Fairgrounds Public Meetings Report

FairGrounds Public Meetings Report

NASHVILLE CIVIC DESIGN CENTER JUNE 2018

FAIRGROUNDS PUBLIC MEETINGS REPORT The mission of the Nashville Civic Design Center is to elevate the quality of Nashville’s built environment and to promote public participation in the creation of a more beautiful and functional city for all. Towards this end, the Nashville Civic Design Center:

PROMOTES the Ten Principles of The Plan of

Nashville, a vision for growth and development, created and endorsed by the citizens of Nashville;

EDUCATES the public about civic design through lectures by prominent speakers and workshops;

PROVIDES professional staff and highly-qualified design interns to consult on civic and other community development projects;

FACILITATES public dialogue about civic design through

community engagement and participatory design practices.

RESEARCHES and PUBLISHES reports on various civic design issues.

This report was designed and written by Tracy Hicks, NCDC Fellow, and edited by Gary Gaston, Chief Executive Officer. We would like to give our special thanks to Laura Womack, Executive Director, Fairgrounds Nashville, for her work as part of this process. civicdesigncenter.org June 2018

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Nashville Civic Design Center was asked by Mayor David Briley and the Fairgrounds Nashville Board of Directors, to facilitate a series of public meetings with the Fairgrounds Design Team, to get input in order to inform a more refined version of the Fairground Improvment Plan.

PURPOSE: To bring the community together to discuss the future improvement plan for the Faigrounds Property. To hold public meetings to facilitate these discussions, listen to all of the voices and encourage thoughful discussion and creative ideas from the community for the future of the site.

GOALS: To get the community's input to inform a more refined version of the Fairgrounds Improvement Plan--this plan addresses all of the existing Fairgrounds's uses (Flea Market, Speedway, State Fair, and Expo Events), the new Fair Park, the MLS stadium, and mixed-use development. The updated plan strives to create an integrated site that connects to the surrounding neighborhoods and the greater city.

MEETINGS: May 17 Public Engagement Workshop Morning Session May 17 Public Engagement Workshop Evening Session May 18 Open Design Studio Session 1 May 21 Open Design Studio Session 2 May 25 Flea Market Vendors Workshop May 29 Workshop Summary/Public Presentation June 12 Fair Board Improvement Plan Meeting June 18 South Nashville Action People Community Meeting June 27 Community Plan Amendment Community Meeting August 1 Metro Planning Commission Public Hearing September 4 Metro Council Public Hearing 4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Images from first community engagement sessions on May 17, 2018,

In May 2018, the Nashville Fairgrounds requested the Nashville Civic DesignCenter (NCDC) to conduct public input meetings in order to inform a more refined version of the Fairgrounds Improvement Plan.

Two public engagement session were held on May 17th at the Creative Arts Building on the Fairgrounds site. Each session lasted approximately two hours. A total of 167 individuals participated in these public meetings. This included citizens and facilitators. In addition to the two public meetings held on May 17th, a Fairgrounds vendor only meeting was held on May 25th. A total of 62 individuals attended this meeting.

Before each meeting began, we asked attendees to write something that they love and something that bothers them about the fairgrounds on post-it notes. Attendees would then place their post-it notes on the wall for all to see (seen below). Wordclouds were generated in order to visually show what was repeated the most during these post-it note exercises.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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Laura Womack, Fairgrounds Executive Director, welcomed attendees and gave an introductory presentation on the purpose and need for the new Fairgrounds Improvement Plan.

NCDC CEO, Gary Gaston, gave a brief presentation describing the process for the public meetings.

Participants were seated in breakout groups at tables with a facilitator lead discussion that centered on these 5 questions: Which of the uses discussed interest you the most? Why? What else would you like to do during your visit to the fairgrounds (e.g. dining, shopping, services, entertainment, recreation)?

What improvements would provide better access between the fairgrounds and the surrounding community? (e.g. vehicular, transit, cycling, pedestrian, etc.)

What design elements would make this a great place? What do you want this place to look like? (placemaking, character, etc.)

What details need to be considered in the design of new Fairgrounds venue spaces?

(AC Expo Center,covered outdoor spaces, plaza/open spaces)

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Responses were recorded on participants on participants handouts with the discussion questions printed on them. After all the questions had been answered, the facilitator lead a short discussion with their table to come up with a total of three, or more, major considerations for the last question. The facilitators recorded these considerations onto flip charts and then presentedthem to the other tables. It is important to mention that all documents from the public engagement sessions are stored at the Fairgrounds.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In addition to three considerations produced by each table.

Each table was given several maps to annotate, sketch out ideas, and leave comments or suggestions.

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Open design sessions were held on Friday, May 18th and Monday, May 21st. The purpose of these two design studios were to give the public an opportunity to watch the Fairgrounds Design Team at work and gain further input.

The first open design studio began with a brief reflection and recap of the previous public engagement sessions.

Annotated maps and each tables' three points of considerationwere hung up around the space and were referenced heavily during these open design sudios.

There were four major Takeaways from the two open design studios: • • • •

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Traffic Management Parking Trees/Open Space Affordability

NCDC staff tallied and compiled all the responses, photos, annotated maps, and other sources of data from the public engagement and open design studio sessions.

Based on the feedback received during the first two public engagement session table exercises, it was observed that the collective responses could be grouped into six major categrories: •

Accessibility and Connectivity

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Transportation/Parking/Traffic Flow and Management

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Green Spaces/Open Spaces/ Less Asphalt

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Respect for Surrounding Neighborhood

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Safety and Security

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Maintain Flea Market and other Traditional Fairground Uses

On Tuesday, May 29th, the final meeting was hosted at the Fairgrounds to present the work done thus far, as well as the draft findings and recommendations.

This report represents the work of the NCDC during the time period in which it was asked to participate.

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MASTER PLAN DRAFT CONCEPT

The design team took the community engagement session feed back into serious consideration with their Fairground Improvement Draft Concepts. The following design concept drafts were presented at the final meeting on May 29th.

PARKING DIAGRAM DRAFT CONCEPT

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

LINEAR CONCEPT

Linear Concept Features • • • •

+ or - 110,000 SF Covered Outdoor + or - 35,000 SF Expansion + or - 20,000 SF Open Space + or - 500 Parking Spaces Immediately Adjacent

QUAD CONCEPT

Quad Concept Features + or - 130.000 SF Conditioned + or - 94,000 SF Covered Expansion + or - 35,000 SF Expansion Space + or - 45,000 SF Open Space + or - 550 Parking Spaces Immediately Adjacent

• • • • •

HORSESHOE CONCEPT

Quad Concept Features • • • • •

+ or - 130,000 SF Conditioned + or - 94,000 SF Covered Expansion + or - 35,000 SF Expansion Space + or - 46,000 SF Open Space + or - 550 Parking Spaces Immediately Adjacent

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The community had the opportunity to give feedback to the Fairgrounds' Design Team by doing another bother and love post-it note excerise, located below. The public also had the ability to leave question cards. These questions are currently being answered by the design teams.

BOTHER

LOVE

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 14

Nothing!

All the green space Love the quad layout for fairgrounds It appears that new expo center will be a great improvement!

Thoughtful use of space/configuration!

Re-organized, wedgewood and craighead Flea Market might be easier to get through now!

Park and Green Space Connectivity and Green Space Focus on Civic Spaces The park and connectedness to surrounding area Green space Park. Mixed Use. Well integrated. About time!!

More logical streets!! Yay!!

Pushes the compromise of all needed uses!

Impervious surfaces and trees!

Pushes nicer facilitites into the mix..despite the protests!

Updated flea market areas! Layout and function!

Excitement and activity it brings to the neighborhood!

Loud Concerts Green spaces and connectivity (ped/bike car)... mix of uses for draw outside races /soccer games Increased/ordered parking Love connectivity of new plans!

Love quad and horse shoe layouts!

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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Potential Loud Concerts

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Sacrificing use and functionality for "green spaces"

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Expo area seems a little excluded--horse shoe draft is the best

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The fairgrounds will no longer be the fairgrounds

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Does not seem to address the wedgewood bottleneck or CSX stubborness!

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Parking

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Everything!

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Y'all killing the fairgrounds!

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No mention of (needed) limitied-service hotel(s)

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Too much asphalt, light pollution

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Traffic at I-65 and Wedgewood (especially during events)

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Need more civic/green space through out (perhaps integrate as green roofs with in existing footprints)

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Potential for too much traffic on Wedgewood and not using other streets for event ingress/egress

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Light pollution and asphalt (too much currently)

These are images from the final presentation meeting on May 29, 2018. The presentation included detailed draft concepts (located on pages 12 and 13).

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