project: IMAGINE DOWNTOWN & LCI UPDATE
date: 2003-2004, 2009
location: ATLANTA, GA
client: ATLANTA PROGRESS (CAP)  AND THE ATLANTA DOWNTOWN IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
contact: JENNIFER BALL, VICE PRESIDENT (CAP)

The most significant physical planning process for downtown Atlanta since the 1996 Olympics, Imagine Downtown united several smaller plans with new ideas for five important corridors and districts creating a vision for urban development that was built on exciting new projects like the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola. Already a regional destination, Downtown Atlanta has been guided to its evolution as a world-class urban neighborhood by the frameworks contained in Imagine.

Urban Collage, along with collaborators Cooper Carry, had devised several different and innovative public involvement techniques to gain the widest range of opinions. An Internet-based survey that used graphics and targeted questions ran throughout the year-long process, giving access to outlying metro counties interested in Downtown. The Internet was also used to disseminate the results of several ‘Charrette Weeks’, intense three-day workshops allowing residents and stakeholders a direct voice in the physical plans for each Focus Area.  
This project received a GA Planning Award for Outstanding Planning Document.

In the short few years since Urban Collage completed the 2004 Imagine Downtown Plan, growth has continued to focus on Downtown Atlanta in the spirit of short commutes, urban living and an overall increased quality of life. Working with Central Atlanta Progress and The City of Atlanta, Urban Collage is taking a fresh look at the changing urban fabric in Downtown and helping to re-prioritize plans for incenting new development, transportation enhancements and improved public spaces.

project: SUWANEE TOWN CENTER PLAN
date: 2003
location: SUWANEE, GA
client: CITY OF SUWANEE
contact: MARVIN ALLEN, PLANNING DIRECTOR

Suwanee, Georgia, is a rapidly growing small town in metropolitan Atlanta. In April 2001 the city began a planning process to “Imagine Old Town Suwanee”. The plan focused on renewing the economic vitality and preserving the character of the historic core and surroundings under the purview of a newly-created Downtown Development Authority. Urban Collage crafted a public participation process including three workshops and development simulations to shape the community’s vision. This vision included creating a new, 60-acre, mixed-use Town Center in close proximity to the old downtown, focused on a new public park. The park, town center and historic core are linked by a network of streets, sidewalks and trails that provide a framework for compact housing and commercial space. Urban Collage worked with city staff and a design review board to draft a set of Development Standards to shape the character of the Old Town District and its two nodes, and continued on as development planners for the Town Center itself (in partnership with Clark Patterson and Associates).

Implementation Highlights:

• Old Town Suwanee Development Standards adopted by City Council in summer of 2002
• 21 acres purchased by the city for the new town center, including a 10-acre $3-4 million public park and amphitheater funded by greenspace bonds and Park opened in Summer of 2004
• Over 80,000 square feet of mixed-use retail, office and residential
• County branch library constructed in 2004
• An additional 40 acres of residential development adjacent to Town Center;
• Project received funding for $1.1 million dollars in pedestrian improvements by the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC)
• This project received a 2004 GPA Award for Outstanding Plan Implementation and Georgia Trend’s/GMA’s 2005 “Trendsetter” award

project: FOUNTAIN INN MASTER PLAN
date: 2005 – 2006
location: FOUNTAIN INN, SC
client: CITY OF FOUNTAIN INN
contact: EDDIE CASE, CITY ADMINISTRATOR

Urban Collage, Inc. prepared a Strategic Master Plan for the City of Fountain Inn, SC that will serve as a guide for future growth, development and revitalization within the historic city. The plan for the city of 6,000 focuses on developing physical and economic revitalization strategies for sustaining and improving the City’s downtown core and surrounding areas.

Core issues included the need to stabilize and improve the downtown business environment, aesthetic improvements to historic downtown buildings, preserving the City’s historic character, and management of increasing residential development pressure. Plan initiatives include narrowing Main Street to promote a more pedestrian-friendly downtown shopping area, promoting higher quality residential development to provide additional housing opportunities and price points and developing new marketing materials to promote the town to prospective employers, residents and visitors.

In addition to physical plans for the downtown area, Urban Collage assisted the City in implementing new Central Business District Guidelines, residential subdivision guidelines, and a new signage ordinance.

Implementation Highlights:

• In October 2007, the City of Fountain Inn purchased the old train depot to become a new Visitor’s Center, Chamber of Commerce, History Museum and Farmer’s Market.
• Since the plan’s completion, the City has approved development of 210 new housing units consistent with the aim of the Master Plan.
• The City has implemented park improvements, hired economic development staff, and revised multiple ordinances.

project: DAHLONEGA DOWNTOWN PLAN & DESIGN GUIDELINES
date: 2007 – 2008
location: DAHLONEGA, GA
client: CITY OF DAHLONEGA
contact: JOEL CORDLE, DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY BETTER HOMETOWN PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Urban Collage, leading a team comprised of PBS&J and Bleakly Advisory Group, prepared a 10-year development master plan for the future of downtown Dahlonega. Recognized as the Jewel of the North Georgia Mountains and the Gateway to the Appalachian Trail, Dahlonega is a historic community surrounded by lush forests and vineyards. Downtown’s Public Square is noted for its 1836 courthouse, the oldest surviving in the state; while nearby Price Hall on the campus of North Georgia College marks the site of the U.S. Mint which was erected during the county’s first Gold Rush.

The team lead an investigation to find alternatives that would allow the downtown to grow without sacrificing its unique character and valuable historic resources. The master plan recognizes the downtown’s special context by creating several character districts which draw the surrounding natural and cultural landscapes in, but leave room for new infill development and major redevelopment of underutilized commercial land. The team also prepared a companion set of design guidelines that used the district framework and vernacular building typologies as organizing elements for standards for new construction and public improvements.

Implementation Highlights:

• Plan adopted by council in 2008
• Programming completed for new city hall

project: BELTLINE TAD FEASIBILITY STUDY / REDEVELOPMENT PLAN
date: 2004 – ONGOING
location: ATLANTA, GA
client: ATLANTA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
contact: TERRI Y. MONTAGUE, PRESIDENT – ATLANTA BELTLINE, INC.

The BeltLine is a visionary ‘Smart Growth’ initiative for twenty-two miles of under utilized railroad right-of-way ringing Downtown Atlanta. Envisioned as a transit and greenway corridor with new transit-oriented development on former brownfield sites, the BeltLine proposes over 2,000 acres of new or improved parks connected by thirty-three miles of greenway trails, all available to over 50,000 new housing units as well as the residential base located in forty-six of the city’s historic neighborhoods.

Urban Collage was involved in the creation of both the 2004 TAD (Tax-Allocation District) Feasibility Study and the 2005 TAD Redevelopment Plan. Besides formulating redevelopment scenarios and program quantifications for twelve key transit-based activity centers, Urban Collage helped shape the redevelopment / future land use envelope for the entire BeltLine and were instrumental in facilitating and supporting the extensive public involvement process. Urban Collage also helped the public understand the economic development implications of a TAD (or tax-increment financing district) and the criteria for its smooth functioning; and contributed to the preliminary development guidelines that could become the basis of future regulatory control.

The BeltLine project earned top honors as Overall Deal of the Year, Award Winner
for Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Best in Atlanta Real Estate Awards.

Recipient of the 2007 American Society of Landscape Architects Analysis and Planning Honor Award.

Implementation Highlights:

• Tax Allocation District legislation approved by the City of Atlanta, Fulton County and the Atlanta School System
• Ongoing strategic land assembly by Trust for Public Land
• Ongoing greenway capital campaign by the PATH Foundation

project: PALMETTO LIVABLE CENTERS INITIATIVE STUDY
date: 2008 – 2009
location: PALMETTO, GA
client: CITY OF PALMETTO
contact: TERRY TODD, CITY ADMINISTRATOR

Located about 30 miles southwest of Atlanta, Palmetto is a charming small town with lush vegetation, a wide array of historic homes and a small Main Street with significant potential.

Working with the Atlanta Regional Commission, The City of Palmetto and the citizens of Palmetto, Urban Collage completed an LCI study for the City’s Downtown area in December 2008. The plan outlines strategies for adding new historically-compatible mixed-use alongside the downtown’s old retail storefronts, includes market-based concepts for new housing within the downtown, identifies areas for new open space throughout the study area and provides a circulation framework of bike lanes, trails and pedestrian amenities connecting future development.
The study products also address connectivity issues, including street-specific recommendations for potential streetscape improvements, concepts for reconfiguring existing streets, the addition of new streets, and strategies for improving connections between either side of the city’s historic railroad corridor.

As the city begins to enact policies to implement the LCI plan, Palmetto is now poised to set a precedent for smart-growth policies and historic preservation initiatives in the face of growth pressures common to much of Metro Atlanta.

project: PRATTVILLE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
date: 2008 – ONGOING
location: PRATTVILLE, AL
client: CITY OF PRATTVILLE
contact: JOEL T. DUKE, AICP, CITY PLANNER

The City of Prattville is an old Alabama mill town that is experiencing a new kind of boom. As a nearby suburb of the rapidly growing state capitol, Prattville has itself already experienced rapid growth, and is anticipating additional development in the coming decade. To accommodate, the City sought to update its Comp Plan, which dated from 1996, and focus on how to plan for the future while also preserving its historic mill past.

Urban Collage partnered with Sain Engineering to create an approach that started with a very high level assessment and analysis and gradually worked down to targeted areas of detail. Throughout the process, a comprehensive plan for public involvement and consensus building was designed to ensure that the plan was driven by the City and its citizens. As of June 2009, the process had moved into its final phase, developing the plan for action and implementation. It’s anticipated that the effort known now as “Project Prattville” will be completed and adopted early in the Fall of this year.

Implementation Highlights:

• Development of a project website, logo and name based on public input
• Implementation of an on-line visioning survey to reach residents who could not attend workshops
• Separate Advisory and Client Group work sessions to better plan out the issues addressed by the citizens
• Coordinated publicity efforts led to unprecedented attendance at public workshops
• Sustainability analyses that show how “green” certain sections of the City are, relative to walkability and access to greenspace, schools and amenities.

project: LEXINGTON – FAYETTE INFILL REDEVELOPMENT STEERING COMMITTEE
date: 2007 – 2008
location: LEXINGTON, KY
client: LEXINGTON – FAYETTE URBAN COUNTY GOVERNMENT
contact: CHRIS KING, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF PLANNING

Urban Collage, Inc. was retained by Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government to help lead a blue ribbon panel of stakeholders in developing proactive policies and plans for promoting infill and redevelopment with the existing Urban Services Boundary, the first growth boundary in the country.

In 2007, the Planning Commission’s decision to not expand the Urban Services Boundary created renewed and expanded interest in creating policies, standards and an implementation plan for how to encourage, incentivize and direct new infill and redevelopment. Urban Collage served as a “technical facilitator” for the Steering Committee and its three Task Forces in developing recommendations for where to direct growth, how to ensure quality development and sense of place, what incentives were necessary to level the economic playing field, how to ensure affordability and what improvements could be made to the development review process.

project: NORCROSS DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT PLAN
date: 2006
location: NORCROSS, GA
client: CITY OF NORCROSS / DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
contact: SKIP NAU, CHAIR OF THE NORCROSS DDA

Historic Downtown Norcross was one of the jewels of Gwinnett County. Its “main street” charm created an identity and economic engine for the city. Like any historic downtown, however, the City faced the typical balancing act of trying to maintain its unique identity while both accommodating and encouraging new, quality growth. Recent developments on the fringe of downtown demonstrated an increasingly viable market, particularly for new, high quality residential development. The challenge became how to foster that new market without jeopardizing historic resources and the health of the existing commercial core. The City and its Development Authority had been very proactive in acquiring properties that would help guide redevelopment. They were ready to focus on the next steps.

The Strategic Development Plan grew out of work done by a preceding LCI plan, and used progressive urban design principles combined with rigorous client involvement and additional public input to update the community vision. The Strategic Development Plan became a tool for the City of Norcross and the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) to be proactive partners in the future development and on-going revitalization of Downtown. The Plan provided a set of clear benchmarks – design and programmatic – with which Norcross evaluated future private-sector development activity. Indeed, one project that came out of the Plan – the remaking of the Lillian Webb Ballfield into a greenspace centerpiece surrounded by mixed-use development – broke ground barely a year later.