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Look again: The Civic Vision takes the long view

by Marleen Kay Davis

For years, Metro Pulse has been the lead voice asking that the city of Knoxville coordinate development efforts and construction projects within the context of a comprehensive plan for downtown. Now that such a comprehensive view has been outlined in the “Civic Vision for Downtown Knoxville” facilitated by Nine Counties. One Vision, it is disappointing to read the short-sighted Metro Pulse criticism [Feb. 19] that the plan is too “grandiose” and “out of touch” within the realities of the current fiscal year for the city. This Civic Vision is a long-term view and is necessarily ambitious; still, it is grounded in the realities of market research, community input, and evolving national trends in development and public policy.

In the last two years, hundreds of individuals contributed thousands of hours of volunteer effort in discussions and public input sessions during the process of developing the Civic Vision, led by award-winning consultants Crandall Arambula. Each participant may not agree with each specific recommendation for future possibilities, but all appreciate the importance of a flexible, informed, and coordinated plan for downtown development.

Joe Sullivan concentrated his critique on the impossibility of reviving Gay Street as a retail environment, unfortunately isolating a single component of the overall Civic Vision. Crandall Arambula outlined how focused efforts for retail development on Gay Street could energize Market Square and the downtown, making it more appealing for workers, visitors, and residents. Market research demonstrates that local and regional demographics could easily support innovative retail ideas in downtown, but the city must have a coordinated development plan to maximize such efforts, especially with so many individually owned properties.

The 21st century American downtown will be a different kind of magnet retail environment, offering an authentic “main street” with character, in stark contrast to the placeless, fast-decaying, and unsafe malls that are closing across the country. Ironically, new suburban developments (such as the recently announced Northshore multi-use plan) try to re-create this “main street” feeling. Why invest in an artificial main street re-creation in a suburb, when we have an authentic and historic Gay Street in our downtown?

Knoxville can learn from other cities, such as Charleston, Savannah, Richmond or Indianapolis, where a sustained commitment to downtown development resulted in careful public investment that leveraged private development. Why can’t this work in Knoxville, where we have a healthy entrepreneurial economy, committed elected officials, informed citizens, a major research university, a flourishing regional tourism industry, and a handsome, historic downtown?

Joe Sullivan decried the lack of parking, noting 1,250 spaces would be needed for the Gay Street retail projections. He failed to mention (or notice) that the Civic Vision identified over 4,000 potential spaces within a one-block walk of Gay Street, integrated into different construction concepts. Overall, the plan identified 8,000 new spaces within the downtown, along with transit concepts and shuttle parking to the east.

The Knoxville car-dependent culture is a reality, but change is always possible. Over the last year at the university, it has been astonishing to see how easily the typical UT student has abandoned daily car use on campus in favor of the new “T” campus bus. Thanks to a predictable, convenient, and safe bus system, student ridership is beyond projections and additional routes have been added. As UT students and others become more comfortable with mass transit convenience, downtown will benefit.

There is exciting momentum in the downtown and we hope that Metropulse will be an important voice in the civic dialog.

Rather than identifying a few “silver bullet” projects, the Civic Vision offers a comprehensive overview of downtown, with interrelated and complementary ideas for housing, retail, parking, commercial development, transit, open space, cultural uses, civic components, greenways, and infrastructure. Consultant George Crandall calls this a “menu” of possibilities from which city leaders and citizens can discuss and determine priorities over many years. The Civic Vision is flexible, and no single proposal is indispensable and cast in concrete. The Civic Vision anticipates change and outlines a series of guiding principles that can inform future discussion and decisions. All should engage in this dialog so that Knoxville can reach its full potential in the 21st century.

Marleen Kay Davis is a University of Tennessee professor of architecture who co-chairs the Oversight Committee of the Downtown Task Force, Nine Counties. One Vision.