Land Use Strategy Update - October 2009

In its October meeting, the Bexley Land Use Strategy commission discussed environmental protections for Alum Creek, and delved into ways to rejuvenate the North Cassady and Delmar commercial corridor.

Kim Williams from Friends of Alum Creek and Tributaries and Kyle Wilson from Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District visited the commission to discuss recommended protections in order to reduce runoff and pollutants from entering the creek, and in order to help preserve and strengthen the creek's banks. At the commission's meeting on November 2nd at City Hall, the Alum Creek recreational and natural corridor will be discussed in depth, and the commission will work towards creating specific strategies for better protection and better access to the creek.

Additionally, commission members John Reagan and Bill Heyer presented concepts to the commission for establishing a form-based code for the corridor, in order to preserve the character of the neighborhood during future development, and in order to bring out and enhance the natural assets of the neighborhood. The commission discussed various methods of encouraging economic development along North Cassady, and heard a report from a community-based group of residents in the North Cassady area who have held public meetings and dialogued regarding their desires and vision for the area.

At its November meeting, the commission will focus on the Alum Creek Study Area. Future meetings will focus on the Main Street commercial corridor, and the Livingston/Ferndale/Mayfield study area.

North Cassady/Delmar Community-organized Meeting on Sunday, August 23rd

Residents from the North Cassady/Delmar area have arranged for an initial community meeting to further discuss land use along the North Cassady/Delmar study area - the meeting will take place on Sunday, August 23rd, at 2:00 pm at the Bexley Coffee Shop at 492 North Cassady Avenue.

This is a community-organized meeting by residents of the area, who will then liaise with the Land Use Strategy Commission as the Land Use Strategy is being formulated. For more information regarding the meeting, you can contact Emily and Mike Haynes at emilyshaynes@yahoo.com

The Initial Public Workshop for the Bexley Land Use Strategy is Tuesday, August 4th

The first public workshop for the Bexley Land Use Strategy will be this upcoming Tuesday, August 4th, at 6:30 pm at the new home of Torat Emet Synagogue (“The Main Street Synagogue”), at 2375 East Main Street in Bexley. The workshop is an open, public workshop, and is intended to solicit feedback from residents of Bexley regarding current and desired land uses and land use policy in the city.

The Bexley Land Use Strategy Commission was formed in order to provide a strategic vision for development throughout all of Bexley. By identifying both strategic goals for development in the city as well as ways to achieve those goals, the commission hopes to be able to foster a perpetual culture of proactive planning and appropriate redevelopment in the city. In particular, the commission hopes to address those areas on the “fringes” of Bexley – namely the Livingston Avenue and North Cassady corridors – areas which have received less planning attention and development efforts.

We’ve heard from residents who wish there was a true neighborhood grocery store in the city, or envision a hotel in the area to refer visitors to, or thought it would be nice to have a creekside boardwalk along Alum Creek. In a city like Bexley, with limited available land and often many logistical obstacles in the way of redevelopment, local government needs to be proactive in identifying community needs and desires and identifying ways to help facilitate appropriate redevelopment.

The commission has defined four primary study areas – Livingston Avenue, Main Street, North Cassady Avenue, and the Alum Creek natural corridor (see Bill Heyer's post below for some aerials of these study areas). These four areas are already largely defined by existing businesses and users, and as such a strategy for land use in these areas must consider existing uses and potential future uses.

At the Land Use Strategy Commission’s initial public workshop, residents of the city are going to be asked to identify land uses that they like, critique things that they don’t like, and envision improvements that could be made to the city in terms of land use and land use policy. Land use is a wide-ranging term that encompasses the types of businesses and users that exist, and in doing so also addresses zoning and planning policy, as well as architectural and aesthetic considerations.

The Land Use Strategy Commission will use the public feedback it receives at the August 4th meeting to help inform the creation of a strategic plan. Once the commission has produced a proposed strategy, follow-up public workshops will be held to provide additional feedback.

The Bexley Land Use Strategy initial public workshop will be held on August 4th, 2009, at Torat Emet Synagogue, 2375 East Main Street, Bexley. Doors will open at 6:30 pm and participants will have an opportunity to view the new synagogue facility, followed by the workshop itself, which will commence at 7:00 pm.

Four Bexley Neighborhoods Need Your Ideas

The Land Use Commission has discussed four neighborhoods in Bexley that need improvement and beautification. Below are aerial images of these areas.

The southwest area at Livingston is kind of obvious, but how about the Bexley side of Alum Creek between Livingston and Main? Did you know there was a park there and an actual sledding hill? How about North Cassady Ave. where it meets Columbus and the railroad tracks? How about Main Street where Bexley meets Capital University? We have ideas, and we'd like yours as well.

Tuesday August 4th, you will have the opportunity to meet us and share your ideas for a more beautiful Bexley at a public sketch session. More information is forthcoming. Spread the word to your friends and bookmark this blog while we contact the local papers...

Southwest area of Bexley at Livingston Avenue between I-70 and College Ave.
and the Bexley side of Alum Creek

Main Street at Capital University

North Cassady Avenue

The Well-Being of Bexley's Identity

It seems to me that the Land Use Commission satisfies a core human need in the development of Bexley as a city. "Who we are" and "why we love Bexley" are essential questions with answers that must be branded in our minds so that a vision for the land use development of this city can be successful.

We have been asking members, "Why do you live here?" "What do you love most about Bexley?" "How do you use Main Street?" "How do you use Livingston Avenue?" "How do you use the trails, parks, library?" "How does its architecture make Bexley unique and alluring to you?" "What are your favorite things to do here?" "How can we make it better and make you more satisfied with the city?" "Is there something missing from our city that would fulfil your local needs?"

Most answers are descriptions of everyday happenings that please people and make their lives enjoyable. And--when the joys greatly outnumber the trials--that is truly what makes a great city:

One member talked about walking through tree-lined streets to a coffee shop admiring the houses along her peaceful walk.

One member rides his bike or walks to work every day from eastern Bexley to Drexel and Main.

One member likes to stop at Graeter's and stroll through the Capital University campus.

Many in my neighborhood enjoy taking their children to the Library for storytime or to the Montrose playground for a couple of hours before stopping at Starbucks or Johnson's for a treat.

Many people I know have expressed sadness that there are no Bexley markets or grocers to satisfy a quick need for a missing dinner item, or for dishwashing, or a fly-swatter, or anything. If we can walk or ride our bikes to the library and the schools, why can't we as easily or safely get to the corner market?

It's all about what our natural needs are as people in search of "home." We all desire the comfort of a strong civic identity to enhance our individual well-being!

That is why this blog is so important, too. The input of the experts who sit on this Commission will develop schemes for Bexley's built fabric- both the gaping regions that need tender loving care and the smaller pockets that need equal love- yet these schemes need the community's ideas and input to truly be part of the identity of Bexley.

Look for upcoming posts on the Commission's areas of concentration and please post your comments! We need to hear from the people of Bexley on what makes this city "home" for them and how they would see it improved so that we can continue to make Bexley more beautiful.

Bill Heyer

Bill is a member of the Land Use Strategy Commission and an architect living and practicing in Bexley.

What's In a Name?

The "Bexley Land Use Master Plan Commission" had our second meeting last night. Among other things, we settled on a mission statement. You wouldn't maybe think a mission statement is so important, until you get 12 people in a room and realize you need a focal point - a raison d'etre - to help the group focus on the task at hand and keep their eye on the goal. So after a tenuous sketching out of a mission statement, and several revisions by various commission members, the official mission statement of the Bexley Land Use Master Plan Commission is this:

"The mission of the Bexley Land-use Commission is to develop a strategic planning framework and land-use vision for the City of Bexley that protects and enhances our unique community assets by:

• Identifying and addressing short and long term planning options and land-use challenges.
• Recommending opportunities for civic improvement and beautification through land-use policies and initiatives."

Once we had penned a mission statement, the question was raised as to the name of the commission. Several members felt that the phrase "master plan" evoked images of large swathes of undeveloped suburban land that needed planning. Others felt the word "master" should be reserved for an overarching community plan that addresses all elements of a strategic community plan, not just land use.

Choosing the appropriate name is important in communicating to the community what we are trying to achieve. We'll be working on honing in on a commission name that adequately communicates the purpose behind the commission. In the meantime, myself and other commission members will be posting to this blog to communicate more about why we are engaging in a comprehensive land use planning process, how we will go about creating the plan, what it will look like, and how it will be enacted.

P.S. If you would like to keep posted on the progress of the commission and on the posts to this blog, I recommend subscribing to this blog's feed by clicking on the "subscribe to posts" link at the bottom of this page. If you're not familiar with blog/RSS feeds, see this FAQ - I recommend Google Reader as a good starting point. It and other RSS subscription services make it easy to stay up to date on regularly updated web content such as this blog.

- Ben Kessler

Ben Kessler is a member of the Bexley Land Use Strategy Commission as well as a council member of Bexley City Council. When he's not blogging about Bexley's Land Use Strategy he is a commercial real estate appraiser at Samuel D. Koon & Associates.

Introduction to the Bexley Land Use Strategy

Background
The City of Bexley, Ohio was largely developed in the early part of the 20th century as a first-ring suburb of the City of Columbus. Incorporated as a village in 1908 and then as a city in 1932, Bexley is characterized by diverse historic residential neighborhoods, several high-profile public and private educational institutions, and a walkable Main Street area with pedestrian-friendly retail and cultural establishments. As a historic community with very little in the way of vacant sites, land-use patterns are established and mature.

An Introduction to the Bexley Land Use Strategy
As time has progressed, very little has changed in the way of land-use within the City of Bexley. It is the belief of the commission that this is largely as it should be; Bexley is very successful as a residential community, and the character and integrity of the residential neighborhoods with which Bexley is often associated must be preserved and enhanced. However, one of the primary challenges historic suburbs like the City of Bexley face is appropriately evolving to the changing demands of land-use, and proactively encouraging new and appropriate development in the place of aging and functionally/economically obsolete real estate.

While Bexley's Main Street corridor has seen tremendous development over recent years and throughout its history, other commercial corridors in the city have lagged behind, and even Main Street is a constantly evolving corridor which needs to be reevaluated on a regular basis in terms of land-use planning.

Bexley has never before created a Land Use Strategy. However, as other communities become increasingly competitive in providing community amenities and innovative land-use strategies, and as Bexley's land-use patterns continue to require re-examination and community input, a holistic Land-Use Plan that addresses all areas of the city and provides a community-based strategic vision for the City becomes increasingly necessary.

The Bexley Land Use Strategy Commission was formed by Bexley City Council to provide a strategic vision and framework for land use planning in the City. By examining the strengths and weaknesses of current land use patterns and exploring possibilities for change and enhancement to land use in the city, it is the charge of this commission to create a Land Use Plan that will cast a vision for land use in the city, and provide a roadmap for how to realize that vision.

Over the coming months, the Bexley Land Use Commission will meet to establish a mission statement, identify specific goals, and begin to discuss specific areas of the city that need to be addressed by the community in the form of a land use plan. This blog will serve as one form of communication as to the progress of the commision, and it is our hope that feedback and commentary provided by readers of the blog will help to inform the process. Keep checking regularly for updates, and please leave comments and thoughts as you follow along.

- Ben Kessler

Ben Kessler is a member of the Bexley Land Use Strategy Commission as well as a council member of Bexley City Council. When he's not blogging about Bexley's Land Use Strategy he is a commercial real estate appraiser at Samuel D. Koon & Associates.