How Gainesville is Advancing Racial Equity Through Their Comprehensive Plan
Andrew Persons AICP LEED GA
Planner III City of Gainesville
Nathaniel Chan
Planner III City of Gainesville Lydia Gaby Director HR&A Advisors
Meet the Panel
Director, Department of Sustainable CityDevelopmentofGainesville
Juan Castillo
“Within the City of Gainesville and the larger Gainesville CBSA, the estimated 2016 dissimilarity indices suggest that at both the city and regional scales, the City of Gainesville and the Gainesville CBSA face the highest levels of geographic segregation documented in at least the last 26 years. “
“In other words, Alachua County’s Black residents are the poorest, the most concentrated by race and poverty, and live near the poorest performing schools, while White residents experience the opposite situation.”
Gainesville’s Equity Background
Commissioners’ input has shaped Plan priorities
Comprehensive Plan Scope Center Black Gainesville and Underrepresented Residents Involve the Whole City Organization GenerateandAccountabilityAction 01 02 03
every aspect of life in Gainesville today.
Despite these disparities, much of the Comp
Plan does not explicitly consider race or apply a racial equity lens to City priorities.
01. Center Black Gainesville and Underrepresented Residents
These actions have caused inequities in
Black and other minority resident groups have been marginalized harmed by multiple discriminatory actions and/or preferential decision-making by government.
The need to engage agencies outside the Dept. of Sustainable Development was raised multiple times during conversations with the City. Comprehensive Plan
Involve the Whole City Organization
02.
Important elements of life in Gainesville are missing from today’s Comprehensive Plan. The challenges facing residents are interconnected and require coordinated action by the City
The Plan fails to identify responsible agencies and provides no measurable targets to track progress.
Take Action!
Generate Accountability and Action
03.
While the Plan itself includes bold goals and actions, the Land Development Code and other City levers fail to serve as an effective implementing mechanism.
The Plan lacks the clarity needed to determine whether a project is or is not in alignment with the Plan.
The Plan lacks definitions of racial equity and frameworks for use in City decision-making
ImagineGNV Timeline Draft chapter outline • Outcomes and policy priorities • Draft success metrics • Potential bold moves to vet with City leadership Final chapter text • Final Plan chapters • Roll-out strategy Phase 1 Evaluate & Prioritize Phase 2 Draft Phase 3 Refine Draft chapter text • Revised Outcomes/Strategies/Indicators • Measures for creating accountability and tracking progress • Engagement with City Departments and non-City stakeholders
How ImagineGNV is structured Introduction Gainesville Today &ImplementationAccountabilityAPlanforAllofGainesvilleSupplemental Strategies Required Chapters/Elements: 1. Where We Live – Housing 2. How We Build – Future Land Use 3. How We Get Around – Transportation 4. Our Health and Wellbeing – Recreation and Open Space 5. Our Environment – Energy, Water, Air, and Conservation 6. Our City Government – Intergovernmental Coordination 7. Capital Improvements Additional Chapters: 1. How We Work – Employment 2. Our Cultural Identity – Arts, Culture, and Preservation 3. How We Learn – Education
Equity-Focused Outcomes and Strategies All Gainesville residents live in neighborhoods with diverse and abundant housing and easy access to jobs and vital community Developmentservices in Gainesville does not displace and provides benefits for existing neighbors All Gainesville residents will have access to affordable, quality, and stable housing All Gainesville residents have fair and equitable housing opportunities free from discriminatory lending, renting, property management, assessment, and appraisal practices Where We Live “Housing” Chapter ISSUES: • Accessibility • Displacement • Affordability
Public Outreach during COVID-19 Listening sessions • 500+ participants CommunityFellowshipCultivators • 400+ hours outreach/engagementof Conversation-in-a-Box • 50+ participants 1-1 Community group meetings • 10 1-1 meetings or conversations KonveioWebsiteInteractive • 500+ comments on Plan and materials available online Multi-platform targeted digital outreach • Web, television, phone • 150,000+ neighbors reached Digital media • 3 digital videos • 2 podcasts Public Meetings • 16 meetings total • City Commission, City Plan Board, and Historic Preservation Board
Public Outreach during COVID-19
people The
People don’t
This work will offend aspirational nature of Plan is difficult to grasp fully
Reflections on Impact & Lessons Learned
comprehend the importance of the Comp Plan or their role in it Public Participation is crucial but will never be enough Inequitable policies are not obvious and requires a repeated analysis of impacts
the Comprehensive
How Gainesville is Advancing Racial Equity through their Comprehensive Plan
User-Friendly Language in ImagineGNV
