Town Administrator          October 21, 2019

Town of Erie Sought by Design Firm
DPZ CoDesign, an internationally renowned design firm, will be facilitating a 7-day community visioning exercise to lay the foundation for a shared vision of Town Center. 

The 390 acres, around Town Center (the intersection of Erie Parkway and County Line Road) was recently studied by the Urban Land Institute. Their findings show this location is prime for becoming a unique and thriving place with the right mix of retail, office, residential, civic, park and open space uses. The community is invited to mutually author the making of Town Center.

Let's create, share and inspire together November 6-12!

A Smart Growth Approach
Most traditional—and well-loved—cities, towns and villages evolved over time as compact, walkable, mixed-use places reflecting the geography and economic circumstances of their time and location. However, widespread ownership of cars over the past 60 years has influenced most places to grow in a completely different form, spread loosely along highways and haphazardly across once-open country. Municipal zoning practices and design standards have reinforced this development pattern, separating homes from offices, shops, churches and schools in a way that favors cars over people.

To foster the full potential of Erie’s Town Center to become a place everyone enjoys, with great shopping and thriving businesses, we will consider different principles in the design and community engagement process to create buildings, streets and neighborhoods that residents enjoy and where businesses thrive. Neighborhoods reflecting these principles have survived and prospered over the centuries. This “Smart Growth” approach returns to these time-tested principles and adapts them for a sustainable 21st century.

The DPZ CoDesign team members are experts in Smart Growth, in fact they coauthored the book The Smart Growth Manual. However, they are also experts in listening carefully to the communities in which they work and they follow a rigorous process—the charrette—to make sure the plans they help the community develop reflect both Smart Growth AND how the community wants their neighborhoods to look and feel. During the charrette they will illustrate and explain development options and with your input, we can successfully create a sense of place and community that provides a high quality of life.

Let's get started! www.erieco.gov/1428/Town-Center