2015 APA Florida Project Awards

APA FLORIDA PROJECT AWARDS SEPTEMBER 8-11

2015

THE DIPLOMAT HOLLYWOOD, FL floridaplanning.org/conference #APAFL15

2015 APA FLORIDA PROJECT AWARDS AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE Project DTO – Advancing Downtown Orlando Category: Best Practices Project DTO – Advancing Downtown Orlando is a comprehensive visioning process that has formulated the next chapter of Downtown Orlando’s evolution. The process emphasized extensive and innovative public and stakeholder outreach, including the utilization of unique tactics to gain insight into the community’s needs and interests. The process engaged diverse stakeholder groups to provide feet-on-the-ground information while utilizing several unique strategies to gain public input in order to actively envision our future as a leading city. Every concept envisioned by the Orlando community is embodied in the pages of the DTO Vision Plan and DTOutlook plan.

Parramore Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan Category: Neighborhood Planning Downtown Orlando is experiencing tremendous change and much of that change is occurring in Parramore, an historic African American community located just west of Orlando’s Central Business District.

Changing conditions include SunRail commuter rail service, expanded free BRT service, a new performing arts center, and high tech mixed use “Creative Village,” which will include UCF and Valencia College. Intended to balance the preservation of cultural heritage with the need for economic development, the Parramore Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan uses Healthy Community Design principles to revitalize the community and address critical issues such as chronic diseases, homelessness, crime, low educational achievement, and residential displacement.

Franklin Street Better Block Category: Grassroots Initiatives The Franklin Street Better Block demonstration was a “living charrette,” activating the street to become a lively and walkable commercial corridor.

The blocks are part of an historic streetcar neighborhood where infill and adaptive re-use of historic structures is starting to be seen. Driven by a public interest coalition (Tampa Heights Civic Association, members of Envision Tampa, and CNU-Tampa Bay), the project builds on the infill momentum and got the neighborhood excited about change. Using the Better Block’s principle of creating small-scale, short-term improvements to encourage lasting change, the blocks were activated with local vendors and residents hosting pop-up storefronts, local brewery samples, street art, food, music, and parklets. The Better Block was an opportunity to visualize physical street improvements and, more importantly, allowed entrepreneurs to test the local market for future commercial ventures.

2015 APA FLORIDA PROJECT AWARDS AWARDS OF MERIT Electronic Plan Review – ePlan Review Category: Best Practices Seminole County Development Services Department, Planning and Development Division has implemented an innovative, streamlined, virtuously paperless planning and development review process known as ePlan. ePlan is a web-based solution that allows plans for development projects to be submitted electronically, replacing the traditional paper-based review method. ePlan improves the plan review cycle making it more effective and efficient, improves communication between applicant and reviewer, reduces costs associated with obtaining development approvals, and supports green initiatives.

Complete Streets Pop-Up on Park(ing) Day Category: Grassroots Initiatives The Hollywood CRA coordinated a Complete Streets demonstration in conjunction with International Park(ing) Day, an annual event to transform parking spaces into physical parks, with the help of local restaurants, businesses, artists, Barry University College of Health Sciences students, SFRTA and B-Cycle partners. The purpose of this project was to build community support for Complete Streets throughout the CRA districts starting with an underrepresented area to expand the scope of traditional planning tools. It transformed one intersection along the FEC corridor, a potential Complete Streets corridor and Tri-Rail Coastal Link station, into a temporary Complete Street including wide sidewalks, bulb-outs, parallel parking, and a protected bike lane. The local partners promoted the event by going door to door, social media, and word of mouth through the student population. This allowed the community and elected officials to see, understand, and experience how a Complete Street feels and how it changes the pedestrian and bicycle experience.

LYMMO Expansion Project – Grapefruit Line Category: Planning Projects Opening April 2014, the LYMMO Grapefruit and Lime Lines in Orlando are an east-west expansion of the popular LYMMO bus system in Downtown Orlando. This 3.5 mile expansion is phase one of a multi-phase expansion of the LYMMO bus rapid transit (BRT) developed in the LYMMO Expansion Planning Study. The expansion will physically connect an underserved but often studied Parramore Neighborhood.

Serving more than 1,500 customers per day, it operates primarily in mixed traffic and on existing and new dedicated bus lanes. The new route, with 15 stations, provides equitable transportation options, connecting residents and visitors with the LYMMO Orange Line as well as the Amway Center, Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center, Orlando Citrus Bowl, and the future Orlando City Soccer Stadium.

Imagine Hillsborough 2040 Category: Best Practices With nearly 6,000 survey participants, Imagine 2040 garnered the greatest amount of public participation achieved by the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization and Planning Commission. Using interactive technology and storytelling to visualize simplified alternative futures and ask substantive questions to the public, the envelope of programs like MetroQuest and Poll Everywhere was pushed as no client had done before. No opportunity was wasted to tell our stories and ask for feedback and new ideas on how our region should grow – civic groups, community events, home shows, newspapers, social media, and online from the comfort of home.

2015 APA FLORIDA PROJECT AWARDS AWARDS OF MERIT Neighbors Unite to Create Coral Villas Park Category: Grassroots Initiatives A sustained, cohesive, grassroots neighborhood effort culminated in the recent creation of a neighborhood park. Coral Villas Park is the newest park in Miami-Dade County’s Commission District 6, is the first such park in the district in over 50 years, and – to the recollection of County Parks Department staff – represents one of only a handful of resident-led park initiatives in county history. It reveals the value of neighbors banding together and forging a comprehensive, volunteer-driven advocacy strategy in order to make a permanent, positive improvement to a neighborhood.

North Miami Beach Mixed-Use Comprehensive Plan Initiative Category: Comprehensive Plan – Small Jurisdiction The City of North Miami Beach’s recently adopted Mixed-Use Districts Comprehensive Plan Initiative creates new mixed-use land use designations for several key areas of the city. The new mixed-use districts are intended to facilitate and encourage the creation of beautiful, safe and livable places in the city’s downtown and along major corridors. This involves increasing allowable densities and building heights, and requiring a mix of uses, walkable neighborhoods linked to neighborhood retail destinations, and attractive, distinctive architecture and public spaces. The project reflects the principles of the city’s adopted Strategic Plan and South Florida’s current development trends.

Vision 19: A Catalyst for Change in The Harbors Category: Student Project The Florida State University Planning and Development Lab provided a student studio team to partner with Pasco County over the course of two semesters to create Vision 19: A Catalyst for Change in the Harbors. The western region of Pasco County has been plagued with a host of issues, including: high crime rates, poverty, vacancies (both residential and commercial), and overall divestment. Pasco County’s planning staff developed The Harbors/West Market Redevelopment Plan in 2013, which provided an understanding of the overall strengths and weaknesses of the region. Vision 19: A Catalyst for Change in The Harbors builds upon Pasco County’s visioning work by collecting and analyzing field data, developing key focus areas for reinvestment, and identifying specific, implementable public and private interventions to change the course of The Harbors’ future. This partnership between Florida’s institutions of higher education and local communities demonstrates the value of applied research in the field of planning.

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