Imagine Stuart Plan | City of Kalamazoo
Imagine Stuart Plan | City of Kalamazoo
After a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, neighborhood planning in the Stuart Neighborhood is nearing the finish line and a draft neighborhood plan is now available for review and comment. Neighborhood residents are invited to review the plan and share feedback before Tuesday, April 4.
The plan is available for review online here. Copies of the draft plan are also available at the Stuart Neighborhood office at 530 Douglas Avenue and at the City’s Community Planning & Economic Development Offices at 245 N Rose Street, Suite 100.
Comments and feedback can be shared directly with the City’s Neighborhood Activator, Jae Slaby, by email at slabyj@kalamazoocity.org. Community members can also share feedback by calling 311. Comments provided to 311 will be recorded and shared with the planning team.
“Our Board of Directors is pleased to release its Neighborhood Plan," said Stuart Neighborhood Association President Gary Wark. “The plan was a long time in the making! We engaged in many community outreach events to collect feedback from our residents."
Neighborhood planning in Stuart started before the COVID-19 pandemic and was significantly delayed because of it. The process resumed in the spring of 2022 with a series of neighborhood events, a survey, and a walking audit of the neighborhood. The resident feedback captured shaped the Plan’s six goals, along with strategies and projects to achieve them. The top priorities include repairing sidewalks and streets, slowing traffic, improving lighting, promoting historic preservation, and supporting the Woodward School.
“We feel it is imperative to partner with the City of Kalamazoo in order to accomplish these goals,” Wark continued. “The real work will come once the City Commission approves the Neighborhood Plan. We are definitely up for the challenge!”
The Stuart Neighborhood Plan is scheduled to be presented to the Planning Commission for review at its May 4 meeting. If recommended for approval, it would be presented to City Commission for final adoption.
“It’s been exciting to see this neighborhood’s leaders and residents come together and create this plan,” explained Neighborhood Activator Jae Slaby. "I hope this success will inspire remaining neighborhoods to organize and start visioning for their future.”
Neighborhood planning is a collaborative process with neighborhood residents to enact change at the neighborhood level. The “Complete Neighborhoods” goal of Imagine Kalamazoo seeks to create neighborhoods that meet the full range of residents’ daily needs. Neighborhood planning supports this goal by recognizing the unique needs in each neighborhood and creating specific, local plans to address them.
Neighborhood plans have already been approved in Vine, Edison, Northside, Oakwood, Winchell, Eastside, and Parkview Hills. Staff expect to present the Westwood Plan later this spring, as efforts continue in remaining neighborhoods.
Original source can be found here.
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