Here, along with CSUF anthropology professor Hank Delcore, we offer our take on the results of the Downtown Community Charrette held on May 10-15, 2010, by Moule & Polyzoides and the City of Fresno. Over at TheAnthroGuys we assess the charrette process. Please read both and leave your comment.

There has been talk about revitalization of downtown Fresno. There has been money thrown at the revitalization. Now we are getting what is long overdo, a comprehensive community and specific plan. To understand this, look at the Tower District. Tower has had a specific plan since the early 90’s. Not everything happens over night but the plan ensures that everything that does happen is consistent with the community’s long range vision for the area.

Just recently the week long design workshops, called a Charrette, was held at the Radison regarding the Downtown Neighborhood Community Plan. What we see in the preliminary maps and renderings from Moule & Polyziodes team leading the community planning effort is no surprise. They have a long track record of new urbanist planning and architecture. The plan focuses on creating pedestrian friendly streets that encourage foot traffic. They stressed that foot traffic is key for the economic viability of downtown businesses, being attractive to new businesses and promoting a sense of security with “eyes on the street”.

In the vein of “eyes on the street” they have also have rendered views of infill, renovated and replacement building that have a traditional urban form. These buildings face the street, have large window also oriented to the street and often feature porches, stoops or balconies. All of these forms together create an urban environment that both fells vibrant and feels safer.

Regarding transportation, Stefanon Polyzoides stressed that the City of Fresno Traffic Engineering department is the most progressive and innovative they have dealt with. One of the key things in this planning effort is introducing a new word into the Fresno lexicon. That is “road diet”. This means narrowing many of our roads that are too wide for the amount of traffic they have. They space then gets gained for the pedestrian, bicycle lane, businesses can have sidewalk dinning. There is also room for health street trees and landscaping.

We also hear that we should protect the downtown grid, open previously vacated streets, and return two way traffic to one way streets. This is all in order to improve downtown connectivity and way-finding.

Below are photos from the charrette as well as the final presentation products from the process. You can find the full version at www.fresnodowntownplans.com And also check out our review of the process.
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The City of Fresno’s Downtown and Revitalization Department has made an announcement on the consultant it selected to complete the Downtown and Neighborhood Specific Plans. The announcement came through a note from department director Craig Scharton on the Department Facebook page. See full announcement below.

On Friday we announced that we have selected a team for the Fulton Corridor Specific Plan and Downtown Neighborhoods Community Plan. We still have to negotiate a contract with the firm. Then the contract will go to the City Council for approval.

The process to select the team was very thorough. We did a Request for Qualifications and read through twenty responses. Six were selected from that group. The six teams met in Fresno for an overview (lunch as Mezcal) and a walk down the Fulton Mall. They had a 2 hour FAX bus tour through the rest of downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods: Southwest, Jane Addams, Lowell, Jefferson and Southeast. The finished their day with a chance to network with local firms and professionals in the Sky Room at the Holiday Inn.

The submitted written responses to a much more detailed Request for Proposals. The Teams presented to a group of stakeholders made up of building owners, business owners and residents. They also presented to a group of City department representatives. The consensus choice is a led by a firm from Pasadena, Moule and Polyzoides (http://www.mparchitects.com).

We hope to have them in town for the first Council meeting in November.

See you at the DRUM meeting Wednesday evening.

Craig

Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists has there office in Pasadena. It is led by principals
Stefanos Polyzoides and Elizabeth Moule. An 2005 indepth interview with Polyzoides can be found on www.terrain.org Most notable, both principals where founding members of the Congress for New Urbanism.

Of the 20 firms had submitted to the RFQ, the 6 firms shortlisted to submit more detailed proposals were:

Dyett & Bhatia

PMC

*this list may not represent the entire team include on the 6 proposals.

We will continue to follow the Downtown and Neighborhood Specific Plans as they develop.

Details about DRUM meeting Craig referenced in his note:

Join us at the next casual, lively, quarterly Downtown Revitalization Update Meeting sponsored by the City of Fresno’s Downtown and Community Revitalization Department. The DRUM takes place this coming Wednesday, October 21, at 5:30 pm at the Downtown Club at 2120 Kern Street in Fresno.

Related article:
Downtown Citizens Committee appointments announced