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215 PARK AVENUE SOUTH, 4TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10003-1624 212-242-2490 FAX 212-242-2549 www.nelsonnygaard.com
M E M O R A N D U M To: City of Wichita
From: Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates
Date: April 18, 2019 (Revised October 31, 2019)
Subject: Douglas Avenue Open House Summary
OVERVIEW On Wednesday, April 3, 2019 from 11:30am to 1:30pm and then from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, approximately 100 people attended the City of Wichita Douglas Avenue Open House Events. The events were hosted by Downtown Wichita and were facilitated by the team from Nelson/Nygaard. The open houses provided an opportunity for stakeholders and members of the public to learn about and discuss possible design options for Douglas Avenue that resulted from a more detailed stakeholder charrette discussion held the previous day.
OPEN HOUSE
Event Outreach/Advertisement In addition to conducting working sessions while in Wichita, the project team conducted a variety of public engagement activities to discuss ideas with concerned and affected stakeholders, and to build community involvement in the planning process. These were promoted via the project website (www.wichita.gov/EastDouglas), the City’s Facebook page (which was also promoted by the Mayor and District 1 City Council member’s pages, Downtown Wichita, Bike Walk Wichita, and others), Twitter feeds, and website as well as through an article in the Wichita Eagle, radio advertisements on KMUW, postcard mailers to stakeholders along the
DOUGLAS AVENUE OPEN HOUSE SUMMARY City of Wichita, Kansas
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Douglas Avenue corridor, and email notifications to the project email list as well as through organizations such as Downtown Wichita, Old Town, Douglas Design District, and other local groups.
Sign-in Table Participants were asked to provide their name and email address both to track the number of participants and to help with keeping participants informed of future updates. Comment cards were also available at this station for participants to provide written comments.
Design Tables Three tables were set up in the room, each displaying an aerial from the following general areas of the Douglas corridor:
Downtown
Corridor-Wide
Douglas Design District
The Downtown and Douglas Design District design tables included sketches of consensus options for the configuration of Douglas Avenue based on discussions from the more detailed charrette held the previous day. These options reflected a three-lane Douglas Avenue that included a center turn lane, one travel lane in either direction, and parking and bicycle lanes within the existing curb-to-curb width of Douglas Avenue.
The Corridor-Wide design table included an aerial of the entire corridor (from the Arkansas River to Grove Street) for further discussion with attendees on more specific locations along Douglas Avenue that may not have been represented on the other two design tables.
Slides – Photos and Images Along the wall, three screens showed a rotating slide show with photos of examples from other communities where designs elements similar to those possible as part of a three lane configuration have occurred. The slide show also included information depicting safety elements of similar corridors, traffic volumes along similar corridors before and after similar projects, as well as potential design elements that could be implemented with modifications to the corridor.
Goals – Input Response Finally, participants were asked and encouraged to prioritize goal statements identified during the charrette and other community planning efforts. This provided an opportunity for people indicate how goals developed as a part of the overall Downtown Streets Plan and those discussed
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in the previous days’ charrette were important to them in the context of Douglas Avenue. In total there were 14 goals that participants were asked to prioritize with 9 additional goals added by other participants. Overall, the five goals most resonating with attendees were:
Increase Walkability and Bikeability
Attract and Retain Young Talent
Attract Downtown Development
Make Bus and Shuttle Service More Attractive and Useful
Make Downtown and Douglas Avenue More Welcoming to Children, Older Adults, and Families
Photos of the open house sessions, representative sketches of consensus cross sections, and results of the goals-input prioritization are presented on the following pages.
Figure 1: Midday Open House
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Figure 2: Evening Open House
Figure 3: Design Table #1 – Downtown Douglas Avenue Option
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Figure 4: Downtown Douglas Avenue Consensus Option
Figure 5: Downtown Douglas Avenue Cross Sections
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Figure 6: Design Table #2 – Douglas Avenue Corridor-Wide
Figure 7: Design Table #3 – Douglas Design District
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Figure 8: East Douglas Avenue Option 1 (With Parallel Parking)
Figure 9: East Douglas Avenue Option 1 Cross Section (With Parallel Parking)
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Figure 10: East Douglas Avenue Option 2 (With Angled Parking)
Figure 11: East Douglas Avenue Option 2 Cross Section (With Angled Parking)
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Figure 12: Goals Feedback Results
Wichita Goals Feedback
Most Important Highly Important Important Low Priority Not Important
Foster Consistent Economic Invesment
Attract downtown development 19 14 3 1
Attract & retain young talent 18 14 5 1
Promote Vibrant Downtown Neighborhoods
Make bus & shuttle service more attractive & useful 9 19 4 1
Make downtown more welcoming to children, older adults, &
families 12 15 5
Make walking more comfortable 14 13 4
Make downtown more beautiful 10 13 8
Enhance Safety & Health
Increase walkability & bikeability 30 7 4
Reduce traffic injuries 11 10 4 2
Be a Good Steward of Public Resources
Ensure a high public return on public investments 4 14 9 2 1
Minimize maintenance costs 5 12 9 3
Provide more mobility options for employers, residents, & visitors 8 18 4
Improve Downtown's Convenience
Improve parking availability 4 6 8 9 7
Reduce existing traffic congestion 5 3 11 9 6
Embrace Innovation & Technology
Accommodate new mobility, like scooters & ridehail 2 9 20 4
Other Comments
Friendliness, Welcoming
Parklets
Glad East High traffic is being scrutinized for greater safety and
access for students
More crosswalks
Need bike racks and corrals, use corrals to support bulb‐outs and
improve line of sight at former car parking spots. Design goals
should focus on cyclists off sidewalk and into lanes, and slow down
cars. Prefer option 1 over option 2.
Streetlights on timers waste time 1
Speed bumps on crosswalk bumpouts 1 1
Downtown development using existing buildings 1
Get rid of bricks on sidewalks. Using a walker on bricks (crosswalks,
sidewalks) makes walking extremely difficult 1
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