October is National Community Planning Month. From where you live to how you get to work, your decisions are all influenced by planning. Many citizens do not realize the impact planning has on their daily lives. In an effort to join the community with its local planners, various City of Fort Collins planning departments are offering FREE tours of our great neighborhoods and streets. This is an opportunity to meet local planners and have one-on-one conversations about the many projects within the city, past and present. The tours highlight various projects including recent urban design winners, 1960s neighborhoods, Mountain Vista Subarea, ghost signs, South College Corridor Plan, and the evolution of neighborhood planning. This is an opportunity to recognize how planning shapes Fort Collins, and the work of planners and the planning profession in creating communities of lasting value. The City of Fort Collins encourages you to take advantage of this terrific occasion and be part of the next Plan Van tours in the Spring. What is Planning? Planning is the process of envisioning, mapping or otherwise conceiving how a community will look, grow, and define itself—its characteristics, attributes, and identity. As our communities continue to change and grow, planners play an important role in ensuring that new developments are designed and built in harmony with existing surroundings. Planners must carefully balance the needs and desires of residents against the challenges presented by growth and change not just in the physical realm, but also economically and socially. Planning also strives to give residents choices. From the type of home an individual lives in, such as a condominium, apartment, town home or single family, to how an individual gets around, whether taking mass transit, walking, bicycling or driving, planning helps ensure communities address the needs of everyone. The Plan Van recently received a 2008 Colorado American Planners Association award for community engagement.
Adding South College to the Mix: The South College Corridor Plan As one of Fort Collins' recently annexed areas and a major travel corridor, the South College Corridor holds much interest for its local residents, businesses and the rest of the community. Beginning at Harmony Road and traveling south to Carpenter Road, Senior Planner Timothy Wilder will share key locations, issues, options and recommendations making up the backbone of this plan, recently adopted on March 3rd. As an added bonus, you'll get a little lesson in planning and the public process, too! Van departs from City Hall's south parking lot at 300 Laporte Avenue.
You Look Marvelous: Fort Collins Design Winners Take a look at the best: The Siena (straw bale home), In-Situ, Police Services, Pads at Harmony, Burr Oak offices, Lofts at Magnolia, and Mason Corridor. Urban Renewal Planner Christina Vincent will highlight the winners of the biennial Urban Design Awards and show both the inside and outside of these stunning structures. Van departs from City Hall's south parking lot at 300 Laporte Avenue.
From Housing to A Helping Hand: How Public Money Makes Fort Collins Better! You'll see first hand how affordable housing is developed, who benefits, and the City's role. The tour will showcase publically-funded housing projects and will also stop at one of Fort Collins' vital social services, Respite Care, providing care for children with developmental disabilities. Van departs from City Hall's south parking lot at 300 Laporte Avenue. FRIDAY MAY 15 | 10AM TO NOON The Mountain Vista Subarea Plan: Preparation is the Key to Success With about 1,500 acres of vacant land, is the Mountain Vista area prepared for our city's growth? While many plans establish a wish list for future development (including a high school, community park, commercial center and employment center) the time to refine this vision is now, not later. Senior Planner Pete Wray will take you along East Vine Drive, Timberline Road, Mountain Vista Drive, and around the Anheuser-Busch Brewery to share the how and why behind this area’s future development and street alignments. Van departs from City Hall's south parking lot at 300 Laporte Avenue. FRIDAY MAY 15 | 10AM TO NOON Ghost Signs Haunt Old Town: A Downtown Walking Tour Once brightly painted on the sides of buildings, but now lost or fading away, "ghost signs" are tucked throughout Old Town. Get a little history lesson from Preservation Planner Karen McWilliams on advertising signs, sign painters and what is being done to preserve them. Wear your walking shoes for this 1 mile jaunt around Old Town. Meet in Oak Street Plaza (the plaza on the westside of College Avenue at Oak Street) and consider parking in the public parking lot at Remington & Olive Streets (behind the Aggie Theatre and The Cupboard).
From the Front Porch to the Stars: How Neighborhood Planning Has Evolved Hop on as we travel through time from 1873 to 2007! City Planner Clark Mapes will showcase the planning evolution of our neighborhoods and streets; starting in Old Town then traveling through the decades and ending with the Stargazing Observatory in Observatory Village. Van departs from Northside Aztlan Community Center parking lot, 112 East Willow Street. FRIDAY MAY 29 | 10AM TO NOON Fort Collins Was So Hip: Our Unique 1960s Neighborhoods Did you know Fort Collins has many examples of 1960s architecture and design? In fact, Fort Collins is home to one of only two 1960s neighborhoods landmarked in Colorado. Take a little trip with Preservation Planner Pam Opiela and revisit bomb shelters, space-age kitchen appliances and mid-century moderism. You'll see both the outside and inside of these landmarked homes...super groovy. Van departs from City Hall's south parking lot at 300 Laporte Avenue. |
