Committee recommends Envision CR updates and First Avenue East micro-area plan for council adoption

City planning staff asked the Development Committee on Feb. 19 to recommend that City Council adopt updates to Envision CR and the First Avenue East micro-area action plan.

Betsy Borchard (Community Development) described the Envision CR update process (adopted 2015) and said the update streamlines initiative tracking across departments; staff asked the committee to forward the adoption recommendation to council. "This process saves city staff time, but also saves the city money," Borchard said, and staff noted an open house is planned in April.

Noah, the First Avenue presenter, described a micro-area plan developed after the First Avenue Hy‑Vee closure to address immediate neighborhood needs, including food access and pharmacy availability. Staff reported outreach results (six focus groups with roughly 42 participants, an online survey with about 56 responses and an open house with 17 stakeholders) and listed priority action steps: establishing a working group to identify barriers and recommend business recruitment tactics; developing programs to assist area businesses; exploring streetscape and safety upgrades; linking economic-development programs to neighborhood revitalization; and funding a historic context statement. Committee members praised the online interactive format and asked staff to circulate the draft to stakeholder groups and neighborhood associations before council consideration scheduled for Feb. 25.

The committee voted to forward both the Envision CR updates and the First Avenue East micro-area action plan to City Council for adoption.