Save the Date! Downtown Imagined: Community Input Meetings on August 11!

Join us for information, conversation, and imagination at the Downtown Imagined: Community Input Meetings on Monday, August 11!

The purpose of the Downtown Imagined: Community Input Meetings are to gather community ideas and thoughts about the future of Downtown Chapel Hill and to receive community input on the updated concept and expanded draft plan that includes all of downtown.

When: Monday, August 11, 2014
What time: Two identical drop-in meetings will be held at the following times:
– 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., with a brief overview presentation at 12:15 p.m.
– 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., with a brief overview presentation at 5:15 p.m.

Where: Both meetings will be held in the Great Room at University Baptist Church, at the corner of Franklin and Columbia Streets (100 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27514). To get to the Great Room, please use the church entrance that is located at the back of the church; signs will guide you to the Great Room.

Parking: For information about places to park when coming to the meeting, please visit http://www.parkonthehill.com

This planning effort expands on the early work of Rosemary Imagined. Downtown Imagined will build upon the work and community input from Rosemary Imagined to develop a plan for all of downtown. The goal of this effort is to develop a vision for the future of the downtown that emphasizes the Town’s focus on connections, choices, and community.

For more information about the Downtown Imagined process, visit http://www.rosemaryimagined.com or watch this video at http://vimeo.com/100352539

For questions, please contact Megan Wooley, community sustainability planner for the Town of Chapel Hill, and Meg McGurk, executive director for the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership at info@rosemaryimagined.com. Megan can also be reached at 919-969-5059, and Meg can be reached at 919-967-9440.

Read all about it! Rosemary Imagined is expanding to Downtown Imagined!

We have some exciting news! Rosemary Imagined is expanding to become Downtown Imagined!

Starting in mid-July, the Rosemary Imagined planning process (which focused on developing a vision and plan for Rosemary Street) is expanding to include all of downtown, including Franklin Street. The newly named – “Downtown Imagined” – is the planning process that will build upon the work and community input from Rosemary Imagined to develop a plan for all of downtown!

Want to learn more? Check out this 2-minute VIDEO!

We want to hear your ideas for Downtown Chapel Hill. We will be holding two informal, drop-in sessions, so please come and share your ideas for Franklin, Rosemary, Henderson, Church, and all the streets that make our downtown great.

When are the drop-in sessions?
– Monday, July 21st from noon-1:00pm at Lime Fresh Mexican Grill, 140 W. Franklin Street
– Wednesday, July 23rd from 5:00-6:00pm at Tru Deli, 114 Henderson Street

For information about places to park when coming to the sessions, please visit http://www.parkonthehill.com

Can’t make either of these sessions? No worries! You can contact us through email or by phone to share your ideas. To reach Meg and Megan, email info@rosemaryimagined.com or call Meg McGurk at 919-967-9440 and Megan Wooley at 919-969-5059.

In early August, we will be holding a large community meeting to gather more thoughts about downtown Chapel Hill and to share a draft concept map and plan for downtown. More information coming soon.

For more information about the Downtown Imagined process, visit http://www.rosemaryimagined.com

We hope to see you soon!

Share your thoughts! Revised Draft Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan!

Share your thoughts about the revised draft concept and plan for Rosemary Street!

Click here for a copy of the Revised Draft Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan which includes the revised draft concept!

What is in the revised draft Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan?
The Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan consists of two parts:
1) The draft concept which is a map of Rosemary Street that identifies:
– Potential redevelopment sites along Rosemary Street;
– Locations of parks and greenways;
– New pedestrian and bicycle connections as well as long-term opportunities for car connections;
– And lots of other fun and neat things!

2) Twenty-one visions for the future of Rosemary Street. These visions include a vision statement, “next steps,” and leads and partners for implementation and are organized based on the themes from the Chapel Hill 2020 comprehensive plan.

How was the revised draft Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan developed?
In April of 2014, we began gathering input and thoughts from the community about the three draft concepts and the draft vision plan for Rosemary Street (for copies of these drafts, see below). We received a lot of great feedback, and thank you to everyone who attended the meetings!

We have taken the input and revised the three draft concepts into one draft concept and have updated the draft vision and implementation plan. We would now like your feedback about the revised draft concept and draft vision plan!

How can I give my input?
Please let us know if you have thoughts to share about the revised draft concept and plan! You can email or call Megan Wooley (Town of Chapel Hill) or Meg McGurk (Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership). Megan W can be reached at 919-969-5059, and Meg M can be reached at 919-967-9440. Both can be reached through email at info@rosemaryimagined.com

If your neighbors or organization would like to meet with Megan and Meg to share your thoughts, please let us know, and we would be happy to meet with you!

Next Steps
We are currently in the process of gathering community input about the revised draft concept and the revised draft Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan! We will continue to seek community feedback about the revised draft concept and plan until the beginning of August.

In early August, we will begin working on draft concepts and a plan for Franklin Street, and we will be seeking the community’s involvement and input about the future of Franklin Street and the whole downtown area. We are anticipating going to the Council in late 2014 or early 2015 with the visions and concept for Rosemary Street coupled with the visions and concept for the whole of downtown.

Please stay tuned for upcoming meetings and events!

For more information about the Rosemary Imagined process, visit http://www.rosemaryimagined.com

Save the Date! Rosemary Imagined: Second Community Review Meeting on June 9

Join us for information, conversation, and imagination at the Rosemary Imagined: Second Community Review Meeting on Monday, June 9!

The purpose of the Rosemary Imagined: Second Community Review Meeting is to gather community feedback on the revised draft concept and the revised draft Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan.

In April, we began gathering input and thoughts from neighborhood and downtown residents, business owners, community members, and many others about the three draft concepts and the draft vision plan for Rosemary Street. We received a lot of great feedback, and thank you to everyone who attended the meetings! We have taken the input and revised the three draft concepts into one draft concept and have updated the draft vision plan. We would now like your feedback about the revised draft concept and draft vision plan!

Two drop-in meetings will be held on June 9 and will be at the following times:
– 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., with a brief overview presentation at 12:15 p.m.
– 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., with a brief overview presentation at 5:15 p.m.

Both meetings will be held in the Sky Lounge at Greenbridge, 601 Rosemary Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516. The format of these two meetings will be identical; the purpose of holding two meetings is to provide multiple opportunities for participants to attend and provide their input.

For information about places to park when coming to the meeting, please visit http://www.parkonthehill.com

Rosemary Imagined is an innovative community-led planning initiative that will refine our thinking of how Rosemary Street fits into the development and growth of downtown Chapel Hill. This goal of this effort is to develop a vision for the future of the Rosemary Street corridor that emphasizes the Town’s focus on connections, choices, and community.

For more information about the Rosemary Imagined process, visit http://www.rosemaryimagined.com

For questions, please contact Megan Wooley, housing and neighborhood services planner for the Town of Chapel Hill, and Meg McGurk, executive director for the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership at info@rosemaryimagined.com. Megan can also be reached at 919-969-5059, and Meg can be reached at 919-967-9440.

Review the draft Rosemary Imagined Concepts and draft Vision Plan!

Thank you to everyone who attended the Rosemary Imagined: First Community Review Meeting this morning! We had a great turnout and received lots of good ideas, feedback, and questions! We will be holding another session this evening from 6:00-8:00pm in the Sky Lounge at Greenbridge (601 Rosemary Street) – you should drop by!

During the meeting, participants provided thoughts and feedback about the three draft concepts (titled Option A, Option B, and Option C) and the draft Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan.

Draft Concepts – Options A, B, and C

The draft concepts have been developed by the consulting team from KlingStubbins, a planning firm located in Raleigh. These concepts are based upon the community input and feedback received during the community meetings held in the summer and fall of 2013 and from meetings with property owners.

For a copy of the draft concepts, please click here: DRAFT CONCEPTS

Please review these concepts and provide your thoughts and ideas! What do you like about these concepts? What are you concerned about? Are these concepts missing anything? Let us know!

Send your thoughts and ideas to Meg McGurk and Megan Wooley at info@rosemaryimagined.com

Draft Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan

During the Rosemary Imagined community meetings, many participants shared visions for and ideas about the Rosemary Street of the future. These ideas were pulled together to create the draft Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan.

For a copy of the draft Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan, please click here: DRAFT PLAN

The plan outlines nineteen visions for Rosemary Street and provides a vision statement, a lead, partners, and next steps for each of the visions.

We would like your feedback about this draft plan! Do you have ideas for implementation strategies or next steps? Would you like to be an implementation partner? Is the draft plan missing anything? Let us know!

Please send your ideas to Meg McGurk and Megan Wooley at info@rosemaryimagined.com

Next Steps

We are currently in the process of gathering community input about the draft concepts and the draft Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan!

In early to mid May, the three draft concepts will be revised to develop one draft concept. A Second Community Review meeting will be held in late May or early June to receive community feedback about the revised draft concept and revised draft Rosemary Street Vision and Implementation Plan.

Upcoming Rosemary Imagined Meeting! Join Us on April 10th!

Join us for information, conversation and imagination at the Rosemary Imagined: First Community Review Meeting on Thursday, April 10!

The purpose of the Rosemary Imagined: First Community Review Meeting is to review the two draft concepts for Rosemary Street. These concepts are being drafted by the consulting team from KlingStubbins, a planning firm located in Raleigh, based upon the community input and feedback received during the Rosemary Imagined meetings held in the summer and fall of 2013.

Two drop-in meetings will be held on April 10 and will be at the following times:
• 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., with a brief overview presentation at 12:15 p.m.
• 6 to 8:00 p.m., with a brief overview presentation at 6:45 p.m.

Both meetings will be held in the Sky Lounge at Greenbridge, 601 Rosemary Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516. The format of these two meetings will be identical; the purpose of holding two meetings is to provide multiple opportunities for participants to attend and provide their input.

During the meeting, we will gather community comment about the two draft concepts. The concepts will then be revised to develop one draft concept. A Second Community Review meeting will be held in late May or early June to receive community feedback about the revised draft concept.

Rosemary Imagined is an innovative community-led planning initiative that will refine our thinking of how Rosemary Street fits into the development and growth of downtown Chapel Hill. This goal of this effort is to develop a vision for the future of the Rosemary Street corridor that emphasizes the Town’s focus on connections, choices, and community.

For more information about the Rosemary Imagined process, visit http://rosemaryimaginedblog.com/

For questions, contact Megan Wooley, housing and neighborhood services planner for the Town of Chapel Hill, and Meg McGurk, executive director for the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership at info@rosemaryimagined.com. Megan can also be reached at 919-969-5059, and Meg can be reached at 919-967-9440.

Greetings from the Rosemary Imagined Project Team!

We hope that everyone’s 2014 is off to a good start! We are looking forward to lots of neat ideas, continued discussions, and fun gatherings in this new year.

We wanted to provide you with an update about the Rosemary Imagined project and let you know where we will be heading in 2014.

First, thank you to everyone who has participated in this planning effort thus far. We appreciate all the time, energy, and creative thinking that community members have dedicated to this process. We are excited about all the ideas we gathered through the polling sessions, pitch meetings, and conversations last year.

If you are new to this project, Rosemary Imagined is an innovative community-led planning initiative that will refine our thinking of how Rosemary Street fits into the development and growth of downtown Chapel Hill. This goal of this effort is to develop a vision for the future of the Rosemary Street corridor that emphasizes the Town’s focus on connections, choices, and community.

To see what’s been done so far, visit http://rosemaryimaginedblog.com/

Over the next few months, the Rosemary Imagined Project Team will be working with a consulting team, located in Raleigh, from the planning firm Kling Stubbins to take the input we received during the community sessions and develop these into two concepts. We will be holding a community meeting called the “First Community Review Meeting” on April 10th to receive your input and ideas about these two concepts. More information about the April 10th meeting will be coming soon.

After the April meeting, we will refine the two concepts into one concept, and we will again ask for your feedback about this concept during the “Second Community Review meeting” to be held in May/June.

So you may be thinking, this all sounds great, and I want to continue to be involved! How can I make that happen?

Here are a few ways to stay involved:
– If you have thoughts and want to share them, email Megan Wooley and Meg McGurk at info@rosemaryimagined.com
– Mark your calendar for the First Community Review Meeting on April 10th; more information coming soon
– Stay informed with the Rosemary Imagined happenings through the Rosemary Imagined blog which can be found at http://www.rosemaryimaginedblog.com

We anticipate completing the Rosemary Imagined planning effort by Fall of this year, and we are excited about the upcoming months and the work ahead!

Thanks for reading, and please let us know if you have any questions!

Yours in information, conversation, and imagination,

The Rosemary Imagined Project Team

– Megan Wooley, Housing and Neighborhood Services Planner II, Town of Chapel Hill
– Meg McGurk, Executive Director, Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership
– Mary Jane Nirdlinger, Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives, Town of Chapel Hill
– Dwight Bassett, Economic Development Officer, Town of Chapel Hill

Rosemary Imagined Input Session Rescheduled

What is your vision for Rosemary Street? Does it include an innovative identity or perhaps a more connected and walkable environment? Join community members, Town and University leaders, and downtown business and property owners for a:

Rosemary Imagined Input Session (Please note the new date, below)
Thursday, Nov. 21, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Hargraves Community Center
216 N. Roberson Street

As the Rosemary Imagined planning initiative moves forward this month, the Town of Chapel Hill and the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership are engaging Kling Stubbins to provide land use planning services for the process. Also, the Neighborhood Planning Team will meet to provide further guidance before the input session in November.

Rosemary Imagined is an innovative community-led planning initiative that will refine our thinking of how Rosemary Street fits into the development and growth of downtown Chapel Hill. Come for information, conversation, and imagination about Rosemary Street and share your thoughts!

This event is part of a 10-month process of engagement with the Town of Chapel Hill and community members to bring together several recent initiatives into a complete vision for the future of the Rosemary Street corridor.

The Rosemary Street corridor was identified during the Chapel Hill 2020 comprehensive planning process as one of the five “big ideas.” The “big ideas” are initiatives that embody the essence of the Chapel Hill 2020 goals and will serve as a beacon to guide the efforts of the Town and the community as Chapel Hill’s future is created.

www.rosemaryimagined.com

For more information contact Dwight Bassett at 919-969-5015 and Meg McGurk at 919-967-9440 or email them at info@rosemaryimagined.com.

DESIGN Chapel Hill 2020 Newsletter Available

With a dozen meetings associated with DESIGN Chapel Hill 2020 scheduled this month, it may be a bit challenging to keep up with the implementation phase of the Town of Chapel Hill’s new comprehensive plan. A lot is going on!

Catch up on DESIGN projects in the September 2013 DESIGN 2020 Newsletter.

Town Manager Roger Stancil says: “Adoption of Chapel Hill 2020 as the comprehensive plan was not an end point, but a beginning. Adoption was a goal accomplished and the beginning of a journey to our preferred future.”

For more information or to receive email updates on various projects, contact us at info@townofchapelhill.org.

Community Invited to Participate in Rosemary Imagined

Information, Conversation, Imagination!

Join community members, Town and University leaders, and downtown business and property owners from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 25, for the first in a series of community meetings about Rosemary Imagined. The kick-off will be held in the Sky Lounge at Greenbridge, 601 Rosemary Street, Chapel Hill. Rosemary Imagined is an innovative community-led planning initiative that will refine our thinking of how Rosemary Street fits into the development and growth of downtown Chapel Hill. Come for information, conversation, and imagination about Rosemary Street and share your thoughts! Light refreshments will be provided.

This community event is part of a 10-month process of engagement with the Town of Chapel Hill and the community to bring together several recent efforts by the community into a complete vision for the future of the Rosemary Street corridor. The Rosemary Street corridor was identified during the Chapel Hill 2020 process as one of the five Big Ideas; the “Big Ideas” are initiatives that embody the essence of the Chapel Hill 2020 goals and will serve as a beacon to guide the efforts of the Town and the community as Chapel Hill’s future is created. In addition, the 2010 draft Downtown Framework and Action Plan developed strong new ideas about connectedness of streets and neighborhoods and has been followed by the adoption of the Northside and Pine Knolls Community Plan.

Rosemary Imagined process began in April with a grassroots effort to identify community stakeholders. The stakeholders hosted focus groups and identified themes, ideas and opportunities for Rosemary Street. The ideas generated from these meetings, as well as a series of community meetings, will be used in framing a plan for the corridor. The results of Rosemary Imagined will be the basis for reevaluating the draft Downtown Framework and Action Plan and providing a new recommendation for the Council to consider adopting as a part of the Chapel Hill 2020 comprehensive plan.

For more information, visit www.rosemaryimagined.com. Contact Dwight Bassett at 919-969-5015 and Meg McGurk at 919-967-9440 or contact them at info@rosemaryimagined.com.