CRA ‘vision plan’ to be unveiled Tuesday
Community Redevelopment Agency officials will get their first look at “initial” 2030 Vision Plan concepts Tuesday, marking the first time board members will get a sense of what famed planner Bernard Zyscovich has in store for the district.
Zyscovich and his team are charged with plotting the CRA’s future through the vision plan.
Bits and pieces have been presented since Zyscovich was hired this year, but Tuesday will mark the first time the plan will be presented in its entirety.
“This is going to be a preliminary presentation,” said CRA Chairman Don Heisler. “He’ll continue to exchange information with all the stakeholders until the final draft is due in November.”
The recommendations contained within the Zyscovich plan are merely a jumping off point, Heisler added.
He likened the plan to a beginning, not an end, and said people have to be ready to expect, and affect, change to make the vision plan a reality.
The willingness to change, Heisler said, is nearly as important as the vision plan itself.
“We need to expect he’s going to suggest change … and if we’re not willing to evaluate the change we shouldn’t have started down the road in the first place,” Heisler said.
The CRA entered into a contract with Zyscovich to design the vision plan on March 30 at a cost of $209,300.
It’s the second vision plan for the area in less than a decade, following the so-called “Dover-Kohl Plan” that was written in 2001.
Zyscovich’s firm goes beyond planning and design, serving also as architects, and writing codes that help cities implement their plans.
So far, Zyscovich’s contract only calls for the planning stage, but CRA Executive Director John Jacobsen said it is possible that he could be contracted to work on the code portion of the vision plan at a later date.
Like Heisler, Jacobsen preaches patience when it comes to this new vision plan, saying the plan’s long term goals will not happen overnight.
Jacobsen expects the presentation to discuss, in part, transportation, regulatory issues, open space, and economic realities.
The executive director hopes the public will be highly interested in the presentation, and hopes the CRA meeting room is full when Zyscovich takes the stand Tuesday evening.
“People need to come out and hear this,” he said. “They will walk away impressed.”
The Community Redevelopment Agency meets Tuesday, Aug. 31, 5:30 pm, in their offices in Big John’s Plaza.