Should downtown Denver become more walkable? Should it offer more places to shop and easier parking options?
Civic leaders are seeking feedback from people throughout the metro area on these and other basic questions about the future of Denver’s city center.
Results will be incorporated into discussions for a new Downtown Area Plan. Since January, a group gathered by the city and county of Denver and the Downtown Denver Partnership has been re-evaluating long-term land use, urban design, transportation and historic preservation as they affect Denver’s core.
Their recommendations will be compiled into a final plan to be presented to City Council for review and adoption in 2007.
“The goal of this plan is a vision of what we hope downtown Denver will become in the next 20 years,” said Jessica Baker, urban planning manager for the Downtown Denver Partnership.
The poll, called the Outlook Survey, is a follow-up to an earlier Visual Preference Survey in which 864 people expressed their reactions to the appearance of downtown Denver and other major cities.
“The first (survey) was about reacting to what you see. The second (survey) is about imagining what you could see,” said Sarah McClean, public-relations and communications manager for the Downtown Denver Partnership. “The surveys will take the feedback from people and what they find pleasing or frustrating (about downtown Denver).”
More than 800 people have completed the online survey since it was launched in the spring, but sponsors are seeking feedback from the broadest possible cross-section. It is available online, in English and Spanish, at www.downtowndenverplan.org until Aug. 25.
The public can also attend a community workshop Aug. 26 at the Colorado History Museum, 1300 Broadway, to exchange ideas about the downtown Denver of the next 20 years.
Staff writer Ameera Butt can be reached at 303-820-1233 or abutt@denverpost.com.
