The DDA hosted the second Town Hall on Tuesday, September 6th. The purpose of the meeting was to share the public input we have received so far from our fellow citizens. Over 80 people have stopped and put their ideas down - using the survey form on this blog - of what they would like to see on the Southern Skillet site. Using a "word cloud" we shared how the ideas stacked up - the larger the word, the more often it was repeated. Overwhelmingly, the idea of a grocery or market was the most popular!
Krog Street and Ponce City Market were the places that were most mentioned as the "type" of place people wanted to see. The Southern Skillet Site is smaller than either of these projects and we don't have an existing structure to work from - so we asked people what it was that they liked most about these places. What features about these locations would you like to see included in the redevelopment in Roswell?
- A place to go to, a destination.
- A place that captures the feeling of the area
- A place that would cause similar development style nearby
- A place that had a bakery, restaurants and a grocery or a co-op market.
- Materials that were durable, timeless.
Form and Design are Important.
The design needs to be unique to Roswell. Different.
The idea was presented that the City might want to consider how they could invest in this project as well - perhaps for a performing arts venue or other use that serves the public directly.
See the presentation below - the beginnings or working versions of the "Intent Statements" that will be included in the initial Request for Qualifications are included. This is the document that will be shared with interested and targeted development teams to convey the vision Roswell has for this site. We want it to be catalytic and to present the best Roswell can be, while weaving itself comfortably into the fabric of our Downtown.
We also talked about how the streetscape could begin to change the comfort level and ease in crossing Highway 9. This project will be an important piece in that solution.
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