Details:
Client: City of Clarkston
Location: Clarkston, Georgia
Status: Completed in 2015
Highlights:
Description:
The City of Clarkston retained a multidisciplinary team led by TSW to develop the City’s 10-Year Update to its initial Livable Centers Initiative study from 2004. Since the initial plan was completed, several of the action plan items were implemented. The purpose of the 10-Year Update was to reevaluate and update the previous LCI vision based on current market conditions and changing local needs.
The study process began with an extensive existing conditions assessment of the downtown study area, focusing on previous LCI accomplishments, land use, transportation, markets and economics, urban design, historic resources, public facilities and spaces, and lifelong communities elements. The community outreach effort included core team meetings, stakeholder interviews, Clarkston Business Connects meeting, an all-day public workshop, and numerous public meetings, and communication tools, including a project website, public meeting notices, and translation services (Arabic, Burmese, Dinka, Somali, and Nepali).
Existing conditions assessment and community input were then used as a starting point for recommendations. Key recommendations that were developed included:
- Promoting mixed-use, transit-oriented development
- Increasing range of housing options
- Encouraging reuse and rehabilitation of downtown
- Encouraging redevelopment of Stone Mountain Trail Village
- Road diets for improving pedestrian and bicycle activity
- Establishing political and organizational infrastructure to facilitate and promote redevelopment
- Developing quality urban design guidelines and standards
- Creating public spaces and pocket parks