Planning team engages residents to reflect community vision in master plan
DETROIT – September 26, 2019 – Giffels Webster, a consulting firm specializing in infrastructure and land development solutions for public, private and institutional clients, announced its work on the Rochester Hills master plan received a prestigious state planning award from the Michigan Association of Planning (MAP).
The firm accepted the Public Outreach Planning Excellence Award alongside the city’s planning and economic development director at MAP’s annual conference, Planning Michigan held on September 25. Giffels Webster assisted Rochester Hills in gathering public input from a diverse group of residents to ensure the master plan reflected the vision of the community.
“Rochester Hill’s vision for updating the master plan was fueled by three guiding principles: to preserve, to enhance, and to diversify,” said Jill Bahm, partner at Giffels Webster. “Through a transparent planning process, we were able to connect with residents and business owners to reflect the needs of those who will work, live and play in the community for years to come.”
With these goals in mind, the planning process began with a series of visioning workshops with city leadership, the Rochester Hills Youth Council, and the Planning Commission and City Council. Through these meetings, the following themes emerged and influenced the plan’s development:
- Sustainability: directing growth, development and redevelopment in ways that preserve natural features, reduce storm water runoff and enhance nonmotorized transportation.
- Transportation: supporting connectivity throughout the city and anticipating how changing technology will impact mobility.
- Creating an age-friendly community: exploring opportunities to accommodate residents of all ages with a variety of options of housing, transportation, goods and services, and community facilities and resources.
Various tactics including Giffels Webster’s Picture This!™ – a GIS-based planning tool, adult and youth surveys, open houses, story maps and more were employed to increase participation among the general public.
Rochester Hills Planning and Economic Development Director Sara Roediger, AICP, expressed the value community input brought to updating the master plan.
“Throughout the process, residents expressed their satisfaction with the ease and ability to communicate their thoughts,” said Roediger. “This validation and participation gave the city, its residents and business owners the confidence to continue moving the community forward through thoughtful planning.”
A jury of APA Michigan Chapter professionals recognized the team’s approach to public outreach, specifically citing ease of readability and exceptional documentation of public input received for the 2018 master plan update.
About Giffels Webster
Giffels Webster is a collection of people — civil engineers, landscape architects, planners, surveyors and GIS specialists — who choose every day to make communities better. The Michigan-based firm helps public, private and institutional clients throughout the United States with their planning, land development and infrastructure needs.
Since its inception in 1952, Giffels Webster has evolved to offer a broad scope of services centered on helping clients achieve their project or programming goals, including civil engineering, municipal consulting, planning, land development consulting, landscape architecture, traffic engineering, surveying and GIS consulting. For more information, visit giffelswebster.com.
About Michigan Association of Planning
The Michigan Association of Planning, the state chapter of the American Planning Association, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting sound community land use planning that benefits the residents of Michigan. Learn more at www.planningmi.org.