Chapter 4: Downtown Master Plan

Chapter 5: Implementation

RDG will return on Wednesday, May 12th to present the concepts of the Downtown Plan
What: Open House (45 minute presentation)
Where: Bemis Center at St. Norbert College Campus
When: Wednesday, May 12th at 7:00pm

In Spring 2009, the City of De Pere retained RDG Planning & Design and AECOM to prepare a Plan for improving Downtown. After hours of meetings, weeks of analyzing data and markets, and months of designing concepts, RDG and the Downtown Steering Committee will be presenting concepts and strategies for improving De Pere on Wednesday, May 12th. The City encourages you to provide them feedback. Contact Ken Pabich at 339-4043 or e-mail kpabich@mail.de-pere.org.

Where do we go after the meeting?
The plan will be available online for public review. During May, final changes will be made to the plan before being submitted to City Council for approval. This document will become a roadmap for implementing the downtown plan. It will consist of five chapters, including:

1) Markets for De Pere (projections for population, housing, retail, and office demand)
2) Existing Conditions (physical condition)
3) Strategic Planning (summary of the public's involvement)
4) A Master Plan (concepts for improving Downtown De Pere)
5) Implementation (cost estimates, funding strategies, priorities and schedule)

Chapter 1: Market Analysis

Chapter 2: Existing Conditions

Chapter 3: Strategic Planning

Chapter 4: Development Concept

Chapter 5: Implementation

These files will be removed from the project website on May 19th, 2010. Afterwards, the document for City Council approval will be posted to this site.

Chapters of the Plan
1) Market Analysis - 100% complete
2) Existing Conditions - 100% complete
3) Strategic Planning - 100% complete
4) Development Concept - 80% complete
5) Implementation - 40% complete

Download Presentation

Steering Committee Agenda
1. Discuss proposed concepts for Old George Street Bridge Landing.
2. Receive comments on other areas of the development concept.
3. Identify areas for more focus.

Download Design Studio Presentation

Steering Committee Agenda
1. Discuss proposed concept in the Master Plan.
2. Identify areas for more focus.
3. Continue designing areas of the Master Plan.

Download Design Studio Presentation

DESIGN WORKSHOP for Downtown
September 14th, Monday from 6pm to 8pm
September 15th, Tuesday from 6pm to 8pm
Located at the Community Center (600 Grant St)

PUBLIC PRESENTATION of Initial Concepts
September 16th, Wednesday at 7pm
Located at the Community Center

De Pere and RDG are holding Public Design Workshops to think about the future of downtown. Please come and:
SHARE your ideas
WORK along side the Planning and Design Team
HELP create an even better City for tomorrow.

What is a Design Workshop?
The design workshop encourages citizens, residents, business owners and other stakeholders with an interest in the downtown district an opportunity to share their ideas, issues and concerns informally with planners and
actively draw their concepts for the future of the corridor using markers and maps. It also provides people the opportunity to creatively think about possible solutions for the area and define a vocabulary of urban design
improvements. During the workshop, graphics and supporting illustrations are developed. This process allows the public to participate and have a chance to design the community for the future. Stop by for 15 minutes or the entire session.

For more information contact Ken Pabich, Planning and Economic Development Director, at 339-4043 or kpabich@mail.de-pere.org

Be heard! RDG is hosting a community goals and issues workshop, inviting the public to participate in round-table discussions with their peers to share aspirations for Downtown De Pere.

Downtown Steering Committee Meeting
August 3, 2009
City Hall – Council Chambers

1) Chris Brewer from ERA presented some initial findings from their economic analysis.
a)Housing around the immediate downtown area is comparable to Green Bay’s amount of downtown housing.
b) Housing stock can increase in value; De Pere is below the mean value for housing.
c) Mean income for De Pere is higher than Green Bay area and overall very affluent.
d) Initial results from the downtown business inventory shows that vacancy is very low, and showed some initial numbers for retail categories for both the East and West side of the river.

2) Cory Scott from RDG shared some results from the online community survey. The survey asked questions about rating the downtown, and future actions for the city to take. On a scale of 1-5 with 1 being poor and 5 being good, all responses were at a 3 or 4 for the City of De Pere. The old bridge landing was also a question included in the survey. The majority of the responses said the bridge landing should be a combination of development and open space that preserves views of the river. Next being kept entirely open and lastly that it be developed with a revenue-producing use.

3) RDG provided a handout of some of the findings from the focus groups from their last visit; and discussed some of the ideas presented.

4) Next steering committee meeting will be held September 14 at 5:15pm.

5) Adjourn
a) Meeting adjourned at 6:45pm.

Complete the online survey or visit city hall for a hard copy. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Ken Pabich at 339-4043.

The survey will close on Friday, July 17, 2009.

Thank You!

Downtown Steering Committee Meeting
July 2, 2009
City Hall – Council Chambers

1) Introduction to what RDG Planning and Design accomplished during this visit.
a) Held focus group meetings to learn about the communities issues and concerns in regard to the downtown. There were 9 focus groups in which most had a good turnout, about 8-12 people in attendance.
b) RDG shared what was learned from these focus groups with the steering committee, some of the ideas, and concerns that were brought up.

2) Steering committee was asked to provide input of their own in regard to the downtown area.

3) Steering committee discusses their role in the next public community vision workshop. During this vision workshop, steering committee members will lead small group discussions with members of the community. They will then report back to the group as a whole what main issues their group brought up.

4) The next (public) steering committee meeting will take place on Monday, August 3 from 5:30-6:45pm; which will cover ERA’s market analysis results and RDG’s existing conditions report. Followed by the (public) community vision workshop from 7:00-8:00pm.
a) Dinner will be provided to the steering committee members.

5) Adjourn
a) Meeting adjourned at 8:15pm.

The design team will return to De Pere on June 29th to host focus group meetings and investigate opportunities for downtown.