PGAV Projects Awarded 2021 Honors from Missouri APA!

PGAV is honored to have led the Engage O’Fallon planning process for the City of O’Fallon and receive the 2021 Community Initiative Award for Outstanding Public Outreach, Program, Project, or Tool!

PGAV led the 2020 Engage O’Fallon Comprehensive Plan process, working with community stakeholders and City leaders to plan for the future. Completed entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic, the process created an urgent need to think creatively about planning and engagement.

Virtual Engagement

With additional public engagement constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PGAV worked closely with the City to create a robust, well-rounded engagement plan to engage more than 6,000 residents. The process was marketed on both the City’s government channel, weekly circular, and monthly newsletters. The team at PGAV also created an introductory video featuring the Mayor of the City of O’Fallon that was hosted on the City’s engagement website. A 3D, interactive clone of the City’s rotunda was created to act as a medium for public engagement and information dissemination. Multiple in-person workshops were held, an online engagement platform was launched, and the team conducted several stakeholder interviews to ensure all parties were able to engage in this process. By creating a multi-faceted engagement program and utilizing creative methods of citizen outreach for Engage O’Fallon, the PGAV team conducted a collaborative and inclusive engagement process.

O’FALLON, MO - VIRTUAL TOWN HALL

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PGAV is excited to announce that the Marquette Park Master Plan has received the 2021 Outstanding Student Project Award!

Each year, PGAV partners with Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts to host a City Studio STL Fellow. The Fellow undergoes a rigorous application and interview process and then the Fellow and partner firm are matched. In 2020, PGAV hosted Tiffany Dockins who worked with PGAV and the Dutchtown community to create the Marquette Park Master Plan.

For three months, Tiffany worked with the experts at PGAV Planners to create a Master Plan for Marquette Park.  With substantial input from the Dutchtown South Community Corporation, Dutchtown Main Streets, the Allies of Marquette Park, the City of St. Louis, and neighborhood residents, Tiffany developed a robust plan for the Park. 

The plan focused on several key aspects including:  

• Enhancing access to park facilities, making the space more friendly for community gatherings, particularly on the east side of Compton.  

• Re-envisioning circulation and mobility to improve access to multiple amenities such as the pool, picnic tables, playground equipment, and the main recreation center on the western side of the park.  

• Creating a plan that incorporated community feedback. 

• Outlining a plan for implementation, ensuring the various park improvements would come to life in the short term.  

Through comprehensive planning, the project sought to use the power of design, community coordination, and planning to take this neighborhood asset from an underrated gem to becoming a shining star and attraction for the neighborhood.   

A more interesting year than most, Tiffany worked with PGAV and the Dutchtown community on a Master Plan for Marquette Park, entirely executed during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. With assistance from the PGAV team, Tiffany executed an engagement plan, gathered existing conditions, and created an amazing final Master Plan for the community.

By re-thinking Marquette Park and providing a robust, comprehensive Master Plan, the park is on its way to becoming a new and improved neighborhood destination. Since the Master Plan was completed in 2020, several implementation steps have been completed, including the recent addition of a futsal court. Through a private-public partnership with the new Major League Soccer team St. Louis CITY SC, Dutchtown Main Streets and the Allies of Marquette Park, Dutchtown South Community Corporation, MADE STL, Raineri Construction, McConnell and Associates, and several private donors, the unique futsal court recently opened to the public and represents the first major project since the completion of the holistic plan for Marquette Park in 2020.

Grand Station: A Potential Game Changer for St. Louis

I am honored to serve as Co-Chair of the ULI St. Louis TAP program with John Langa of Bi-State Development.  The TAP program helps local governments and community organizations think through complicated land use and development challenges by convening a multi-disciplinary and creative team of subject-matter experts to provide tangible solutions to tricky problems. The TAP program is a service offered as part of ULI St. Louis’ commitment to leveraging its expertise to advance real estate, planning, and development throughout the St. Louis region. 

The recent Grand Station TAP is an exciting example of this commitment in action!

The 2021 TAP program revisited the outcomes of the 2012 Grand Station TAP to evaluate implementation progress based on the previous recommendations and redefine new plans for the area in the future. Today, the Grand Station is the link between the highly traveled north-south #70 Grand bus line and the east-west MetroLink. Significant development has taken place since the 2012 TAP, leading to new goals related to connectivity.  

In order to reimagine the station as a true community mobility hub providing multi-modal access and connectivity to the surrounding development district and beyond, the areas of focus for the 2021 TAP included overcoming the barriers to access and connectivity created by the grade separation, designing an enhanced Grand Station to integrate the Brickline Greenway with surrounding development, and exploring the development identity and mix of uses that will best serve the district and surrounding neighborhoods.

The Takeaways

• We need to change the perception of public transportation in St. Louis. Why don’t residents, workers, or visitors see public transit as an amenity? How can we change this perception?

• We need to redefine mixed use development beyond a mix of land uses. Sustainable development must include things that appeal to mixed demographics (age, income, affordability, abilities, etc.). This is particularly important in this area.

• How can we change the narrative from seeing actual and/or perceived crime as a barrier to the use of public transit into a focus on putting actions and resources toward addressing root causes?

• We need to balance bold, transformative change with slow, incremental steps. Only with both of these will be really be able to build toward the vision.

• Who are we building for? We need to constantly be asking this question to ensure that the development meets the needs of existing neighborhoods and attracts new target demographics from outside of the neighborhood. What is this balance?

• Planning is key. Establishing and implementing development and design standards that build upon the vision will shape future of this unique district.

 View the Grand Station TAP Report.

About the TAP Program

The Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) program provides organizations and municipalities with a cost-effective approach to early-stage planning of site-specific project areas or public policy issues. The TAP program draws on ULI’s membership to assemble an interdisciplinary team of professionals with expertise in the areas of real estate, planning, or development. The panel reviews relevant background information and data provided by the TAP sponsor to gain familiarity with a project or public policy issue. The Panel then devotes one full day’s work to site visits, stakeholder interviews, verbal and graphic collaborative brainstorming, and ideation. The panel concludes the work day with a series of recommendations to present to the TAP sponsor. Finally, ULI issues a formal report detailing the panel’s findings and recommendations. Visit ULI’s website for more information about the TAP Program: https://stlouis.uli.org/resources/taps/

Urban Eats Neighborhood Food Mall and the case for entrepreneur-driven revitalization

As an urban planner, I like to think I help communities set up the rules and regulations that have a positive impact on residents and businesses. However, after all of this high-level planning and strategizing, it is the businesses, residents, and institutions that fill buildings and generate activity, not me. In other words, a plan is just a piece of paper or a website without creative individuals armed with dreams and ideas. With that in mind, let's talk about Urban Eats Neighborhood Food Mall and their role in the Dutchtown neighborhood of St. Louis.

Urban Eats Café operated for more than a decade before being forced to close its doors in March 2020 due to the pandemic. With their immediate future in the traditional dining and food service industry uncertain, owners John Chen and Caya Aufiero switched gears in a big way. They pivoted and made their café and kitchen space into a food incubator to help new food startup businesses. Food service is an intimidating industry to break into, but John and Caya guide new businesses through the City, state, and federal applications so that they can spend more time cooking and less time stressing over paperwork.

I know John and Caya's system pretty well because I went through it myself. I joined the kitchen in October 2020 to make baked goods and sell them at various farmers' markets and pop-ups around the St. Louis area. There were several active businesses there when I started and that number has only grown since then. Some of the businesses work out of the public-facing, former café space and others, like me, just use the kitchen and sell goods elsewhere. All from one location, you can get birria tacos, smothered porkchops and greens, keto-friendly muffins, Detroit-style pizza, chickpea-based chocolate lattes, organic hummus, and hand-rolled and boiled bagels. That's ridiculous!

As of the 2010 census, the demographic mix in the Dutchtown is 50% Black, 35% White, 6% Asian, and 8% from other races or two or more races. About 9% of the population was of Hispanic or Latinx origin. The demographic mix within the kitchen space is similar to the racial and ethnic makeup of the neighborhood around it. This probably goes without saying for most, but I'll say it anyways: the entrepreneurial spirit transcends demographic categories as long as opportunities do the same. Besides Urban Eats, there are several spaces along Meramec in Dutchtown that offer affordable lease opportunities to new businesses and, as a result, the corridor is filling up with interesting and innovative businesses.

For the most part, these businesses aren't, or can't be, concerned with venture capital and they don't have a team of accountants and professionals helping them through the various levels of government and their requirements. Many of these smaller projects wouldn't qualify for financial incentives or regulatory relief, and it might be too much of a burden for them to attempt it. If the help is too hard to get and the hurdles on the path to startup are impassable, a neighborhood or citywide plan created by people like me, albeit well-intentioned, may not have the desired effect.

In 2021, I want to refocus my attention so that I am open to learning from experiments like Urban Eats Neighborhood Food Mall. I had the wonderful opportunity to work alongside a creative and diverse mix of entrepreneurs and I am going to listen, with renewed interest, to the concerns of stakeholders like them when I create plans. As an urban planner, I want to empower entrepreneurs like John and Caya by listening and creating policies that encourage entrepreneur-driven revitalization and, if necessary, get out of their way.

Urban Eats Neighborhood Food Mall is located at 3301 Meramec St in St. Louis, MO (63118). Check out https://urbaneatsstl.com/ for more information about the businesses they host and the services John and Caya provide.

Photo courtesy of DutchtownSTL.org.

8 Podcasts to Kick off 2021

There are more than 80 million podcast listeners in the US and with forecasts suggesting that number to double by 2025, the choices are getting more and more difficult. 

We have selected some of our favorite podcast episodes to get you started in 2021!  From transportation policy to urban education to citizen action, these episodes will get you thinking about what it means to live in (and maybe plan) cities.

1. Criminal “He’s Neutral”

Dan Stevenson has lived in Oakland’s Eastlake neighborhood for 40 years. He says crime has been an issue for as long as he can remember, but he isn’t one to call the police on drug dealers or sex workers. He’s a pretty “live and let live” kind of guy. Or he was. Before he finally got fed up and took matters into his own hands.

2. Where We Buy: Retail Real Estate with James Cook “The Digital Equivalent of Walking the Mall”

Anne Mezzenga and Chris Walton worked together on Target's store of the future project and now they're co-CEOs of Omni Talk & Third Haus. They talk about the latest innovations in friction-free commerce, including computer vision and scan-and-go technology. They also discuss the perils and opportunities for malls and retailers in social media ecommerce. James Cook is the director of retail research in the Americas for JLL. 

3. The New York Times “Nice White Parents”

If you want to understand what’s wrong with our public schools, you have to look at what is arguably the most powerful force in shaping them: white parents. 

4. Building Places | People, Cities and the Future of Real Estate “Can art influence the market value of your real estate?”

Art can not only make a space more unique and inviting, there’s actually a business case for it. Martha Weidmann, CEO of NINE dot ARTS, talks about the value of art in commercial real estate and how to turn your property into a one-of-a-kind experience.

5. 99% Invisible “Guerrilla Public Service Redux”

At some point in your life you’ve probably encountered a problem in the built world where the fix was obvious to you. Maybe a door that opened the wrong way, or poorly painted marker on the road. Mostly, when we see these things, we grumble on the inside, and then do nothing. But not Richard Ankrom.

6. Planet Money “Why Did The Job Cross The Road?”

States across the country are at war right now. A war over jobs. They are competing with each other to get companies to move within their borders. Politicians love to call this "job creation."  States dangle incentives like tax breaks, training programs, freshly paved roads. According to one study, states all over the country are spending $70 billion a year to "create" jobs. But is it really creating a job if it came from a few miles away across the state border?

7. Freakonomics “If Mayors Ruled the World”

The episode expands on an idea from political theorist Benjamin Barber, whose latest book is called If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities. Barber argues that cities are paragons of good governance – compared at least to nation-states – and that is largely due to their mayors. Mayors, Barber argues, are can-do people who inevitably cut through the inertia and partisanship that can plague state and federal governments. To that end, Barber would like to see a global “Parliament of Mayors,” to help solve the kind of big, borderless problems that national leaders aren’t so good at solving.

8. This American Life “Not It!”

Stories of people, cities, and commonwealths touching their noses and proclaiming, "not it!" Including the story of how one city used a rocking chair to take retribution against a late-night TV show host, and an island that takes people it doesn't want to deal with and ships them away.

2020 Holiday Round Up!

Do you have an urban planner in your life? Check out our 2020 Holiday Round Up for gift ideas for your favorite urban planner, map lover, or city connoisseur!

Studio KMO

Turn of the Centuries

Carland Cartography

Jane Hunter Art

Emily Garfield

Katharina Creates

Place Value Pottery

Dan Landau Art

West Florissant Corridor District receives a 2020 Outstanding Local Government Achievement (OLGA) award for Leadership in Planning and Design Innovation!

PGAV was honored to receive a 2020 Outstanding Local Government Achievement (OLGA) award for Leadership in Planning and Design Innovation for the West Florissant Corridor District project!

In 2019, PGAV was engaged by the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership to facilitate a joint land use plan and zoning code update for the West Florissant Corridor, working with the municipalities of Ferguson, Dellwood, and Jennings. This process sought to understand the existing conditions on the corridor and make practical code updates to encourage the kind of development that each city wanted. By providing internal coordination and encouraging collaboration between the municipalities, PGAV was able to work with each City to design the land use regulations they desired, and communicate how the plan could work across municipal boundaries to create a cohesive corridor.

Ultimately, PGAV drafted a new zoning code which each municipality adopted, creating the West Florissant Corridor District.

Learn more about PGAV’s work on the project here.

Halloween in the time of COVID-19

By Jenny Ryan

Originally, when I was asked to write a blog post about Halloween, I was really excited to talk about how the celebration builds community, serves as a conduit for neighborly interaction, and underscores the importance of a walkable neighborhood. I was going to write about the importance of Halloween in children’s lives - how trick or treating can influence young attitudes toward family, neighbors, and the environment and public spaces in their community. These community experiences are crucial in the cognitive and social development of young children. Neighborhoods have a profound impact on children because they help define parents’ abilities to create safe, healthy, and nurturing environments. 

As I write this, the CDC and local health authorities have recommended against traditional trick or treating and large Halloween parties as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to redefine how we celebrate together. How will social distancing affect the community building and celebration associated with Halloween?

I feel very fortunate that my family lives in a neighborhood that has the ideal urban design for a safe public space. There are doors and porches close to the street, a density of buildings, sidewalks, inviting tree lawns, and good lighting. These elements provide not just a comfortable environment for trick or treating, but for our daily lives as we move through our public spaces. They create livable, walkable communities and draw our neighbors together, not necessarily a good thing in a time of social distancing.

Our street, including our block and the two adjacent blocks, has become an annual destination as kids from all over the City come to our neighborhood  to celebrate Halloween. Normally, my block is transformed on Halloween. The street is closed to traffic creating a vibrant public space for visiting trick or treaters and residents alike. Neighbors gather around firepits as kids run up and the down the middle of the street savoring their temporary freedom.

It’s unlikely that will be the situation this Halloween, but how do we have a safe Halloween?

With a little planning and design, neighborhoods can celebrate Halloween safely together through creative approaches to giving out candy and other socially distant communal activities.

Giving candy to trick or treaters can be turned into a game with the help of some DIY inventions. Innovative modifications such as Halloween chutes can bridge the social distance with items around the house such as a gift wrap cardboard roll and some decorative tape which can be used to create a fun way for trick or treaters to get candy from a safe distance. Or you could be a little more ambitious like one of my neighbors who is toying with the idea of a candy catapult. When I looked up candy catapults online, I was surprised to learn it was a good STEM activity for kids.

Candy can be given from behind a decorated table or plexiglass divider. Maybe design a spooky panel divider where candy comes out of an opening that’s a monster’s mouth. Or leave individual candy bags on front steps (naively hoping kids will adhere to the honor system and not dump the whole sweet supply into their pillowcases.)

But Halloween is so much more than candy. Think costume parties and haunted houses, just don’t think of them taking place inside. Now is the time to embrace the Norwegian concept of friluftsliv which translates roughly to “open-air living”, the idea of enjoying activities outside even in colder weather. Holding socially distant activities outside offers a natural advantage in the pandemic because people can avoid enclosed spaces where the virus spreads more easily. In the context of Halloween, friluftsliv can mean neighborhood strolls with friends looking at Halloween decorations. One of my neighbors sent an invitation to everyone on the block to share a ghost story to be recorded on a website for neighbors to listen to as they walk around the block looking at Halloween decorations. Or consider having a neighborhood candy scavenger hunt, or a Halloween parade for the kids to show off their costumes and adults can toss candy to the kids as they walk by (maybe this is a time to use that candy catapult).

I’m hopeful that this year my neighborhood will still transform our block into a safe public space by hosting a socially distant block party, maybe with marked circles on the ground 6 feet apart for those firepits. (Did I mention there’s even a special Norwegian word, utepils, for drinking a beer outdoors? That is my kind of culture.)

By using some planning, design, and creativity, Halloween can be a safe and manageable celebration for everyone and will definitely create singularly spooky memories for years to come.