What is the Public Space Management Plan?
Public spaces are an important part of what makes Takoma Park so great! It’s in the City’s parks, playgrounds, sidewalks, roadways, streeteries, trails and plazas that residents travel, recreate, and connect with one another.
This fall, the City Council will consider the adoption of a new Public Space Management Plan. The purpose of this plan is to take the patchwork of policies and practices that govern how the City manages its public spaces, and create a comprehensive framework. How do we prioritize our limited financial and staffing resources? Where are there policy gaps that leave uncertainty? Where is there overlap or redundancy that creates inefficiency? How do we make sure that our public spaces center the City’s goals of racial equity and environmental sustainability? How can we improve the use of data in our decision-making?
This plan was crafted with input from hundreds of community members, and we are excited to share it with you! The draft plan proposes 37 recommendations to improve the way that the City manages its public spaces. These include recommendations relating to:
- Revising the resident traffic calming and new sidewalk request processes to be more equitable;
- Improvements to the way that public space data is tracked and visualized for the public;
- Create a new system to prioritize playground updates;
- re-examine public parking policies;
- And more!
It also offers an evaluation tool to help City staff, City Council members, and the public apply a standardized set of criteria to new projects. The tool sets out criteria in different categories that each new project would be measured against. The goal is to create a more standardized and data-driven decision-making framework. .
Over the next couple months, City staff invite the public to take a close look at the Public Space Management Plan. The full draft plan is posted to the City’s project web page. Keep an eye out for an awareness-raising yard sign campaign in public spaces around the City. There will also be a series of blog posts released by the City that explore more summarized details about the project.
How to Get Involved:
Share your thoughts on which recommendations to prioritize in one of a few different ways:
- Complete this brief 5-question survey: https://bit.ly/publicspacemanagementplan
- Send comments or questions to Alex Freedman, Planner, by email (alexanderf@takomaparkmd.gov);
- Send comments or questions to your City Council member;
- Give public comment at the City Council meetings; check the City Council schedule to see when the dates are finalized.
