Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. Planning Manager Tim Kelly emails a weekly GR Forward update to the project Steering Committee. Here's this week's communication:

Happy Friday Everyone:

Hope you have all enjoyed a spectacular week. Just to remind you, it was 70 degrees for four straight days. In November.

In other news, we have a final draft of GR Forward! Here is a link where you can find the revised plan: http://downtowngr.org/our-work/projects/gr-forward. A few items to highlight as you begin enjoying the materials:

  • If the thought of reading the whole plan feels a bit daunting, please feel free to read the Executive Summary which highlights the major components of the plan.
  • The public comment period, which officially spanned 73 days, resulted in more than 50 events and presentations, and generated more than 750 comments. The community feedback drove several important and substantive revisions, including but not limited to:
    • Positioning diversity, inclusion and equity as a fundamental economic development opportunity.
    • Advancing an inclusive growth agenda for Downtown Grand Rapids.
    • Further defining “affordable” housing and revising Downtown’s affordable housing goal upward to 30 percent of total housing supply.
    • Clarifying building height recommendations to ensure appropriate transition from the city center to near neighborhoods.
    • Adding a recommendation to build on the Grandville Avenue corridor as a Latino business corridor.
    • Expanding the list of implementation partners.
  • Please make special note of the new Preamble entitled “Building Equity and Opportunity in Grand Rapids” (pg. 3 of the “Acknowledgments” chapter) and new section entitled “Towards an Equity-Driven Growth Model” (pg. 34 – 36 in the chapter entitled “Vision”). These additions reflect and summarize the diversity, inclusion and equity conversations and community goals we’ve heard throughout the process.
  • On Tuesday, both the Downtown and River Corridor Steering Committees unanimously approved the revised plan and recommended that it advance through the proper approval channels beginning next week. Thanks again to everyone that served on those committees for all of the hard work guidance you provided over the past 20 months. Your contributions have greatly enhanced this process and the resulting plan.

While finishing the comment period and revised draft are both important milestones, there is more work to be done. Next week, there are four important meetings and presentations scheduled to advance GR Forward. On Monday, the Downtown Grand Rapids Board of Advisors meets at 1:30p for a presentation on the revised plan. Following that, the Downtown Development Authority Board and the Monroe North Tax Increment Finance Authority meet on Wednesday at 8a and 10a respectively to hear similar presentations. All of those meetings are open to the public and will be held at the Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. offices at 29 Pearl Street NW Suite 1.

Finally, on Thursday, November 12 at 1p the City of Grand Rapids Planning Commission will hold a public hearing and consider moving the final draft to City Commission with a recommendation to approve. If approved by the Planning Commission, the full City Commission will consider formal approval of GR Forward as an amendment to the City’s Master Plan on December 15, 2015.

I will be sure to keep you all posted on the progress next week, but in the meantime please let me know if you have any questions on the meetings or the contents of the revised plan.

Web Numbers

The latest web and social media numbers are below. Be sure to continue to share the links in your network so everyone can stay up to date with our GR Forward activities.

Resources

If you need a slight break from the reading materials above (J), check out this article from AARP on the most livable cities in the country. It provides good insight into cities around the country that are excelling in areas of growth, affordability, safety, walkability, and other areas.

As always, if you have any questions please let me know. Otherwise, have a great weekend!