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Bexley to update Main Street design guidelines; Jeff Speck to lead walkability audit
Summary
Mayor Karen Bowden announced a commercial design-guidelines update for Bexley, named committee representatives and said consultant Jeff Speck will present findings and speak to the public as the process begins April 23.
Mayor Karen Bowden told the Architecture Review Board on April 23 that the city is launching an update to its Main Street design guidance that will expand to commercial corridors beyond the downtown.
Bowden said the city will convene a small steering committee and named ARB member Pete Scott as the board's representative and Andrew Rosenthal as the representative to the Board of Zoning and Planning. She said the process "is kicking off, in a dramatic fashion on April 23," and that planner Jeff Speck will do a walkability audit and speak that evening at the Drexel.
The update will be called the commercial design guidelines, Bowden said, because it will address more than Main Street alone, adding Livingston and other commercial corridors to the scope. She said the city has circulated the existing Main Street design guidelines (adopted in 2002) and a tentative scope and meeting cadence to boards and commissions.
The mayor described the work as partly design-guidelines and partly form-based: it will reconsider how building facades, setbacks and streetscape elements interact with pedestrians and local businesses. "We have learned from projects where our Main Street design guidelines have worked really well and where they've fallen short," she said, and the update is intended to address those shortfalls.
Bowden said the city has not finalized a lead planning vendor and may use a mix of in-house staff and outside support; she expected to announce the contracting approach the following week. She also said the city plans workshops and wants representatives from boards and commissions on the steering committee and in public workshops.
Why it matters: The guidelines will shape future development and street-level design across multiple commercial corridors in Bexley, affecting how new buildings, porches, sidewalks and public-space elements are reviewed by staff and the ARB.
What happens next: The process begins April 23 with Speck's audit and public talk, followed by a vendor decision and a schedule of workshops that the mayor said will include opportunities for board and public input.
