"Thomas Jefferson said a democracy is dependent on an informed citizenry. I don't care whether it sounds corny or not. It's the truth." -Jim Lehrer
Carefree Truth
Issue #960, October 25, 2021
Issue #960, October 25, 2021
Economic Development Directory Steve Prokopek began his presentation by noting that this gave him the chance to address Mr. Sample's stated concern during Call to the Public that many residents were not aware of the ongoing project to revitalize downtown Carefree. Mr. Prokopek began by presenting the history/background of this project since its inception, which included numerous public meetings and communications, as well as resident and business participation.
2015-Baker International completed the Study which produced the Village Center Master Plan (VCMP), and ESI Consulting completed the Town Center Market Analysis. The Vision for the Town Center was set and it was determined that the economics would work and were sustainable at that time. The Baker Study won an award for the best Master Plan of that year.
March, 2020-In implementation of the VCMP, Carefree entered into a contract with Kimley Horne for a Town Center Entry and Way Finding Signage Plan.
April, 2021-The contract with Kimberly Horne was amended to include pedestrian/vehicular circulation and parking in the signage plan to make the project holistic. The pandemic delayed the contract.
June, 2021-The Council approved a budget of $90,000 for redevelopment and marketing update consulting.
August, 2021-The Council approved the boundary for the Redevelopment Area, which kicked off the requirement for a Redevelopment Plan that gave the Town the tools to implement the recommendations made in the Baker Study.
September, 2021-The Town received a proposal from Kimley Horne to amend the current contract by bringing in, as sub-consultants to the Signage, Circulation, and Parking contract, Michael Baker International to add the redevelopment and land use that were outlined in the original VCMP, and ESI Consulting to update the market analysis.
The original contract with Kimley Horne was for $74,310. The first amendment added $63,500. If approved, the second amendment would add $45,500, for a total cost of $183,310. Mr. Prokopek said that he talked to two of his contemporaries, asking what they thought about the prices. They replied that the total amount is what they usually pay just for the redevelopment component. With what has already been done and what is being put together now, Carefree is going beyond what is required of a redevelopment plan and will have a really comprehensive plan when it is completed. This will allow the Town to bring the high level vision, as well as the "nuts and bolts" tangibles and what it will look like, to the community for vetting.
Mr. Prokopek still has $80,000 in his budget for consultants.
The requested $45,500 would come out of that. The advantages of this amendment would be the addition of the signage, circulation, and redevelopment plans, and an update of the marketing analysis, which would provide a savings of $35,000 just for the redevelopment and marketing update, with a seamless inclusion of all the elements. It works on the existing Kimley Horne contract schedule. All the consultants have a background with and an understanding of Carefree, and the existing stakeholder group can be used for all the components, making the process very efficient.
Baker and ESI would begin immediately. Kimley Horne would complete its initial analysis and report. EDTAP would act as a redevelopment advisory group. Matt, the representative from Baker, was involved in the original process. He lives nearby in Dove Valley, so is very familiar with the area and with Carefree. He personally cares about the area and he "gets" Carefree.
A public review and engagement process would be developed which includes 3 workshops. $5,500 is built in for additional stakeholder meetings to be determined. The stakeholder committee is comprised of 13 people including Councilwoman Cheryl Kroyer, Carefree staff members, residents, business owners, and landlords, and it can be expanded to include more members. There could also be larger community meetings and open houses. The community wants to and should be involved. This will be done in conjunction with the upcoming General Plan Update.
The anticipated completion date is late spring or early summer. The process was delayed to take into account the circulation and parking impacts of the tourist season and the opening of the hotel. It was difficult to get more accurate figures during the pandemic shut downs, and then during the slow summer months. Mr. Prokopek said, "This isn't a race to get it done as fast as possible. This is about getting it done well. I think this would really be a step forward in providing us a really good road map for the future".
Mayor Les Peterson noted that this is a process which flows out of the last General Plan update. It was updated with a broad range of our citizens and businesses. Now a lot of the pieces are coming together to address the downtown area. The residential areas outside of the downtown won't change, but they will benefit from the revitalized downtown area. He thanked Mr. Prokopek for an excellent presentation.
Councilman Tony Geiger requested that a lot of outreach be done to the residents to make sure that the Town is bringing them along in this process. Although it has been going on for 7 years, the Town always struggles with getting the message out to the citizens because not everybody is really engaged. He noted that there were only 38 people signed into the meeting that night, and there are 3800 people in the town.
Mayor Peterson said his impression is that the businesses and property owners in the downtown are fully supportive of this. Mr. Prokopek confirmed that there has been a lot of outreach with them and there has been a lot of interest in moving forward. This is where these conversations need to start. Carefree will establish multiple options and put conceptional ideas out so the community can see something tangible and the Town can get feedback.
The www.carefree.org Town of Carefree website has been updated with the latest information, under Growth & Development and Economic Development, for those who are interested. It will continue to be updated. The Town is also looking at directing outreach to HOA leadership and doing more press releases to get the information to the public. Mr. Prokopek is always open to implementing other ideas as well.
Vice Mayor John Crane agreed with Mr. Geiger and commented that the account summary noted 3 joint EDTAP/Planning and Zoning meetings, a couple of Council meetings, plus additional public meetings to field questions and create familiarity so the public understands this project. The businesses and landlords are on board and see the value in this, but it is critical that the citizens gain value from it as well. Their input is essential for that. He was glad to see the way it's structured and how it's moving forward. He thanked Mr. Prokopek.
Councilwoman Cheryl Kroyer commented that the information is available on the Town website, and this information has already been sent out, but it doesn't seem to get that far out, and not many people show up for public meetings. She felt the best way to engage with the most people was to hold HOA meetings and to set up a booth in the Post Office building so they could show people what the Town is doing in order to do everything possible to engage the citizens. She didn't want to end up with another Baker document that they've just looked at for the last seven years. The Town must have projects that are executable and get started on it. Otherwise it is a waste of money to just have another nice document.
Mr. Prokopek agreed. He said he'd tried to spend the money as wisely as possible with the goal being to get it to the point of action. Setting a vision for an area and figuring out how to execute it is a huge undertaking. The focus here is drilling down as to how to accomplish that and giving the public tangible things to see, and to show them how the Town will do those things that take it to the next level. How does that fit in with the context of the rest of the community? The town center is just a small component of it but is the component that is the heart. It will lead to conversations about how the community accesses this specific area to get to the Post Office or to ride their bikes, or if they are afraid to, and this is the conversation that will be needed as the project progresses as part of the General Plan update.
The Council unanimously approved adding the second amendment to the Kimley Horne contract.
https://vimeo.com/626174675
Lyn Hitchon
Prepared by Carefree Truth
Copyrighted
Visit our website at www.carefreetruth2.com If you know anyone who would like to be added to the Carefree Truth email list, please have them contact me. Feel free to share Carefree Truth with others on your list.
Visit www.carefreeazbusinesses.com to see more info about businesses in Carefree. Please support our merchants.
2015-Baker International completed the Study which produced the Village Center Master Plan (VCMP), and ESI Consulting completed the Town Center Market Analysis. The Vision for the Town Center was set and it was determined that the economics would work and were sustainable at that time. The Baker Study won an award for the best Master Plan of that year.
March, 2020-In implementation of the VCMP, Carefree entered into a contract with Kimley Horne for a Town Center Entry and Way Finding Signage Plan.
April, 2021-The contract with Kimberly Horne was amended to include pedestrian/vehicular circulation and parking in the signage plan to make the project holistic. The pandemic delayed the contract.
June, 2021-The Council approved a budget of $90,000 for redevelopment and marketing update consulting.
August, 2021-The Council approved the boundary for the Redevelopment Area, which kicked off the requirement for a Redevelopment Plan that gave the Town the tools to implement the recommendations made in the Baker Study.
September, 2021-The Town received a proposal from Kimley Horne to amend the current contract by bringing in, as sub-consultants to the Signage, Circulation, and Parking contract, Michael Baker International to add the redevelopment and land use that were outlined in the original VCMP, and ESI Consulting to update the market analysis.
The original contract with Kimley Horne was for $74,310. The first amendment added $63,500. If approved, the second amendment would add $45,500, for a total cost of $183,310. Mr. Prokopek said that he talked to two of his contemporaries, asking what they thought about the prices. They replied that the total amount is what they usually pay just for the redevelopment component. With what has already been done and what is being put together now, Carefree is going beyond what is required of a redevelopment plan and will have a really comprehensive plan when it is completed. This will allow the Town to bring the high level vision, as well as the "nuts and bolts" tangibles and what it will look like, to the community for vetting.
Mr. Prokopek still has $80,000 in his budget for consultants.
The requested $45,500 would come out of that. The advantages of this amendment would be the addition of the signage, circulation, and redevelopment plans, and an update of the marketing analysis, which would provide a savings of $35,000 just for the redevelopment and marketing update, with a seamless inclusion of all the elements. It works on the existing Kimley Horne contract schedule. All the consultants have a background with and an understanding of Carefree, and the existing stakeholder group can be used for all the components, making the process very efficient.
Baker and ESI would begin immediately. Kimley Horne would complete its initial analysis and report. EDTAP would act as a redevelopment advisory group. Matt, the representative from Baker, was involved in the original process. He lives nearby in Dove Valley, so is very familiar with the area and with Carefree. He personally cares about the area and he "gets" Carefree.
A public review and engagement process would be developed which includes 3 workshops. $5,500 is built in for additional stakeholder meetings to be determined. The stakeholder committee is comprised of 13 people including Councilwoman Cheryl Kroyer, Carefree staff members, residents, business owners, and landlords, and it can be expanded to include more members. There could also be larger community meetings and open houses. The community wants to and should be involved. This will be done in conjunction with the upcoming General Plan Update.
The anticipated completion date is late spring or early summer. The process was delayed to take into account the circulation and parking impacts of the tourist season and the opening of the hotel. It was difficult to get more accurate figures during the pandemic shut downs, and then during the slow summer months. Mr. Prokopek said, "This isn't a race to get it done as fast as possible. This is about getting it done well. I think this would really be a step forward in providing us a really good road map for the future".
Mayor Les Peterson noted that this is a process which flows out of the last General Plan update. It was updated with a broad range of our citizens and businesses. Now a lot of the pieces are coming together to address the downtown area. The residential areas outside of the downtown won't change, but they will benefit from the revitalized downtown area. He thanked Mr. Prokopek for an excellent presentation.
Councilman Tony Geiger requested that a lot of outreach be done to the residents to make sure that the Town is bringing them along in this process. Although it has been going on for 7 years, the Town always struggles with getting the message out to the citizens because not everybody is really engaged. He noted that there were only 38 people signed into the meeting that night, and there are 3800 people in the town.
Mayor Peterson said his impression is that the businesses and property owners in the downtown are fully supportive of this. Mr. Prokopek confirmed that there has been a lot of outreach with them and there has been a lot of interest in moving forward. This is where these conversations need to start. Carefree will establish multiple options and put conceptional ideas out so the community can see something tangible and the Town can get feedback.
The www.carefree.org Town of Carefree website has been updated with the latest information, under Growth & Development and Economic Development, for those who are interested. It will continue to be updated. The Town is also looking at directing outreach to HOA leadership and doing more press releases to get the information to the public. Mr. Prokopek is always open to implementing other ideas as well.
Vice Mayor John Crane agreed with Mr. Geiger and commented that the account summary noted 3 joint EDTAP/Planning and Zoning meetings, a couple of Council meetings, plus additional public meetings to field questions and create familiarity so the public understands this project. The businesses and landlords are on board and see the value in this, but it is critical that the citizens gain value from it as well. Their input is essential for that. He was glad to see the way it's structured and how it's moving forward. He thanked Mr. Prokopek.
Councilwoman Cheryl Kroyer commented that the information is available on the Town website, and this information has already been sent out, but it doesn't seem to get that far out, and not many people show up for public meetings. She felt the best way to engage with the most people was to hold HOA meetings and to set up a booth in the Post Office building so they could show people what the Town is doing in order to do everything possible to engage the citizens. She didn't want to end up with another Baker document that they've just looked at for the last seven years. The Town must have projects that are executable and get started on it. Otherwise it is a waste of money to just have another nice document.
Mr. Prokopek agreed. He said he'd tried to spend the money as wisely as possible with the goal being to get it to the point of action. Setting a vision for an area and figuring out how to execute it is a huge undertaking. The focus here is drilling down as to how to accomplish that and giving the public tangible things to see, and to show them how the Town will do those things that take it to the next level. How does that fit in with the context of the rest of the community? The town center is just a small component of it but is the component that is the heart. It will lead to conversations about how the community accesses this specific area to get to the Post Office or to ride their bikes, or if they are afraid to, and this is the conversation that will be needed as the project progresses as part of the General Plan update.
The Council unanimously approved adding the second amendment to the Kimley Horne contract.
https://vimeo.com/626174675
Lyn Hitchon
Prepared by Carefree Truth
Copyrighted
Visit our website at www.carefreetruth2.com If you know anyone who would like to be added to the Carefree Truth email list, please have them contact me. Feel free to share Carefree Truth with others on your list.
Visit www.carefreeazbusinesses.com to see more info about businesses in Carefree. Please support our merchants.