The City of Carlsbad contracted with Urban Place Consulting Group to "improve the health of the Village by partnering with local property owners, businesses and other stakeholders to develop programs, policies, financing mechanisms and other initiatives to spur local investment and foot traffic on a self-sustaining basis."
In future columns, we'll discuss specific programs and projects as well as give updates on the progress towards improving the health of the Village.
The purpose of this month's column is to outline our approach to Village revitalization.
VILLAGE WORKS is the name that has been developed to brand the revitalization effort in Carlsbad Village.
"Village Works is a collaborative effort of the Carlsbad Village Association, Urban Place Consulting Group, and the City of Carlsbad. Its goal is to Improve the Village user experience, Refine the urban environment, and Realize the full potential of the Village to become the preeminent downtown of North County San Diego."
COLLABORATION. The vehicle for developing the partnering aspect of our contract is the Carlsbad Village Association (CVA).
The goal is to develop a strong private sector organization that can take a leadership role in sustaining the Village Works revitalization effort after we, Urban Place, finish our work.
Towards the goal of strengthening the CVA, we've expanded the Board of Directors to include more diverse representation of Village business owners, property owners and residents.
The CVA moved their office into our Village Workshop at 530-A Grand Avenue. Urban Place is providing staff services and working with the CVA to refine their work plan and financial structure.
IMPROVE the Village user experience. How is a great restaurant and a great downtown/village the same? They both understand the importance of the customer/user experience. ZAGAT rates restaurants using four criteria: Food, D?cor, Service and Cost.
Every great restaurant owner knows that it takes more than just great food to have a successful business that is sustainable over time.
For a downtown, or in this case a Village, to become a great place it takes the same intense focus on the user experience.
We use four criteria when rating downtowns: access and parking, physical environment, business offering and perception.
Our work will focus on improving the user experience in each of these four areas.
We're conducting several surveys to help us understand the current uses and current perceptions of the Village.
We've developed separate surveys for Village businesses, Village residents and Village property owners.
We've also conducted pedestrian and bicycle counts and an intercept survey of Village users.
The data developed from these surveys will give us both a baseline from which to measure our progress and also insight into improvements that are needed.
REFINE the urban environment. Our pilot bike program has installed twenty new bike racks with the phrase "Bike the Village."
A grant request for additional funding to add more bike racks has been submitted.
Planters have been relocated in the Village to reduce the concentration on State Street and provide more opportunities for outdoor dining and bike racks.
As a result, more outdoor dining and bike racks have been added.
Hopefully you will have noticed the results of our "Light the Village" pilot program.
New decorative lighting has been added to portions of Carlsbad Village Drive and Carlsbad Boulevard. Soon to come is lighting on State Street with the long term goal of additional lighting throughout the Village.
Can Carlsbad Village become the preeminent downtown of North County San Diego?
We certainly think so and will be working with our collaborators to REALIZE that goal over the next three years.
In future columns, we'll discuss specific programs and projects as well as give updates on the progress towards improving the health of the Village.
The purpose of this month's column is to outline our approach to Village revitalization.
VILLAGE WORKS is the name that has been developed to brand the revitalization effort in Carlsbad Village.
"Village Works is a collaborative effort of the Carlsbad Village Association, Urban Place Consulting Group, and the City of Carlsbad. Its goal is to Improve the Village user experience, Refine the urban environment, and Realize the full potential of the Village to become the preeminent downtown of North County San Diego."
COLLABORATION. The vehicle for developing the partnering aspect of our contract is the Carlsbad Village Association (CVA).
The goal is to develop a strong private sector organization that can take a leadership role in sustaining the Village Works revitalization effort after we, Urban Place, finish our work.
Towards the goal of strengthening the CVA, we've expanded the Board of Directors to include more diverse representation of Village business owners, property owners and residents.
The CVA moved their office into our Village Workshop at 530-A Grand Avenue. Urban Place is providing staff services and working with the CVA to refine their work plan and financial structure.
IMPROVE the Village user experience. How is a great restaurant and a great downtown/village the same? They both understand the importance of the customer/user experience. ZAGAT rates restaurants using four criteria: Food, D?cor, Service and Cost.
Every great restaurant owner knows that it takes more than just great food to have a successful business that is sustainable over time.
For a downtown, or in this case a Village, to become a great place it takes the same intense focus on the user experience.
We use four criteria when rating downtowns: access and parking, physical environment, business offering and perception.
Our work will focus on improving the user experience in each of these four areas.
We're conducting several surveys to help us understand the current uses and current perceptions of the Village.
We've developed separate surveys for Village businesses, Village residents and Village property owners.
We've also conducted pedestrian and bicycle counts and an intercept survey of Village users.
The data developed from these surveys will give us both a baseline from which to measure our progress and also insight into improvements that are needed.
REFINE the urban environment. Our pilot bike program has installed twenty new bike racks with the phrase "Bike the Village."
A grant request for additional funding to add more bike racks has been submitted.
Planters have been relocated in the Village to reduce the concentration on State Street and provide more opportunities for outdoor dining and bike racks.
As a result, more outdoor dining and bike racks have been added.
Hopefully you will have noticed the results of our "Light the Village" pilot program.
New decorative lighting has been added to portions of Carlsbad Village Drive and Carlsbad Boulevard. Soon to come is lighting on State Street with the long term goal of additional lighting throughout the Village.
Can Carlsbad Village become the preeminent downtown of North County San Diego?
We certainly think so and will be working with our collaborators to REALIZE that goal over the next three years.