What is the future of Ottumwa’s riverfront? Urban designers, architects and development experts seek public input to help answer that question. A Community Design Workshop is set for 5:00 p.m. the evening of July 22, 2014 at Bridge View Center. The workshop is the latest in a series of community meetings aimed at establishing a community vision for the future of the riverfront.
The event, which is free to the public, is part of the Riverfront Renaissance planning process. Funded by the Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation, Riverfront Renaissance is a community-based planning process for envisioning the future of Ottumwa’s riverfront. The process seeks to produce a consensus vision, make recommendations for specific projects, and craft a plan for the implementation of the community’s vision.
“Having a shared vision for the future is an absolute necessity for achieving results” said Brad Little, President and CEO of the Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation.” This is a chance for the community to come in and give their input on what they would like to see in the future and what could be better. The voice of community is what makes this process so rich and important.”
Christian Rushing, an urban designer who specializes in downtown and riverfront planning will lead the workshop. The design workshop will include a brief presentation by the consultants followed by a facilitated public input process that will solicit ideas and visions for the future of the riverfront. Facilitation and translation will also be provided for Spanish speakers.
The goal is for the community to come together and form a shared vision that is both aspirational and feasible,” Little said. “Christian and his team have experience in working with cities to generate visions in a way that helps those ideas move through to construction.”
After the Community Design Workshop on July 22nd, the design team will spend two days consolidating public comments, testing design concepts and will present a draft “alternatives plan” at a second public meeting at Bridge View Center on Thursday, July 24th at 5p.m.
