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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 05/22/2018 - CITY PLAN VISIONING UPDATEDATE: STAFF: May 22, 2018 Ryan Mounce, City Planner Cameron Gloss, Planning Manager WORK SESSION ITEM City Council SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION City Plan Visioning Update. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this item is to update Council on feedback received from community conversations to refine the City Plan vision. Staff will review how this input will be incorporated as part of the vision update and in framing the three City Plan scenarios that will be analyzed and shared with the public this summer. GENERAL DIRECTION SOUGHT AND SPECIFIC QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED 1. What feedback does Council have regarding the proposed approach to updating the City Plan vision? 2. Are there other major vision themes that may have been missed in outreach so far? BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION City Plan Overview City Plan is an update to the City’s comprehensive land use plan, transportation master plan, and transit master plan. Collectively, these plans set a general vision for the future and provide high-level policy guidance to inform decision-making for the community’s land use and transportation frameworks. The next City Plan update will provide guidance towards the year 2040. City Plan is currently at the end of the visioning phase, which included a comprehensive outreach program to identify potential vision updates and refinements. Final plan content is anticipated to be completed in winter 2018/2019, with consideration of adoption by Council in spring 2019. City Plan Vision City Plan is typically updated every 5-7 years to reflect changing conditions, new trends, and community priorities. Updates provide the opportunity to reconfirm or change policy guidance for how the community will look, feel, and develop in the future. Underlying this policy guidance is our community vision, an aspirational expression of community values and goals. The existing City Plan vision includes an overall vision statement, three vision themes, and specific community objectives tied to the seven key outcome areas. (Attachment 1) Based on prior feedback and the positive regard for the existing vision from both Council and the community, outreach conducted by City staff, Plan Ambassadors, and Community Partner organizations has focused on refinement of the existing vision, rather than starting from scratch. Outreach during the visioning phase was designed to understand important community values and gather input on the detailed objectives of the seven key outcome areas. Opportunities for public input were specifically focused on identifying the objectives that are working well (“keep”), objectives that may need updates (‘‘change’’), missing or new objectives (‘‘add’’), or areas to emphasize more in this City Plan update (‘‘prioritize’’). May 22, 2018 Page 2 Feedback has already been collected from over three hundred community members at visioning workshops and visioning conversations held by City Plan Ambassadors and Community Partner organizations. Visioning conversations will continue through the first week of June. The feedback summarized below is representative of input collected through early May. Community Visioning Feedback - Values The current City Plan vision expresses many different values. Participants were given 10 of the most prominent values underlying the existing City Plan vision and asked to prioritize which values were most important. Livability, sustainability, and community consistently emerged as high priority community values, while connection and distinctiveness appeared as lower priorities for a large majority of community members. % Ranking as highest priority Value 28.39% Livability 23.23% Sustainability 18.30% Community 9.15% Leadership 7.14% Innovation 4.61% Fairness 4.55% Wellness 3.27% Choice 1.96% Connection 0.65% Distinctiveness To better understand what these values meant or how they were being defined, participants were also asked to describe their top and bottom values. The list of prioritized values and definitions of the top three and lowest prioritized values are described below. VALUE THEMES / DEFINITION Livability (top- ranked value) • Quality of life: safety, low stress, easy access to amenities • Good multi-modal transportation (walking, biking, transit, driving) • Affordability, especially of housing • Clean environment with access to parks, nature and recreation • Opportunity for good jobs and education Sustainability (second-ranked value) • Stewardship of natural resources: air, water, land, wildlife/habitat • Ensuring a healthy, viable city for future generations • Reduction of emissions; carbon neutral City • Managing growth within natural resource constraints • Triple Bottom Line (TBL) - economic, social, environmental all connected Community (third- ranked value) • Friendly, neighborly and pride in the community • Spaces and celebrations for interaction • Inclusive and respectful of diversity • Responsibility of sharing spaces with others • Open communication and engagement Distinctiveness (bottom-ranked value) • Unique elements that set us apart • Recognized by others for our efforts and leadership • A feature of being successful in other values • Desirability by offering or doing things differently During table discussions, most participants felt this range of values accurately represented core community values. “‘Opportunity’’ was most frequently mentioned as a potential value that was missing, especially as related May 22, 2018 Page 3 to housing, jobs/prosperity, and education. Multiple individuals also suggested renaming ‘‘fairness’’ to ‘’equity’’ or ‘‘inclusivity’’ to better emphasize respect for all members of the community. Community Visioning Feedback - Objectives Feedback about the objectives for the seven key outcome areas was also collected during group discussions. Many felt the overall direction of the community was well supported by the existing vision objectives. A large set of the comments received in regard to elements to change, add, or prioritize focused on housing choices, housing attainability, access to services and amenities, and continuing to improve multimodal transportation and transit options. The table below highlights common and recurring themes and ideas from the keep, change, add, and prioritize categories: KEEP (Working well) • Commitment to community’s open spaces, parks, natural areas, recreation • Compact development; sticking to our growth management boundary • Arts, culture & creativity throughout the community • Biking infrastructure and programs • Public transportation, particularly MAX • Trails and pathway network • Everything (enjoy our current big-picture direction) CHANGE (Needs updating) • Enhanced public transit in Fort Collins and region • Improve accessibility to services close to where we live • Different housing options and addressing housing attainability/affordability • Address mental health, social services, homelessness • Flexibility for smaller dwelling units (accessory dwelling units, tiny homes) • Enhance inclusiveness and safety for different ages, abilities, cultures • Set priorities; we can’t have everything ADD (What’s missing) • Enhancements to multimodal transportation • Promote housing choices, affordability, attainability • Transit infrastructure and amenities, and new regional connections • Access to social and mental health services • Transportation connectivity: transit/bike gaps and connections from neighborhoods to services • Supporting resources for small and local business PRIORITIZE (What we should focus on) • Housing choices, attainability, affordability • Vibrant neighborhoods with access to services • Public transportation (increased routes, especially east-west, and frequency) • Improving walking/biking as an alternative to vehicles, especially for short trips • High quality building design • Infill/density in appropriate, targeted areas • Balanced transportation resources (more alternatives to having to use a vehicle) May 22, 2018 Page 4 • Many of the vision objectives in the seven outcome areas were well regarded and may not need much change or refinement. • Vision objectives related to housing and multimodal transportation/transit may warrant additional emphasis to reflect the priority the community is placing upon their importance. This could also mean they more directly influence the overall ‘big-picture’ vision statement and themes. • Build upon conversations held in small groups about how the vision should clarify our priorities to achieve a balance between being aspirational and pragmatic. Provide context in the Plan document for the vision and what it seeks to achieve. Next Steps: Scenarios This summer, City Plan will begin a scenarios phase to design and evaluate three potential paths for the future of Fort Collins. Feedback from the visioning phase will be used to frame the three scenarios and inform the metrics by which they will be evaluated. The three scenarios are likely to include a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario and two distinct variations of the ‘‘business-as-usual’’ scenario. Each scenario will build on the community’s feedback about the overall community direction gathered during the visioning phase. The two new scenarios will highlight potential changes and emphasize different housing, transportation, and access to amenity/nature options. Plan Ambassador and Community Partner organizations will also play an important role in hosting conversations and events during the scenarios phase alongside City-led events and activities. Key goals during outreach in the scenarios phase will be communicating what is different in each of the scenarios, what metrics are being evaluated, and the costs, benefits, and tradeoffs of each scenario. Staff is planning another City Plan Council Work Session in mid to late summer to share information and solicit direction as the scenario phase gets underway is rolled out to the community. Staff is also scheduled for the July Futures Committee to discuss scenarios in-depth. ATTACHMENTS 1. Existing City Plan Vision (PDF) 2. Detailed Values Priority Ranking (PDF) 3. Powerpoint Presentation (PDF) Community Vision CITY PLAN 9 COMMUNITY VISION INNOVATE, SUSTAIN, CONNECT A vision represents a desired future as defined by the community. Three major themes of Plan Fort Collins provide direction for the vision for the next 25 years and beyond: Innovate, Sustain, and Connect. Innovate The citizens of Fort Collins wish to advance their future in a positive and vital way, and City government, educational, and other institutions, as well as the private sector, have always been willing to lead and serve as models for other communities. Our vision reflects our desire to remain innovative, world-class leaders. Sustain The basic tenets of sustainability serve as the guiding principles for our vision and act as a foundation underpinning all components of each plan. We find these tenets to be: • A focus on the future with a long-term perspective (an outlook for the generations to come). • An understanding that the community is bound by the limits of the natural world and its resources. • A systems perspective that recognizes the interdependent economic, human, and environmental implications of policies, decisions, and outcomes. • A mechanism for continuous improvement through monitoring and future plan updates. Connect Being a “connected community” extends beyond the physical connections implied by our transportation system. It encompasses a community that is connected technologically and socially as well. Our vision embraces a City that provides safe and efficient facilities for all modes of travel. It also encourages expansion of technological infrastructure to serve and connect the community, increasing access to information and fostering better communication between residents, businesses, institutions, and local government. Finally, our vision promotes social connectivity through ongoing support of community organizations and volunteerism and by encouraging development patterns and creating gathering places that attract people and promote social interaction. VISION FOR A WORLD-CLASS COMMUNITY Through innovation, sustainability, and connections the City of Fort Collins aspires to create a vibrant, world-class community. The City of Fort Collins is committed to providing leadership and exceptional service to citizens, but recognizes that the entire community must be involved to achieve the vision. Quality of Place WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO BECOME A WORLD-CLASS CITY? The new reality is that home or business location is a real choice and cities that wish to thrive will have to be attractive places for people to live and work. Fort Collins already excels in meeting this requirement, but will have to 10 CITY PLAN The objectives on the following pages help to define and unify the vision for a world-class community under the seven topic areas of Plan Fort Collins. VISION BY TOPIC AREA ECONOMIC HEALTH VISION A healthy and resilient economy: • Diverse jobs that enable citizens and businesses to thrive. • Reflects the values of our unique community in a changing world. • An innovative, creative, and entrepreneurial atmosphere. • Strong partnerships and collaboration with the private sector, educational institutions, and other organizations. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH VISION A healthy and sustainable environment: • Conservation of resources including energy, water, wildlife, habitat, biodiversity, and other natural resources. • Responsible stewardship for open lands and natural areas. • A comprehensive and connected system of open lands. • Integration of renewable energy and new technologies for the electric grid. • Continuous improvements in air quality. • Investment to meet the goals of the climate action plan and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. • Solid waste reduction and diversion and hazardous materials management. • Healthy urban watersheds and ongoing best-practices floodplain management. • A lasting water supply. • Meeting or exceeding standards for stream water quality, drinking water quality, and water reclamation. • Local and regional cooperation, coordination, and leadership on environmental matters. Community Vision CITY PLAN 11 COMMUNITY AND NEIGHBORHOOD LIVABILITY VISION A high quality built environment: • A compact pattern of development within a well-defined community boundary. • Adequate public facilities, services, and infrastructure to serve existing development and new growth. • Opportunities for redevelopment, revitalization, and growth in targeted areas. • Cohesive, distinct, vibrant, safe, and attractive neighborhoods. • Vital and appealing activity centers and destinations throughout the city. • Quality and accessible housing options for all household types and income levels. • Preservation and enhancement of historic resources. • Distinctive and attractive community image, design, and identity. • Nature visible and accessible in the city. SAFETY AND WELLNESS VISION A safe and healthy community: • A safe, non-threatening city in which to live, work, learn, and play. • Opportunities to lead active and healthy lifestyles. • Access to healthy, locally grown or produced food. 12 CITY PLAN CULTURE, PARKS, AND RECREATION VISION A diverse range of cultural and recreational options: • A recognized destination for arts and culture. • Arts and creativity integrated into community life and economic health. • An interconnected and wide network of parks and recreational facilities. • Multi-purpose and new types of facilities to meet the needs of a changing community. HIGH PERFORMING COMMUNITY VISION A city of choice: • A collaborative and community-based approach to problem solving. • Inclusive and accessible to all people. • Effective and efficient local governance where all voices are valued. • Fiscal sustainability and transparency in the City organization. • World-class communications technology. Community Vision CITY PLAN 13 TRANSPORTATION VISION • A connected community: • Land use and transportation will be fully integrated, both locally and regionally, to create an affordable, accessible, low energy, low impact, and efficient transportation system. • Multiple modes of safe, affordable, easy, and convenient travel will ensure mobility for people of all ages and abilities. Multiple travel modes will make it easy to choose transportation options that support a healthy lifestyle. Innovative travel modes will be accommodated through flexibility in the transportation system. • The transportation system will provide safe, reliable, convenient, and effective vehicular mobility and access. • Travel infrastructure will be high quality and recognized as world-class by residents, visitors, and peers. • People will be aware of the impact that their travel choices have on the transportation system, the environment, and the community. They will have travel options to choose that help Fort Collins achieve its overall vision of being a world-class community. Livability Sustainability Community Leadership Innovation Fairness Wellness Choice Connection Distinctivenes s 1 28.39% 23.23% 18.30% 9.15% 7.14% 4.61% 4.55% 3.27% 1.96% 0.65% 2 21.94% 20.00% 15.69% 8.50% 6.49% 7.24% 5.19% 3.27% 9.80% 1.30% 3 12.26% 14.19% 20.26% 8.50% 10.39% 7.24% 13.64% 5.88% 5.23% 2.60% 4 10.97% 14.19% 10.46% 9.15% 9.74% 9.21% 13.64% 3.92% 13.07% 5.84% 5 7.10% 7.74% 13.73% 9.15% 11.69% 15.13% 11.04% 7.84% 13.07% 3.90% 6 9.68% 2.58% 7.84% 5.88% 12.99% 13.82% 13.64% 8.50% 20.92% 4.55% 7 2.58% 9.03% 3.92% 9.80% 12.99% 15.79% 14.29% 12.42% 11.11% 7.79% 8 4.52% 3.23% 6.54% 16.99% 16.23% 7.89% 11.69% 14.38% 10.46% 8.44% 9 1.94% 5.16% 3.27% 15.69% 10.39% 7.24% 5.84% 24.18% 12.42% 13.64% 10 0.65% 0.65% 0.00% 7.19% 1.95% 11.84% 6.49% 16.34% 1.96% 51.30% 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% Percent Value Value Rankings (values sorted by first priority ranking percentage) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Summary of participant feedback from the four City-led April Visioning Workshops Rank ATTACHMENT 2 1 City Plan Update - Visioning Cameron Gloss ATTACHMENT 3 2 Overview City Plan includes updates to: Provide a vision and high-level policy guidance for the next 10-20 years Comprehensive Plan Transportation Master Plan Transit Master Plan Phases 3 1 2 EXISTING CONDITIONS Trends, issues & opportunities, community priorities VISIONING Update & reconfirm a shared community vision for the future 3 SCENARIOS Evaluate different community scenarios to achieve vision 4 DRAFT PLAN & POLICIES Develop policies & plan document 5 ADOPTION Share, reconfirm & update draft plan with the community Direction Sought 1. What feedback does Council have regarding the proposed approach to updating the City Plan vision? 2. Are there other major vision themes that may have been missed in outreach so far? 4 Visioning Outreach Goals  Leverage existing City Plan vision as a starting point  Understand important values & how the community defines them  Understand if/how existing vision & objectives should be updated Approach  Facilitated, small-group discussions  Values hierarchy exercise: Existing or missing City Plan values  Vision objectives exercise: Keep, change, add, prioritize 5 Visioning Outreach Gathering Input:  Four visioning workshops  Plan Ambassador & Partner Organization events  Online questionnaire  Discussions with Boards & Commissions  Internal & City Plan Working Group discussions * Outreach activities continuing through early June 6 Ambassadors and Community Partners 7 Values Hierarchy 8 Livability Sustainability Community Distinctiveness Leadership Innovation Fairness Wellness Choice Connection Higher Priority Lower Priority Defining Values – Higher Priority LIVABILITY  Quality of life; safety, low stress, easy access to amenities  Multi-modal transportation (walking, biking, transit, driving)  Affordability, especially of housing  Clean environment with access to parks, nature & recreation  Opportunity for good jobs and education 9 Defining Values – Higher Priority SUSTAINABILITY  Stewardship of natural resources & environment  Ensuring a healthy, viable community for the future  Reduction of emissions; carbon neutral city  Managing growth within natural resource constraints  Trible bottom line – economic, social, environmental 10 Defining Values – Higher Priority COMMUNITY  Friendly, neighborly, and pride in the community  Spaces & celebrations for interaction  Inclusive and respectful of our diversity  Responsibility of sharing space with others  Open communication and engagement 11 Defining Values – Lower Priority DISTINCTIVENESS  Unique elements that set us apart  Recognized by others for our efforts & leadership  A feature of being successful achieving other values  Desirability by offering or doing things differently 12 Additional Value Themes Potential Missing Value: ‘Opportunity’  In relation to housing, jobs/prosperity, education Change/modify: ‘Fairness’ to ‘Inclusive’ or ‘Equitable’  Respect and accessibility for all members of the community 13 Vision Objectives Keep (what’s working well)  Commitment to open spaces, parks, natural areas, recreation  Compact development; stick to growth management area  Arts, culture & creativity in the community  Biking infrastructure/programs & MAX  Trails and paths  Everything (enjoy current big-picture direction) 14 Vision Objectives Change (needs updating)  Enhance local & regional public transit  Improved accessibility to services close to home  Housing options and housing attainability/affordability  Mental health, social services, homelessness  Flexibility for smaller dwelling units  Inclusiveness and safety for all  Set priorities - can’t have everything 15 Vision Objectives Add (what’s missing)  Next steps in multimodal transportation  Incentivize housing opportunities  Enhanced transit infrastructure  Access to social & mental health services  Connectivity – focus on gaps and connecting neighborhoods & services  Support and resources for small and local businesses 16 Vision Objectives Prioritize (what we should focus on)  Housing choices  Vibrant neighborhoods with access to services  Increase transit routes / frequency  Improving walking / biking as alternatives to vehicles on short trips  High quality building design  Infill / density in appropriate areas  Balance transportation resources / funding 17 Incorporating Vision Feedback Big Picture Vision Statement & Vision Themes:  Refine to better reflect value priorities and how they are being defined/used by the community  Sustainability is well represented currently; elements of livability or community could become more prominent  Remove or clarify what is meant by connection, distinctiveness, world-class  These values & statements did not resonate as a priority or were confusing to community members. 18 Incorporating Vision Feedback Vision Objectives:  Majority of vision objectives were well regarded and may not need much updating  Emphasize or prioritize vision objectives related to housing & multimodal transportation. These objectives may influence the big- picture vision Other:  Achieve a balance between being aspirational and pragmatic 19 Direction Sought 1. What feedback does Council have regarding the proposed approach to updating the City Plan vision? 2. Are there other major vision themes that may have been missed in outreach so far? 20 RESOURCE SLIDES 21 35% 13% 22% 30% Demographics (City-led Events) 22 Which Visioning Workshop will you attend? Demographics (City-led Events) 23 44% 52% 0% 4% Male Female With which gender do you identify? Demographics (City-led Events) 24 2% 15% 13% 12% 27% 21% 4% 6% 18‐24 25‐34 35‐44 45‐54 55‐64 65‐74 75+ Prefer not to answer What is your age? Demographics (City-led Events) 25 What is your race or ethnicity? (Select as many as apply) Demographics (City-led Events) 26 What is your annual household income? Demographics (City-led Events) 27 • 80521 – 27.3% • 80525 – 24.9% • 80526 – 21.9% • 80524 – 18.9% • 80528 – 3.9% • Other – 2.9% What is your zip code? Plan Ambassadors 28 • Trainings for 55+ Ambassadors and 8 Community Partners completed • Two sessions, two hours each = 232 hours of facilitation training • First meetings being held in April/May Plan Ambassadors 29 • Partner organizations with funding/resources to gather feedback from underrepresented populations • Attended Plan Ambassador facilitation training • First meetings being held in April-June continue to do so if it is to be a world-class city. Great Facilities and Institutions The features that attract people to a community can be created, not just inherited. While Fort Collins has been blessed with many inherent features of the city such as its climate, setting, and natural resources, other critical features have been “created” – the parks and open space system, Downtown amenities, a thriving arts and culture scene, high-caliber university, and an innovative business climate. An Educated, Creative Workforce Fort Collins has been fortunate to attract and retain a high- quality, creative workforce with a diverse set of skills. It must continue to do so in order to meet the challenges of the future through continuing and enhancing its strong partnerships with CSU, Front Range Community College, Poudre and Thompson Valley School Districts, and other educational institutions throughout the region and state. Sense of Community The people in Fort Collins are known to be neighborly, friendly, and deeply committed to making their community a desirable place to live, work, visit, and raise a family. This strong sense of community sets Fort Collins apart from many other places, and will remain an important and desirable quality in the future. ATTACHMENT 1 Updating the City Plan Vision Staff anticipates refining the current City Plan vision after outreach activities have concluded in early June. Based on feedback to date, several suggested approaches to the City Plan structure and vision language are proposed: • Refine the ‘‘big-picture’’ vision statement and vision themes to better reflect prioritized community values. Sustainability is well represented in the existing vision, but elements of how residents define ‘’livability’’ and ‘’community’’ should become more prominent. • Remove or clarify what is meant by connection, distinctiveness and being ‘‘world-class’’. These values and statements are featured prominently in the existing vision, but were confusing to participants, did not resonate as shared values, and were consistently ranked lower as a priority.