The City of Edmonds is holding a design workshop Saturday, March 12 for citizens interested in the future development of the Westgate and Five Corners commercial areas. The meeting will be in the Plaza Room, located above the Edmonds Library at 650 Main St., from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be available.

Sponsored by the City of Edmonds Economic Development Commission in collaboration with the University of Washington Green Futures Lab and the Cascade Land Conservancy, this is the second in a series of planning meetings for the Five Corners and Westgate neighborhood commercial areas. The first meetings, on Jan. 25 and 26, focused on helping citizens envision ideas for developing the two areas.

This Saturday’s meeting will be a hands-on design workshop enabling an interaction between fellow citizens, business and property owners to:

– Work with design professionals to explore ideas on how these areas could develop in the future.

– Hear the results of preference surveys and a market overview analysis.

– Learn about implementation tools, such as form-based codes or potential pedestrian or traffic improvements.

This ongoing project is being sponsored by the City of Edmonds, working with a team of faculty and graduate students from the University of Washington, College of Built Environment, to create plans for the future of these two neighborhood commercial areas.

City staff coordinating the effort are Planning Manager Rob Chave and Community Services/Economic Development Director Stephen Clifton, in conjunction with the city’s Economic Development Commission and Planning Board. The Cascade Land Conservancy is assisting with the public involvement process, providing examples of trends and effective neighborhood development efforts around the region and in other coastal cities.

The overall goal of the project is to develop concepts that exemplify sustainable approaches for future development in suburban cities and preparation of a special district plan and an implementation strategy for each of the two neighborhood commercial areas. Students from the undergraduate Community, Environment, and Planning program have been working since last October to collect data on the use and configuration of each commercial area. A new team of graduate students in urban planning, landscape architecture and architecture started in late December to continue that work and develop the special district plans.

Beyond the current design workshop, additional public meetings will offer other opportunities to get involved.  Later in the Spring, public meetings will show the results of this effort. The project will ultimately include presentations to City officials, research on form-based codes, production of final conceptual designs, and preparation of a report with recommendations for implementation. More information can be found at the City’s website.

Contact city staff (Rob Chave @ 425-771-0220 or Stephen Clifton @ 425-771-0251) for more information.