National Planning Achievement Awards 2014
In addition to the Planning Excellence Awards presented this year, 10 Achievement Award recipients were selected by the awards jury as examples of good planning work. The Achievement recipients were recognized collectively at the Awards Luncheon held during APA's National Planning Conference.
2014 National Planning Achievement Awards Winners
National Planning Achievement Award for a Best Practice
Berkeley Downtown Area Project
Berkeley, California
The Berkeley Downtown Area Project is a multi-faceted project to help promote livability and address social, economic, and environmental challenges. The project includes efforts to create an enhanced city center; zoning standards that include requirements for community benefits, green building, and transportation demand management; design guidelines; and streets and open space improvement plan in conjunction with a nexus study and collection of fees to implement the plan. The project has successfully translated community aspirations into concrete actions.
National Planning Achievement Award for a Best Practice
Los Angeles, California
Reclaiming the Right-of-Way is a toolkit that provides city staff and community members with practical guidance to support the development of parklets — places that emerge from the low-cost conversion of small and underutilized residual spaces originally devoted to cars into places for the passive or active recreation of people. The toolkit originated to facilitate parklet projects in Los Angeles and covers precedents in Los Angeles, municipal cast studies, design guidance, and creative photo simulations. Despite having a Los Angeles focus, the toolkit and its accompanying best practices are being used across the country by cities interested in creating their parklet programs.
National Planning Achievement Award for Environmental Planning
Arlington County Community Energy Plan
Arlington, Virginia
The Community Energy Plan (CEP) is a new element of Arlington County's Comprehensive Plan. The CEP addresses all major aspects of energy generation, use, and distribution in Arlington between now and 2050. The overarching goal is to reduce the community's greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70 percent by 2050. The plan focuses on six long-term energy planning goals, including: increasing building energy and operational efficiency; using district energy to increase local energy supply and distribution efficiency; employing renewable energy technologies; refining and expanding transportation infrastructure and operations consistent with the master transportation plan; integrating CEP goals into all county government activities; and advocating and supporting personal action.
National Planning Achievement Award for Environmental Planning
Sustainable DC Plan
Washington, D.C.
Sustainable DC Plan includes 143 specific actions, 32 goals, and 31 targets to make the city more sustainable. The plan has expanded residents' understanding of sustainability beyond environmental efforts to include job opportunities, healthier families, economic savings, and new transportation options. Sustainable DC has granted district agencies $4.5 million to test innovations such as solar or green rooftops and anti-idling devices on police cars to reduce emissions. A volunteer corps partners with community organizations monthly to tackle sustainability-related projects. The plan has improved access to healthy food, is in the process of renovating the city's 78-park playground, and has led to a new energy code to encourage greater efficiency.
National Planning Achievement Award for Implementation
Downtown Golden Urban Renewal Project
Golden, Colorado
The Downtown Golden Urban Renewal Project was a 25-year effort started by the Golden Urban Renewal Authority (GURA) to address the downtown's dilapidated buildings, high vacancy rates, and crumbling infrastructure. Since 1989, GURA has helped create more than 500 new local employment opportunities; increased the value of the area by a projected 246 percent in 2016; increased sales tax revenue by 136 percent; and nearly eliminated downtown vacancy from 20 percent to nearly zero. GURA also assisted with the implementation or facilitation of several services, including façade preservation and improvement programs; small business websites; construction of housing, office, and retail development, and rehabilitation of the Foothills Art Center and the American Mountaineering Museum.
National Planning Achievement Award for Economic Planning & Development
Trail Towns: Boosting Appalachian Communities Through Tourism
Maryland and Pennsylvania
The Trail Town Program® and Certified Trail Friendly program are cooperative efforts by the Maryland Department of Planning, the Allegheny Trail Alliance, and The Progress Fund to revitalize a 150-mile corridor of trailside communities along the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP). These programs reap the economic benefits of recreational tourism using a two-stage approach to regional economic development. The Certified Trail Friendly program builds upon the Trail Town Program® by strengthening links between recreational trail users and local businesses. The successful voluntary business certification program encourages all trail users to patronize participating businesses along the GAP in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
National Planning Achievement Award for Public Outreach
San Francisco Budget Czar Game
San Francisco, California
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority developed the Budget Czar game to get citizen input on the countywide transportation investment priorities through 2040. The multilingual, interactive website enabled citizens to select from a menu of transportation programs, operations, maintenance funding levels, and capital projects within the projected $64.3 billion that would be available during the transportation plan's lifetime. If users surpassed their budget, they were instructed to reduce their spending or find additional revenue. The website solicited input but also helped educate citizens on the complexities of local transportation funding. More than 900 responses were received, a higher level of engagement than previous outreach efforts from public meetings and surveys.
National Planning Achievement Award for Public Outreach
Pop Up City: Temporary Interventions for Community Engagement
Cleveland, Ohio
Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC) develops temporary interventions that gauge community support for new projects and policies before making significant political or financial commitments. Pop Up City enables citizens to envision future development alternatives based on actual experiences. The process raises awareness of opportunities and helps build consensus around a development vision. In the past three years, temporary interventions have explored alternatives for public space design and highlighted some of Cleveland's underutilized properties entertainingly. Pop Up City increases public participation and generates better long-term development outcomes. For example, more than 8,000 citizens participated in the Detroit-Superior Bridge project a comprehensive transportation planning process to convert the infrastructure into usable public space.
National Planning Achievement Award for Transportation
SANBAG Improvement to Transit Access for Cyclists and Pedestrians
County of San Bernardino, California
The San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG) examined the ability of non-motorized users to access its regional transit network. The SANBAG Improvement to Transit Access for Cyclists and Pedestrians Report presents proposed facility improvements for specific corridors leading to Metrolink Commuter Rail stations and sbX Bus Rapid Transit stations. Each station has a description of the recommended improvements for cyclists and pedestrians, explaining where each improvement should be made and a cost estimate for implementing the recommended improvements. The year-long project sought to identify existing access barriers, inform stakeholders of industry best practices, and propose planning-level improvements in and around the selected stations. SANBAG and Omnitrans have begun implementing recommendations and continue to work with local jurisdictions to achieve the goals of the project.
National Planning Achievement Award for Urban Design
Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan
Chula Vista, California
The Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan builds upon two prior decades of planning and focuses on the redevelopment and revitalization of approximately 556 acres of bayfront property, including state tidelands and uplands under the port's jurisdiction as well as uplands under the city's jurisdiction. The plan designates more than 200 acres of the site as open space, creates a pedestrian circulation plan of approximately 54,000 linear feet of shoreline promenade, trails, and sidewalks, improves public access and recreation opportunities, and establishes new public parks for passive and active uses. The plan will raise significant investment and capital for the area and seeks to harmonize environmental protection, community interests, and economic development.