Utilizing Placemaking in Elizabethton

During my Master’s Degree program there was a lot of concepts of urban planning and design, economic development, and redevelopment that my fellow students and I were exposed to. Once planning and redevelopment tool that I really found interesting was the concept of placemaking. This may be a newer concept from some readers, but it employs time-tested techniques that have unknowingly been used for centuries to develop cities in Europe and America before the 1930s.

So what is it that makes a great place? A place you WANT to be in or go to? Well, the space or destination must be fun and active, unique, safe, clean, attractive, walkable, convenient, welcoming, interactive, and friendly. When you think about your favorite places to visit, are these adjectives you would use to describe that place? We must think about places here in Elizabethton that both citizens and outside visitors would use these words to describe. And if we don’t have any, we must work to create such a place.

So how do we go about creating a place or more places? First, of all we must begin designing our spaces (including our streets) to a people or pedestrian scale. Street lights high above the street provide little light for pedestrians, but a lower, people scaled light provides lighting for both pedestrians and vehicles. Another way is by developing as many uses for one space as possible. Parks are a great example! A big open yard can be considered a park, but aside from playing football, soccer, or tag, there is very few uses that can be accommodated there. Add a playground set, a few picnic benches, some trees, and a basketball hoop and now you’ve more than doubled the number of uses that that park can accommodate. Kiwanis park is an excellent example of creating a good space. The bottom line, the more there is to do, the more attractive a place will be.

One technique that I like to use to help make this concept more tangible is the Power of Ten rule. This rule or technique can be applied to almost any city, county, region, or specific place. It goes like this, within Elizabethton we should have at least 10 areas or places that are destinations -- places citizens or visitors want to visit. Within each of those destinations there should be 10 specific places that people want to visit, and within each of those 10 places there should be 10 things to do, see, or interact with. Taking the example of downtown as a destination, what are 10 places that people go downtown for? Assuming Covered Bridge Park is one of the places, what are 10 things you can do, see, or interact with at Covered Bridge Park?

Placemaking is a concept that is tried and true. It was worked over and over again in city after city to help create more and better places. The best part about placemaking is that it is relatively inexpensive and doesn’t involve expensive consultants, but rather the people who use the space. There is no overnight miracle to help save and create Elizabethton’s places, but remember the tortoise won the race and small changes add up to making Elizabethton a better place. Let’s talk about it!

We Have a Case of Too Much Parking

Parking has become a common occurrence with almost any development these days. It is expected that a new development will want to build their own parking lot. Having parking extremely close to the building makes it convenient for customers to get in, get out, and go to their next destination very quickly. But the larger the parking lot, the more cost for construction, the less square footage of the lot could be used for buildings, and the more cost to deal with stormwater runoff.

From a city planning perspective, parking lots play an integral part, but they can also cause problems. With new federal and state standards and requirements, water runoff is a big issue. Additionally, the cost of construction for parking lots has increased as oil has increased. The question becomes, should the city look at utilizing or implementing shared parking standards? This would allow other businesses to utilize the parking spaces of another businesses if it’s during a time they won’t be using the parking lot.

Churches are an excellent example of this. If the peak parking lot usage for a church parking lot is Sunday morning and Wednesday evening, why not let another business use the parking lot Monday through Friday 8:00-5:00?

This brings about another question, should large parking lots be limited? Over the past 5-10 years, many cities around the country have begun implementing parking maximums rather than parking minimums. These maximums limit the number of parking spaces a parking lot can have. It is an attempt to decrease developer costs and mitigate high impacts on stormwater runoff and heat zones for cities. Smaller parking lots also can make a community more attractive by not having a large black lake along the highway as cars drive by. Parking maximums allow a developer to construct a parking lot with a maximum number of spaces per square foot of the building, thus limiting the maximum size the lot.

Parking maximum have seen some recent kick-back from retail businesses and developers who argue that by setting a maximum limit, it does not allow for a store to maximize the number of customers they could have. Rather customers may choose to go elsewhere because they are unable to find a parking space.

This brings us to our last question, would it be more beneficial for the city to decrease its minimum sparking space requirement? Lowing the parking requirement would decrease costs for developers while also mitigating impacts of stormwater, heat islands, and aesthetics. It also allows the flexibility for retail stores to construct more parking if they feel it is necessary.

I believe a combination of lower minimum parking requirements and shared parking arrangements garner something as close as we can get to maximizing the positives while mitigating the negative aspects of parking lots. But this is where you come in, how do you think parking lots should be managed in the city? Let’s talk about it!

Why Even Have Zoning?

Although I thoroughly enjoy my job, sometime it can be very difficult. Part of my job as the Planning and Economic Development Director is to interpret and make determinations in the city’s zoning code. Often, by the time a citizen or property owner gets to me, I am the one who has to tell them “no” to their intended project. Some typical responses are, “but [whatever the project is] won’t be that big or impact my neighbors” or “you’re telling me that I can’t [whatever the project is] on my property”.

Believe me, there are times that I personally don’t see a problem with a project or think this really won’t impact the neighbors or neighborhood at all. Unfortunately, I do not have the authority to override the city zoning code. But, why even have zoning regulations? Why can’t we just let people do what they want with their property? Well, believe it or not, zoning plays a very important role in the development of a community.

Zoning regulations are in place to help create a city that is attractive, desirable, and has stable property values. We know from the business world that the more retail businesses are concentrated the better they all do. So rather than have them spread randomly throughout the city, concentrating them in specific areas benefits them, city sales taxes, and allows other areas to be developed for other uses. Additionally, some citizens may not want to live right next to Walmart, Star Building, or other busy establishments. Zoning helps protect those residents from having a Walmart or a loud factory pop-up in a field next to them.

Zoning regulations are created with an idea of putting a puzzle together. Your house or property is a puzzle piece. Your piece must match and fit with your neighbors piece and, collectively, your neighborhood forms a section of the puzzle. Each neighborhood, commercial center, or industrial park is a section of the puzzle and must be compatible and fit together with other sections of the puzzle in order for it to be complete!

Zoning regulations are created with sections of the puzzle in mind so that the puzzle can be completed. So while some may get upset with zoning regulations, it’s important to remember that zoning is looking at your whole neighborhood when making regulations, not your individual piece of the puzzle. And if your individual piece is changed, it cannot fit into your section of the puzzle.

These regulations can be difficult at times and some may even need to be changed, but keep in mind that they are in place for a reason and have a purpose even if you don’t understand how it fits with your small piece of the puzzle. Let’s talk about it!