Please watch the following video. This is one example of a tool which every and I do mean every architect and engineer and construction manager that has an internet connection, anywhere on planet earth uses every frickin’ day of their lives.
This is something we budgeted for in the Marina Redevelopment process to improve engagement. Yet for the first community meeting in years we did not use it. Hell, we didn’t even provide the speaker with a microphone.
And just to be clear, there are maybe a dozen programs I’m aware of like this. It is no more ‘complex’ for architects than an MRI machine would be for any physician. It is commonplace.
November, 2021
Before last Thursday’s Marina Redevelopment Community meeting at the Senior Center, I (and everyone else I spoke to) thought the proposed ’boutique hotel’ would be here. Or rather, along that cement wall at the back of the Marina property known as Parcel A.
The Council went so far as to vote to negotiate an exclusive developer agreement after a sixty day RFQ process. We spent staff time and your tax money going through that process.
It was on the Council’s calendar for August 18th to take a field trip to Point Ruston and meet with the developer to discuss the project. That meeting was abruptly cancelled in July.
What a difference a day makes
I know I was not the only member of the City Council who walked into Thursday night’s meeting not expecting to hear that, not only is the Parcel A apparently canceled… The hotel? Why now it’s going to be where those containers are at the north parking lot. There’s a new parking structure. And, the Harbormaster’s house? Finito. Apparently, we’re going back to design, as they say in the engineering world. Which is a euphemism for We’re starting over, guys.
And the reason it is moving was at least in part because, apparently, the City and/or the architect just identified a possible conflict with the fuel storage tanks.
Call me Mister Snippy
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but those storage tanks hold 30,000 gallons of fuel. They didn’t suddenly get moved, you know, under cloak of darkness in the ten months since the City voted to approve the Parcel A RFQ?
Unveiling changes this dramatic, so casually, with no notice, and no presentation? Not. Cool. You know that’s not cool.
Moving Forward
The problem is not this project and I’m going to ask you for a moment to not focus on your individual concern. The problem is that the City of Des Moines has no public planning process. Every planning issue we do is this flawed. We are fundamentally unlike other cities in this respect. Truly.
The solution for everybody is to fix this process, and not to try to attack each individual concern. Here’s how:
Tell the City to take a short pause. Demand that we not move forward on anything until we get the following two things in place:
- Last year, I asked the Council to use some of our Federal ARPA stimulus money to pay for a real Marina Town Hall using the above technology. I was very specific about having animations to give every resident the ability to ‘fly through’ the design as it went through various changes. Because I knew it would change. And this is the best way (in fact the only way) for residents to stay properly updated on what is happening. The good news is that we approved it. The bad news is that the City did not do it for that community meeting–and my colleagues refuse to direct the City to make it happen. You can convince them otherwise.
- For the past three years, I’ve been trying to get the City to create a Marina Planning Commission, consisting of both Councilmembers and members of the public. We can get this running in January. There should be one guaranteed seat for the DMMA (boat owners), as well as multiple seats for residents, and these seats should not be arbitrarily assigned by the Mayor (as is the current practice for all other advisory boards.) This group should the exclusive conduit through which all stakeholders (including the City) bring their planning ideas and decisions are made including setting up public town halls. This is the layer of public engagement and oversight we must have before anything goes to the Council for a vote. The bad news is that my colleagues have not supported this, preferring to give carte blanche to the City. You can convince them otherwise.
I’m asking for your support to fulfill both these proposals. Now. Write my colleagues on the City Council and insist that we enact a real planning commission and a real redevelopment outreach program, before moving forward.
You need to start showing up for meetings (Thursdays, 6PM) and making your voice heard. Not just once. For as long as it takes.
IMPORTANT: Anyone who tells you “We cannot stop! We have to keep moving forward!” is not on your side. Taking a pause to implement the proper oversight is not a hard stop. Again, after September 27 anyone who does not see the need for both these proposals is not on your side.
We’re betting our City’s future on this update. Let’s do it right.