creative Placemaking as a catalyst for change ...................... 73 1.11 Next Steps ................................................................................................................... 77 2.0 Inventory of Riverhead Assets ............................................................................................... 78 2.1 Physical site review and analysis needed for Creative Placemaking ............................ 78 2.2 Inventory and engagement with human resources, agencies and partners ................... 79 2.3 Inventory of creative, cultural, and community assets and benefits ............................. 84 2.4 Inventory of lodging capacity ....................................................................................... 87 2.4.1 Hospitality revenues, an important lever for capturing economic impact ................. 87 2.4.2 Inventory of Hospitality Lodging Capacity and Recommendations .......................... 89 2.4.3 Audit of hotel rooms in Riverhead Township & short term rentals .......................... 89 2.4.4 ‘Instant resort’ or ‘glamping’ [glamorous camping] as an opportunity ..................... 92 2.4.5 Short term rental market hospitality models; development and suggestions ............. 95 3.0 Audience Analysis - interest in Creative Placemaking opportunities ................................ 98 3.1 Assessment of Community Support for Creative Placemaking .................................... 98 3.1.1 Video Testimonials .................................................................................................... 98 3.1.2 Facebook .................................................................................................................... 99 3.1.3 Renaissance Downtowns ......................................................................................... 100 3.1.4 Press and Media ....................................................................................................... 101 3.2 Potential Audiences of Visitors to Riverhead and their Economic Capacity ......... 104 3.3 Review of traffic, travel patterns, events and seasonal considerations ...................... 107 3.3.1 Daily traffic .............................................................................................................. 107 3.3.2 Local event traffic .................................................................................................... 107 3.3.3 Seasonal traffic......................................................................................................... 107 3.4 Analysis of Potential Funding Mechanisms ............................................................... 108 4.0 Peconic River Corridor as an Asset and Attraction .......................................................... 112 4.1 Ways to connect Peconic Corridor Activity to downtown Riverhead ....................... 114 WaterFire International Creative Placemaking Plan - p 3 Town of Riverhead, Peconic River, NY 4.2 Downtown Riverhead’s solution to attracting cultural tourism .................................. 117 4.3 Identify potential new events to contribute to a more flourishing street scene .......... 122 4.4 Volunteer Engagement, Structure and Management .................................................. 126 4.4.1 Volunteerism and Community Engagement: the ‘value’ of volunteers................... 126 4.4.2 Volunteer Structure and Management ..................................................................... 127 4.4.3 Volunteer Insurance Issues ...................................................................................... 128 4.4.4 Job Training Partnerships and Opportunities ........................................................... 128 5.0 Planning Overview for Large scale events.......................................................................... 130 5.0.1 Review space availability for events........................................................................ 130 5.1 Review Space Availability For Events: Restaurants .................................................. 133 5.2 Other Food Opportunities ........................................................................................... 137 5.3 Evaluate Parking Locations ........................................................................................ 141 6.0 Site Analysis of the Peconic River for WaterFire .............................................................. 143 6.1 Introduction to Design and Programming Principles for WaterFire ........................... 143 6.1.1 Performance Related Site Conditions and Requirements ........................................ 145 6.1.2 Crowd Related Site Conditions and Requirements .................................................. 146 6.1.3 Logistical Issues: Site requirements for logistical and operational support ........... 146 6.1.4 Special Note Related to the Logistical aspect of Firewood supply ......................... 146 6.2 Initial Regulatory and Permit Reviews ....................................................................... 147 6.3 Assessment of Marine and Meteorological Data .......................................................