Southwest Detroit’s Vernor Crossing PlacePlan project is now available for public viewing on the internet at placemaking.mml.org.
The Michigan Municipal League posted the Southwest Detroit PlacePlan report today along with PlacePlans projects from eight other communities (Cadillac, Flint, Holland, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Marquette, and Midland). You can check them all out here: http://placemaking.mml.org/place-plans/ and download the final presentation for each project.
“These PlacePlans represent months of work by the League and our partners, but more importantly they attempt to reflect the needs and wants of the local community members,” said League CEO and Executive Director Dan Gilmartin. “We’re excited about the opportunities and possibilities the plans represent in these communities.”
PlacePlans is a joint effort between the Michigan Municipal League and Michigan State University’s School of Planning, Design and Construction, and is led at the state agency level by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA). It is a program to help communities design and implement transformative placemaking projects to focus economic development efforts around walkable downtown districts.
“MSHDA is truly impressed with the innovative and creative work generated by the leaders and citizens in these eight communities—Cadillac, Detroit, Flint, Holland, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Marquette, and Midland,” said Gary Heidel, Chief Placemaking Officer for MSHDA. “We now hope that these plans can become reality and help continue the positive placemaking work already underway in these cities.”
This current round of PlacePlans work began about a year ago when Southwest Detroit was among eight communities selected to receive technical assistance from university faculty and students, professional consultants and League staff. The PlacePlans work continues to be so successful and so well received by the participating communities that the next round of PlacePlans work in a new group of Michigan communities will soon be announced, Gilmartin said.
The Southwest Detroit “Connecting Communities with Vernor Crossing” project engaged neighborhood residents, businesses, and community organizations in developing concepts for the reuse of a vacant, city-owned brownfield at the intersection of Vernor and Livernois. The plan also looks at opportunities to improve infrastructure and support infill development in the surrounding area, creating better connections between the adjacent neighborhoods and business districts. This work is built on a previous analysis of opportunities on the site by an Urban Land Institute team, and the Southwest Detroit Business Association (SDBA) is currently performing retail and residential market analyses to support future development activity. Serving as consultants on the project were Archive Design Studio and LandUse USA. The plan was sponsored locally by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and the Southwest Detroit Business Association.
The plan centers on redevelopment of the 7-acre site, previously a Detroit Public Works facility, as a 60,000 square foot development. The site will include retail soft goods (clothing and household furnishings), shared market space for the neighborhood’s entrepreneurs and makers, and a flexible public plaza for community events. The plan includes short- and long-term tactics for improving pedestrian and bicycle connections and safety around the Vernor and Livernois intersection, as well as the visual appearance of this stretch of Vernor. Longer-term strategies include street network improvements to mitigate the impacts of truck traffic and prioritization of infill and redevelopment opportunities to fill gaps along Vernor.
Kathy Wendler, president of the Southwest Detroit Business Association, said, “The PlacePlan defines a vision for the future of this key site in southwest Detroit. But maybe even more importantly, the plan will continue to build a sense of belonging to, and pride in, our community. Its role in connecting west end to east end, creating cultural touchstones as we go, is as they say, priceless.”
The next step is to secure funding for the projects called for in the plan. Some of the work, such as cleaning up the site and removing blight and old vehicles is already well under way.
“We’ve done a lot of the cleanup already. We have almost no illegal dumping anymore or uncut grass in the business district,” Wendler said. “The next step is to work on the knee-walls with some landscaping, and start implementing some of the temporary uses recommended in the plan.”
· To view the Southwest Detroit PlacePlan go here: http://placemaking.mml.org/placeplans-detroit/
· Download the Southwest Detroit PlacePlan pdf: http://placemaking.mml.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/detroit-placeplan-2014.pdf
· View the plan soon at: http://www.savorsouthwestdetroit.org/
Source: Michigan Municipal League