Evans Spring, the 150 acres of land on the south side of I-581, has long been studied and discussed. In addition, it has been a source of controversy as neighborhood groups and environmentalists have expressed concern about potential development on that site.
The City hired a consulting firm (LPDA of Charlottesville) to produce a Master Plan for the property. LPDA has assembled experts in the fields of traffic, land use, real estate development and community engagement.
Community Engagement at this point is the most important part of the Master Planning Process. Two firms headed by noted community revitalization expert Chuck D’Aprix are charged with engaging the community. The two firms are Downtown Economics (DowntownEconomics.com) and Community Engagement and Charrette Associates (CEandCA.com).
According to Mr. D’Aprix, this will be a model engagement effort kicking off with a March 9th meeting at Williams Memorial Baptist Church at 2105 Carroll Avenue in Roanoke at 6:30 pm.
Chuck D’Aprix said, “Too often lip service is given to community engagement. The City Council has made engagement a priority, and we intend to follow that mandate. We have developed a model program that includes a website survey, door-to-door distribution of surveys and flyers, drop boxes located throughout the neighborhoods for survey drop offs, a voice mail comment line, focus groups, small neighborhood meetings and plenty of one-on-one meetings. We will leave no stone unturned when it comes to hearing from the residents of Roanoke with respect to Evans Spring. ”
The website for the Master Planning process is EvansSpring.com and the voice mail number is 540-217-4045.
