To accomplish this, locally based Duany Plater-Zyberk, the architects of the project, divided the city into four quadrants. New zoning for each, beginning with the Northeast quadrant, would be developed and enacted in a succession of four six-month timeframes. The plans are developed through a series of public workshops in which residents, developers and all interested parties hash out their, sometimes conflicting, hopes and ideas.
The first phase began in June, and an initial draft was to be submitted by the end of this year. Jorge Planas, project director for Duany Plater-Zyberk, tells GlobeSt.com, "we always assumed the first quadrant would be the longest and most difficult. We were hoping to have something to show now. But, during the process, the city and we had to prepare for three hurricanes, and there were also complaints about workshops during the holidays. So, the date was pushed back. We anticipate completion by spring 2006, and we expect the other three quadrants to move along much faster.
"What we present next year will not be final," he adds. "It will show what we think and what we've learned. We'll give it to the public and go back to the NET (neighborhood enhancement) groups. Surely there will be corrections and tweaking before the plan is submitted to the city."
The level of attendance and interest at workshops, Planas says, "has been extremely high. Some groups submitted written lists, saying 'these are our concerns,' and these concerns are all given consideration in the process of reformulating codes."
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