Clifton Community Partnership

Urban Design Guidelines article:
Making Headway with the Urban Design Project
May 29, 2008
Source: Community Partnership Update/May 2007

Imagine walking from your house to dinner at a nearby restaurant—and on the way, running into neighbors and stopping to chat. Also imagine having coffee in a beautifully landscaped plaza while listening to musicians – or hopping on your bicycle to run errands, get to class or go to work. What if you could do all of this without having to get into a car, endure traffic or find a place to park? It would be more convenient, and a lot healthier, too. Scores of nearby residents are helping to envision such a future. They are working with the Clifton Community Partnership (CCP) to create urban design guidelines that set the stage for planned future development. You too can be part of this vision. Mark your calendar for Monday, June 11—the next community workshop for the urban design guidelines.

Previous community workshops, including a Saturday charrette in January, have featured lively discussion as people shared ideas about how to make the Clifton community more vibrant than it is now. Designers and planners from Goody Clancy have explained that metro Atlanta is facing tremendous growth, and described how we can guide it in ways that bring quality of life benefits to the Clifton community, while protecting neighborhoods.

The focus on the project is on the streets and commercial centers, within a mile of Emory’s campus, that are currently unattractive and vehicle centered. At previous workshops in November and January, the team invited collaboration on vision, principles and strategies for enhancing the pedestrian experience and for protecting historic neighborhoods and other environmentally sensitive areas. At the most recent workshop in March, community members were shown emerging principles from the area of North Decatur and Clairmont roads, down Clifton Road to Briarcliff Road and the Sage Hill shopping complex. Neighbors worked in small groups around maps and drawings, sharing pros and cons and adding ideas.

With insights from the community, the urban design team is now drafting the guidelines, which will be the focus of the June 11 workshop. Some of the ideas that have come from previous community meetings include:
• The expansion of a safe, inviting pedestrian network with larger sidewalks and safer crosswalks;
• Shady, tree-lined streets and other landscape elements;
• Making changes to traffic lanes that will balance traffic flow while providing a safer pedestrian experience;
• Recommended transit and infrastructure improvements;
• Protection of natural wooded areas; and
• Suggested residential neighborhood preservation areas and environmental initiatives.

Miss the public meeting, but want to share your opinion? Visit www.cliftoncommunitypartnership.org to take the CCP questionnaire about the urban design guidelines.