Dan DeGeest's Council Review

Hi Friends,

The presentation Tuesday night was very informative and pretty well attended.  A good portion of the material covered "existing conditions" and it was no surprise to me to hear most of the challenges and opportunities identified by the consultants.  It was clear to me that they have spent considerable time in the field and are not just looking at maps in their Chicago office - that was encouraging.  They identified several key issues to address in the study with multi-modal improvements and pedestrian safety being common themes from all public input.  They recommended narrowing down the study areas to the 5 unique districts/zones detailed below.  They believe that intensive study of these five areas will allow them to focus on the key issues and then apply those findings to create corridor-wide land use, transportation/mobility, and character/urban design plans.  There was some discussion/questions from City Council, members of the Planning and Zoning Commission, and several from the public.  In the end, the biggest discussion was around modifying the size of the "Downtown Gateway" area to include Clark Street whereas the consultants had suggested using Kellogg as the Western boundary.  In the end a motion from Gartin, to accept the report, with the modified Downtown Gateway boundary, was passed 6-0 allowing the project to move forward.

There will be more opportunities for public input in upcoming months and I will send out reminders when those are scheduled.  Please get and stay engaged in this process, it's our City, our voices and opinions matter.

Thanks for reading,

Dan DeGeest>>

The Ames City Council April 19, 2016.  The agenda included:

1. Joint Meeting with Planning and Zoning Commission with Presentation by consultants of Lincoln Way Corridor Draft Plan and direct consultants to proceed on studying focus areas.

The consultants Houseal and Lavigne are presenting a draft plan that highlights five sub-areas along Lincoln Way, and includes current characteristics and concern areas for each district. The proposed focus areas include:

• Downtown Gateway
• Lincoln and Grand
• Oak to Riverside
• Campustown Transition (West of Campus)
• West HyVee Retail Area

The consultants will consider the following elements for improvements in each of the areas: traffic flow, appearance/landscaping, signage, residential housing density, land-use (whether residential, commercial, mixed, etc.)

If you are able, consider attending or tuning into tonight's workshop! Lincoln Way is a vital corridor to Ames, and public input in this process is hugely important.

Thanks for reading,