UPDATE:
Midtown Moving Forward
Invites Public to Participate in
Planning Workshops Next Week
Various Events in September and October,
Online and In-person
City Identifies Early Implementation Opportunities
Midtown is Moving Forward with public engagement opportunities throughout the fall. In collaboration with a team of community organizations, the City is sponsoring various ways and venues for participation. From in-person community events to online conversations and technical planning exercises, the opportunities for public participation will be bi-lingual and designed to appeal to a variety of stakeholders.
Next week, September 22-25, there will be a series of planning workshops (schedule below). Please visit midtowndistrictsantafe.com/all-events for an updated schedule of the entire menu of events, and more information that provides context..
Mayor Alan Webber says: “We are committed to creating an equitable and sustainable Midtown District. Our communities are diverse, and this engagement process must match that diversity. The future shape of Santa Fe is on the drawing boards. It’s important for residents to participate in planning the most consequential development of a generation in the life of Santa Fe.”
Early Implementation Proposals
The City’s planning team has also identified several opportunities for early implementation that will be reviewed and discussed by the Governing Body and Committees in October. The groundwork for these projects is based on early public input from as far back as the Re:Mike event in 2008, the 2016 Midtown Local Innovation Corridor Overlay District (LINC) planning events and zoning approvals for the St Michaels and Cerrillos corridors, and the 2018 Midtown Planning Guidelines approved by the Governing Body. More recently, the July Midtown Moving Forward Listening Sessions provided further opportunities to discuss the community’s shared vision for the site and general land use guidelines for future development.
The opportunities being investigated reflect public discussions going back many years about how to bring momentum and focus resources for reviving the Midtown District into Santa Fe’s urban hub. These ideas include:
- The rehabilitation and reuse of the existing Fogelson Library complex for a state-of-the-art public library and innovation center for Santa Fe schools, families and communities.
- The rehabilitation and reuse of the Visual Arts Complex to create a thriving Community Arts and Culture Hub to include offices, exhibition space, classes, worker space, performance and theatre space. The City’s Arts and Culture Department will partner with an experienced entity with the vision and capacity to redevelop, master lease, and manage a dynamic and welcoming hub of community arts and culture organizations starting in the Fall.
- The expansion of the Garson Film and Multi-media studio through partnerships with established developers and operators, including the Santa Fe Community College and University of New Mexico film schools, to ensure ongoing career development and skills training for crews and professionals.
- A new vision of a Midtown City Hall that is programmed as both a one-stop Government and Community Services facility to bring government resources and community services programming to a more central location and benefit the people living nearby, as well as establishing a local employment center to activate the Midtown District.
The Governing Body and its Committees will also consider a resolution in October 2021 directing staff to initiate an application for rezoning Midtown. The re-zoning ordinance will allow for the mix of uses, urban streetscape and housing types necessary to support a revitalized community center. The ordinance and development framework will be brought forward for review and discussion through the City’s land use entitlement process and final Governing Body approval in late-Summer of 2022. This process will be supported by public engagement activities planned for Fall 2021 and the work of the Midtown Moving Forward Planning Team.
The team is also investigating the potential of a Midtown Metropolitan Redevelopment Area and a Midtown Community Development Plan.
- The Midtown Metropolitan Redevelopment is to help finance and incentivize investment to realize the community’s vision for Midtown.
- The Midtown Community Development Plan will address community priorities and requirements for development within the Midtown District.
MIDTOWN MOVING FORWARD SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
September Planning Workshops: The Planning Workshops will include discussions, meetings, presentations, and open studios to enable participants to interact with planners, as land use and development plans begin to unfold. These plans will be the basis of zoning and master plan applications that will require regulatory public reviews, hearings, and comment periods which conclude with approvals by the Planning Commission and Governing Body.
Learn about how the vision for Midtown is informing design principles and site concepts such as connectivity, open space, development intensity and more
For full schedules and instructions on how to join online events, please visit midtowndistrictsantafe.com/all-events.
September 22
Planning Workshop Zoom Webinar 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
A presentation from the consultant team will provide the opportunity for audience members to share their opinions through interactive polls and participate in a Q&A following the presentation.
September 23
Planning Workshop Drop-In
3:00 – 8:00 p.m., Southside Library, 6599 Jaguar Dr.
Members of the project team will be on hand to walk community members through a series of exhibits, answer questions and take feedback in a relaxed setting.
Voices at Midtown Online Event
5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
The Residents’ Bill of Rights – How the housing and urban planning pillars (affordability, quality, sustainability/health, accessibility/fairness/equity, stability/permanence/displacement protection and community control) will be applied to Midtown.
September 24
Planning Workshop Drop-In
9:00 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Higher Education Center, 1950 Siringo Rd.
A 3D conceptual model of the Midtown site will show how these concepts could inform development on the site. Members of the project team will be on hand to walk community members through a series of exhibits, answer questions and take feedback in a relaxed setting.
September 25
Planning Workshop Drop-In
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Higher Education Center, 1950 Siringo Rd.
Same agenda as above.
Planning Workshop Zoom Webinar 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Same agenda as September 22.
Site Events at Midtown
11:00 – 2:00 pm
Midtown Tenant Clinic & Bike Giveaway
Higher Education Center, 1950 Siringo Rd.