New Tool Will Help Determine Public Space Priorities
by Alexander Freeman, City Planner
On October 18, the City Council will conduct a work session to review a draft of the Public Space Management Plan. The plan proposes a holistic approach to thinking about the city’s public spaces, areas meant to be used and enjoyed by all residents, such as parks, plazas, roadways, sidewalks, streeteries—and all the amenities that support such spaces.
In addition to 37 policy and practice recommendations, the plan proposes a new decision-making tool to help City Council, staff, and the public more rigorously compare projects and priorities. Often decision makers are pressed to advance a new project or initiative without data to compare the project under consideration with other priorities.
The Project Evaluation Scorecard attempts to fill that gap. The scorecard uses a set of eight benefi t categories, each encompassing several criteria. New projects or initiatives would be scored by city staff. Three benefit categories receive an added weight to their score to reflect recent City policies that prioritize racial equity, environmental sustainability, and safety. The completed scorecard would be shared publicly as an attachment to council cover memos. The scoring becomes a tool for city staff and the City Council to begin comparing different projects.
The scorecard is not meant to be a judgment upon the merit of a project. Instead, it evaluates how a project stacks up against existing city priorities, and then that score can be compared to the scores of other projects. The scorecard would not be prescriptive or determine whether or not a project advances; it would be one of the considerations, publicly shared, for how to advance new projects.
The tool may be used to compare two or more projects under consideration at a given time. It may also be used longer term to test potential projects against a benchmarked level of benefit. Over time, certain scores may emerge as minimum thresholds for project consideration.
The tool will be made publicly available so that community members and City Council members can try it out to develop project scores on new proposals and initiatives.
To download the Project Evaluation Scorecard Exploration Kit, visit the City’s Public Space Management Plan page on the City website.
Check out the full October Newsletter on the City of Takoma Park webpage.
