CITY COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM

Department:	Planning & Development Services		Commission Meeting Date:  Dec. 12, 2017
Staff Contact:	Amy Miller, Asst. Director- Planning
Recommendations/Options/Action Requested:
No Action is requested at this time. The City Commission may provide general comment and feedback.
Executive Summary:		Through the City’s strategic planning process (https://lawrenceks.org/strategic-plan/), the City Commission identified a priority initiative of creating a Downtown Master Plan that includes identifying needed and desirable assets, identifying existing infrastructure and uses, and discovering potential uses and obstacles in response to the critical success factor of Economic Growth and Security. The desire is to create a sustainable plan that recognizes the existing successful nature of downtown and enhances downtown by incorporating innovative and creative initiatives through intensive stakeholder and community input. The plan will explore all elements of a master plan including, but not limited to, land use relationships, opportunities for development and redevelopment, programing of public space, landscaping, transportation, infrastructure and streetscape, with a heavy emphasis on cultural and historical resources and activities. The first phase of plan development will focus on refining the plan scope by soliciting community input, developing a vision for downtown, determining plan boundary, gathering information and assessing current conditions. The second phase will focus on developing a draft plan, soliciting input on the draft plan and revising the plan based on that input. The third phase of the plan will involve plan adoption, including adoption by the Lawrence City Commission. City Staff (Diane Stoddard, Brandon McGuire, Scott McCullough, Lynne Zollner, Jeff Crick, Amy Miller, Mark Hecker, Porter Arneill, Mark Theil, and Crystal Miles) have been meeting to develop an action plan and timeline for the project, as well as discuss the scope of the project to draft a Request for Proposals (RFP). The draft RFP will be presented to the City Commission for consideration in January 2018. It is anticipated that a consultant would be selected and start work, including soliciting input, gathering information and accessing existing conditions, by April 2018. This would place the project on track to have a completed plan presented to the City Commission for adoption during the Fall of 2018.
Strategic Plan Critical Success Factor		Economic Growth and Security
Fiscal Impact (Amount/Source):		The fiscal impact to the City is $110,000. This item is in the 2018 CIP-Project PR1918CIP.
Attachments:		None.

Reviewed By: (for CMO use only)

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