GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Supplied with good food and surrounded by better company, dozens of people gathered on the northeast side of Grand Rapids on Tuesday for their first look at the city’s initial ideas for its community master plan.
“It’s exciting to see all the ideas come together and actually be here in one meeting,” said Layla Aslani, a planning project manager for the city of Grand Rapids.
Aslani oversees its development, which began three years ago after leaders realized the last one, created in 2002, no longer met the needs of Grand Rapids.
The ideas presented lay out how to reach five goals established by residents earlier in the process:
- Great Neighborhoods: Promote a broad range of high-quality housing choices for owning and renting by allowing duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes by-right throughout the city
FOX 17 / File Photo - Vital Business Districts: Encourage the development of compact, walkable mixed-use centers by eliminating parking requirements across the city of Grand Rapids
FOX 17 / File Photo - A Strong Economy: Increase allowances for light industrial, flex, or hybrid model businesses in employment centers to broad the range of jobs and pay scales available within the city
file photoDowntown Grand Rapids - Balanced Mobility: Make strategic investments to create safe, connected, and comfortable multi-modal networks by prioritizing biking, walking, and transit over parking
Greater Grand Rapids Bicycle Coalition - Development Character: Use character types to build on existing neighborhood patterns and regulate design to ensure compatibility of new development with the existing character of neighborhoods
“I see that there's a lot of innovation that's going on which is awesome because we need to be in a place where we're open to different ways of living,” said Tisha Mosley.
Mosley, a local real estate agent, likes the ideas, especially the one centered around housing.
“I would love to see the city really encourage that [mobility] not by not just by building bike lanes, but maybe even offering you know, tax incentives or like rebates,” said Cameron Ryder.
Ryder wants safer ways to move around Grand Rapids and says what the city laid out serves as a starting point but believes it can act quicker to reach the goals.
“I think we can push harder, we can push faster,” said Ryder.
According to Aslani, her colleagues will take feedback on the ideas then create a draft master plan and present it to the community and Grand Rapids commissioners next spring. She hopes by July, leaders can use the master plan to shape the city’s future.
“This not my plan, this is not the planning department's plan,” said Aslani. “This is really the community's plan. That's why we it's called the community master plan so we really want to hear from residents. This is going to set the vision of where our community is going to go for the next 20 years.”
Two additional community engagement events for the master plan’s initial ideas will be held this week.
They are scheduled for:
- Wednesday, Nov. 15, 5 to 7 p.m., Center for Community Transformation, (The 1530 Event Space) 1530 Madison Ave. SE
- Thursday, Nov. 16, 5 to 7 p.m., Leslie E. Tassell M-TEC, 622 Godfrey Ave. SW
