8.1. SR 11-19-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Rlk iver REQUEST FOR ACTION TO ITEM NUMBER City Council 8.1 AGENDA SECTION MEETING DATE PREPARED BY General Business November 19, 2012 Jeremy Barnhart, Planning Manager ITEM DESCRIPTION REVIEWED By Downtown Task Force's Plan — Mississippi Connections REVIEWED BY ACTION REQUESTED The Downtown Task Force, the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, and Staff recommend approval of the Downtown Task Force's Mississippi Connections plan for downtown. BACKGROUND /DISCUSSION Over the last 12 months, the City Council- established Downtown Task Force has developed its plan, Mississippi Connections, which is intended to redefine the greater downtown area and preserve its historic character, while promoting the future viability of the area and the community by extension. The plan in large part provides priorities and strategies to improve or otherwise help six distinct "neighborhoods" throughout the plan area. The document is broken into 4 parts: Part I: Introduction. This section summarizes the document, and includes much of the `behind the scenes' work on the project originally completed by the Task Force in 2006 and updated in 2012. This includes the mission and vision statements, a review of existing conditions, and a review of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) recognized in the study area. This section references previous relevant studies, as many of these issues have been studied by plans as far back as 1970. This section also attempts to summarize the features of the area, including the natural amenities, the transportation systems, and the heritage - forming attributes of the area. Part II: Illustrative Master Plan. This section outlines the vision for the study area in both words and the graphic. The plan is intended as a series of goals, policies, and tasks that once completed, strengthen the study area into a recognizable neighborhood that is strong enough to sustain the negative impacts of major transportation shifts brought on by Highway 10 improvements. These tasks and goals were identified by the Task Force members, and reviewed by the public in two open houses. This section summarizes the public comment process. Many of these goals, policies, and strategies were intended as `work orders' for citizen and business groups, city boards and commissions, and the City Council. These are strategies that the Task Force has identified as being most efficient in achieving the goals outlined in Part I. These strategies are broken down into the six `neighborhoods.' Part III: Implementation Priorities. This section takes the goals, policies and strategies outlined in Part II and prioritizes them into three time periods: short term (0 -2 years), mid -term (3 -5 years), and ongoing. The Task Force acknowledges that the march of time is not the only trigger associated with P I r E A E U 9 4 1`4ATUR