Special Study Area moving forward

During its recent budget deliberations, the Healdsburg City Council, in its role as Board for the Redevelpment Agency, approved funding to support a Central Healdsburg Area Study. The Study, you may recall, was one of several that are called for in the recently adopted General Plan.

With funding allocated, the Council next decided to form a Subcommittee of the Council to act as stewards of the Study process. The Subcommittee will be comprised of two Planning Commissioners (TBD), one City Council member (Tom Chambers, with Jim Wood as alternate) and two members of the general public. The Council recognized that the outcome of the Special Study Area could have significant implications for business in town, and a lively discussion ensued about the proper way to ensure the business community would have a voice in the overall process. The Council ultimately stipulated that one of the "public" members of the Subcommittee should be someone who has business interests in Healdsburg.

The opportunity to apply for one of the "public" seats on the Subcommittee has been noticed in the Tribune, with a deadline for applications of August 27.

The Planning Department has indicated its intention to complete the Subcommittee formation process (interviews and selection) during the month of September, in anticipation of the group being able to begin its work in October.

The scope and role of the Subcommittee will be finalized by the group itself, however the general purpose is to discuss and agree upon the scope and nature of the Special Study to be undertaken and to inform what will ultimately become an RFP that will solicit qualified teams to conduct the study. The Subcommittee will act, in effect, as the "client" to the consultants performing the work and be accountable to the City Council who will retain final decision making authority.

Stay tuned for further updates as the process unfolds!

Productive Planning Commission session

On May 27, the HVP had the opportunity to interact with the Healdsburg Planning Commission. We were particularly appreciative of the setup for the meeting -- the PC agreed to gather around several tables to have a conversation about the Project. This environment supported a rich dialogue and the opportunity to explore and exchange ideas.

The impetus for this gathering was the direction of the City Council that the HVP engage the Planning Commission and for the PC to provide its comments back to the Council. The hoped for outcome of this convening was that the PC members would have sufficient information about the Project to be able to offer comment, and ideally to support continued dialogue about the Project's merits and possible collaboration going forward.

The HVP Team had prepared a brief presentation designed to augment the information already provided to the PC members contained in the Project Manual. In due course, there was a shift to questions and answers among all those present. Questions raised and comments offered by the Commissioners included:

• How does this process connect to the City and its work?
• Who would the stakeholders be? How would you go about identifying them and deciding who should be included?
• Who would be the design professionals involved?
• It's the Planning Commission's job to develop a process, and we will welcome your input when the time is right
• Unsure how the Study Area output would have relevance for other areas of town
• Need to be cautious about how specific the planning is, we don't want to dictate what someone can do with their property
• The General Plan already states what the future of the town is intended to be, this should build on that
• The project is a bit schizophrenic -- it talks about the whole town on the one hand, but focuses in on one area as well.
• How can we indicate a direction for this study area that produces more of the older areas of town without being draconian?
• Like to see a seamless blend of active citizenry with our Planning Department
• What about the property owners, how will they be included?
• Need to see more specifics, how would you work with the City?
• I'd like to move beyond seeing this (planning effort) as a one time event and change the process within the planning process
• How does the GMO relate to this process?
• I'd rather see our planning be a home grown effort and avoid having people come in from outside

After 90 minutes of discussion, the group attempted to summarize areas of agreement and the Planning Director is charged with preparing a summary to be forwarded to the City Council.

The HVP Team is hugely grateful to the Planning Commissioners for devoting time, and thoughtful consideration, to the Project proposal. Our hope is that we will be able to continue this conversation and ultimately arrive at a process that supports the City's tasks at hand and increases the satisfaction level and quality of outcomes for all concerned.

Off to the Planning Commission!

The HVP gave a brief presentation to the City Council last night, providing an overview of the Project and asking the Council to support an assessment of the Project's alignment with the City's goals and to pursue a collaborative dialogue to explore ways to jointly implement the Project.

The Council posed a range of helpful questions, including interest in the relationship of the Project to the General Plan process currently under way, the potential implication of this planning effort in the context of the existing GMO, and practical concerns such as exactly how to proceed and what the cost estimate is for the Project.

In the end, the Council directed that the Project be considered by the Planning Commission so that their expertise can come to bear and provide the Council with further input for their consideration. The Planning Director, Rick Tooker, indicated he thought it was possible for the Project to be agendized within the month of May on the Planning Commission's calendar.

Next steps include continued outreach to the community and the pursuit of conversations with the Planning department and the Planning Commission. Join in the fun!

HVP Presentation to Healdsburg City Council

On Monday, May 4 the HVP will make a presentation to the Healdsburg City Council. The purpose of the presentation is to outline for the City the proposed Project, and to request the Council to direct City staff to pursue a dialogue with the HVP Team to explore next steps.

Please join us at the City Council chambers at 6:00 p.m. to learn more about the Project. The outcome of the meeting will be posted here as soon as it is known!

Welcome!

The Healdsburg Visioning Project (HVP) is a concentrated urban design effort that will span a number of months and seeks to develop a comprehensive, citizen informed vision for possible futures of the built environment in Healdsburg.

Conceived and initiated by a diverse group of Healdsburg residents and local design professionals, the HVP offers a means to effectively engage the public in dialogues about land use and development in Healdsburg. The HVP seeks to bring the community further into the planning process in a hands-on, participatory manner, to go beyond the usual participants, to enable the community to express their concerns and present their ideas, and to synthesize urban design responses that reflect those ideas and integrate them into City codes and policies.

In short, we seek a numan approach to making cities: rich dialogue, vision, forethought and consensus based on opportunity rather than reaction.

Building on current visions held by a wide array of stakeholders, supported by professional urban designers charged with synthesizing comprehensive and practical results, and facilitated in the spirit of past successful collaborative design efforts in Healdsburg, the HVP will generate a series of templates that will guide future development. This will ensure that necessary growth does not result in the loss or degradation of critical aspects of Healdsburg's character, vitality and quality of life.

This blog will be a place to track progress of the Project and to learn about the opportunities to get involved and join in as we Imagine Healdsburg!