by Michael Cromer
If the stakeholders
in a community get together and imagine their ideal neighborhood ten,
fifteen, even 25 years into the future, can their collective vision
then become an action plan to make that future a reality?The owners, residents, and businesses in the Victorian Village area just east of downtown Memphis would like to find out. With the guidance of the city planning specialists and consultants, they met at St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral on Poplar Avenue to participate in meetings and focus groups, spaced over two weeks in January.
The Office of Planning and Development chose Victorian Village for this process because it is part of the much larger Medical District, soon to be the subject of comprehensive planning and re-zoning consideration.
The original impetus came from the Victorian Village Velocity Group, a small neighborhood association. Owner-resident Scott Blake, attorney Richard Fields, preservationist Eldridge Wright, and several other residence and business owners started the group.
VVVG petitioned the Center City Commission (CCC), and they picked up the ball. “The Commission has been instrumental in bringing the players together and creating an incubator to grow the neighborhood idea,” Scott told us.
The area takes its
name from its principal landmark: the grand, nineteenth-century
mansions that line Adams Avenue. The neighborhood encompasses about two
dozen city blocks. It lies between Poplar and Union Avenues on the
north and south, and is bounded by Danny Thomas Blvd on the west and
Manassas Street on the east. Jefferson Avenue is the area’s wide
central artery and primary access to downtown.One of the neighborhood association’s missions is to nurture the economic mix of housing opportunities in the area. The neighborhood could hardly be more diverse. Residential structures range from high-rise and sprawling garden-style apartments, to modest duplex and single-family homes, to a number of historic homes and mansions listed on the National Register. Several of those properties are now public museums: the Mallory-Neely and Woodruff-Fontaine Houses, dating to around 1850-1870. Several other historic homes have been recently renovated and are owner-occupied.
Virtually every
commercial zoning classification is represented somewhere in the
district. Current businesses include Goodwill Industries, landmark
neighborhood restaurants like Neely’s Bar-B-Que on Jefferson, various
retail, and professional groups of doctors and lawyers, some occupying
historic properties. Government and institutions are a large presence,
including the Juvenile Court complex on Adams, facilities of the
University of Tennessee, and the city’s vehicle inspection center.To prepare for the January 13th meeting, a group of planning consultants from Loony Ricks Kiss (LRK), led by Steve Auterman, took inventory and collected information. They walked the neighborhoods, snapped photos of everything, and interviewed locals to get their perspectives. When the owners and residents – the “stakeholders” -- arrived for the meetings, planners were well prepared with data and exhibits.
For most of the day, LRK held focus group sessions, asking questions such as these: What do you consider the strengths of your neighborhood? What do you consider weaknesses that could be room for improvement? What would you like your neighborhood to be that it isn’t already? At the end of the day, responses and ideas were consolidated and summarized.
Understandably, the
Victorian Village stakeholders pointed to the historic character of
Victorian Village as its number one strength. Other strengths mentioned
included proximity to downtown and schools, the Jefferson Street
corridor, the two parks, and the neighborhood’s attraction to tourists
and school groups, among many others. Among weaknesses, the
participants identified such issues as a transient population, too few
owner-residents, certain unattractive or derelict properties, poor
lighting, and others. Residents tended to view the governmental and
institutional properties such as the Juvenile Court as assets and
opportunities, more than being liabilities.The planning specialists also offered ideas and suggestions of their own. For example, the street grid in the area is conducive to east west traffic, but tends to inhibit car and foot travel in the north-south direction. They suggested ways to improve access and draw people into the historic neighborhoods
By the second meeting a week later, objectives had been further refined, and the planners sketched some proposals onto overlays that were fitted over a large aerial view of the region. New ideas appeared, such as a proposal to redistribute existing park space, yielding widened, tree-lined north-south travel lanes.
Although these visions are only ideas and still years from being reality, the stakeholders could see how their neighborhood might evolve into a better balance of residence types and commercial uses, integrated with auto, bike, and footpaths that lead naturally through the historic heart of Victorian Village.
Planners and designers are now working to shape all that has been learned through this process into a proposed plan. Much can and will be adjusted as these ideas are reality-checked, but everyone believes that such early-stage planning processes can set the best course for the future.
“We have been very pleased with the process to date,” said Scott Blake. “Overall, the process has been very effective.”
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Watch for Part 2 of this article in the near future.
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Michael Cromer recently moved to Memphis and lives on Main Street. He is working on a documentary about California painter Anders Aldrin (1889-1970), while keeping an eye open for opportunities to film Memphis subjects. Mike is also a Downtown Neighborhood Association board member.