Place-Making Portsmouth Jane Lafleur, MCRP Lift360 October 31, 2016
On Saturday, October 29, 2016, approximately 45 people gathered at Discover Portsmouth for an afternoon Place-Making session. Jane Lafleur, MCRP, from Liftt360 in Portland, Maine was invited to lead the discussion and hands-on workshop with community members, municipal staff and members of the Portsmouth Smart Growth organization called PS21. Lafleur is a trained City Planner and has conducted numerous workshops and trainings throughout Maine and New England. From 2003 to 2016, she was the Executive Director of Friends of Midcoast Maine, a regional smart growth and civic engagement organization. In September 2016, Lafleur joined Lift360 and works to strengthen leaders, organizations and communities through her community development consulting and coaching work. PS21 (Portsmouth Smart Growth for the 21st Century) works to present ideas and encourage discussion and policy development around planning issues in Portsmouth, N.H. Its goal is to support the creation of a vibrant, sustainable, livable, and walkable community compatible with the principles of smart growth, the historic nature of Portsmouth, and the context of the 21st century. PS21 works to involve key stakeholders, residents and the business community to establish a long-term vision for the city. PS21 interested in focusing on specific opportunity areas in Portsmouth to create active, safe and attractive places where people of all ages and abilities can have the opportunity to be physically active via recreation and transportation, particularly walking and biking. These places support and promote physical activity for ALL people, have sidewalks, safe roads for all users, multi-use paths and trails, parks and open spaces and facilities for recreation, and have quality connections between homes, stores, workplaces, schools, downtowns and/or village centers. Page 1
Place-Making and Walkability In a slide presentation to attendees, Lafleur presented the theory of Place-Making from the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) and the components of great places. She summarized the four main attributes and their intangible features as follows: Sociability: welcoming, cooperative, neighborly : fun, vital, active, special, real : connected, walkable, convenient, accessible : safe, clean, historic, charm, attractive Each attribute has methods for measuring these attributes such as property values, land use patterns, pedestrian activity, etc. Participants viewed dozens of slides from around the US that highlighted each of these factors. Page 2
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The Power of Ten The Power of Ten from the Project for Public Spaces is a tool to help community members think about a new way to evaluate and measure places. By using the goal of having ten places in their community with ten things to do at each place, communities can start building active, successful, extraordinary places that become economic engines for the community. Page 4
Streets and Places Lafleur also reviewed several factors to look for as we think about great places, streets and spaces, as provided by Dan Burden. These are Enclosure, Transparency, Human Scale and Complexity. Enclosure refers to the degree to which streets and other public spaces are visually defined by buildings, walls, trees and other elements. Spaces where the height of vertical elements is proportionally related to the width of the space between them have a room-like quality. Page 5
Transparency refers to the degree to which people can see or perceive what lies beyond the edge of a street or other public space, and more specifically, the degree to which people can see or perceive human activity beyond the edge of a street or other public space. Physical elements that influence transparency include walls, windows, doors, fences, landscaping, and openings into midblock spaces. Page 6
Human scale refers to the size, texture, and articulation of physical elements that match the size and proportions of humans and, equally important, correspond to the speed at which humans walk. Building details, pavement texture, street trees, and street furniture are all physical elements contributing to human scale. Page 7
Complexity refers to the visual richness of a place. The complexity of a place depends on the variety of the physical environment, specifically the numbers and kinds of buildings, architectural diversity and ornamentation, landscape elements, street furniture, signage, and human activity. The group also discussed the importance of gateways, crossings, connectivity, liner buildings waterfronts and wayfinding. Figure 1 Waterfront Art and Place-making, Photo courtesy of Dan Burden Page 8
Figure 2: Round-about, courtesy of Dan Burden Figure 3: Attractive Gateway, photo courtesy of Dan Burden Page 9
Place-Making Audit The group divided into four teams to conduct a place-making audit of four pre-selected locations in downtown Portsmouth. These were: Vaughan Mall Hanover & Market Streets Market Square State Street During the outdoor field work, each team visited these four pre-selected places and used the Place- Game tool to evaluate the place, first individually and then as a group. Page 10
Along the way to the four stops, other locations were visited for comparison and teaching moments. On the left, the affection for the alley way was clear. It was intimate, appealing, well signed, brought in good light, and the landscaping at the end of the alley softened the terminated vista of the government office building. In the photo above, people evaluated the successful parts of Portwalk Place and noticed the wide sidewalks, the street furniture, the underground utilities for street lighting, and the varying pavement textures. Moveable seating, higher tree wells for additional seating, programming activities in the space, and other pedestrian amenities would make this space even more appealing. Page 11
Small Group Recommendations Participants sat with different group members in order to cross-pollinate ideas. Each group discussed what they liked best about a place, what short term and long term improvements might be made, and who the partners might be to implement some of these ideas. The following captures the list of suggestions from each group. Vaughan Mall Group 1: Add off-season activities, add winter holiday market, art vendors, food trucks, sculpture, water features, mini-playground, take back a few parking spaces for activities, shipping container shops, summer concerts, wall art, shelters from the weather Improve the area between parking and walking spaces, add seating and landscaping, add a low wall We like pedestrian scale, trees, quiet, the seating, open to the sky, decent array of stores, independent and attractive stores Vary the concrete surface with texture, add lighting, especially down, dress up facades, especially northern end. Partners could be art groups, gardening groups, shop owners, adoptions! Group 2: Sociability Add children s playground Liberate the seating Christmas winter markets Good space for seasonal events Bring back the stage Make it a three season space Add food stalls, kiosks, instead of trucks Add public restrooms 21 st century corridor One way street return?? Add wayfinding to this area as a destination Sign for bike track lanes, as an alternate route Page 12
Add a water feature Coordinate the street furniture Improve the storefront look Group 3 Consider public restrooms Consider underground parking Introduce food trucks Great opportunity for pedestrian access Add more vegetative buffers, and food trucks by reducing the midblock parking lot Ensure consideration of parks and views (and sunlight) at Bridge Street lot and whale lot Group 4 Sociability Better seating Diverse Fringe businesses Food space, kiosks, Income, surf shop No synergy-bikes go through Take a tactical approach on everything, i.e. demonstration projects first Expand the mall into Worth lot for early morning, mid-day and evening Rethink this space-team from Harbor Place Cars to present versus visibility Page 13
Hanover and Market Streets Group 1 We like that this place is Complex, active, multiple uses, lots of diverse funky shops, lots to look at, see and do. Sociability Add seating and vegetation Improve with a pocket park in the parking lot, could start on a temporary basis Add wayfinding for people in cars and people on foot and people on bicycles. Add a mini-roundabout or sculpture. Traffic is getting confused now. Improve crosswalks, they are unattractive Connect the west end of street with Historic buildings - rename it Independence Square? Slow traffic down Protect the historic chestnut tree Involve partners to serve as adopters of the square. Group 2 Consider a round-about or delineation to slow traffic Accessibility due to grade Add wayfinding Realign Hanover and Bow Streets Reclaim parking lot and make green space with outdoor eating space Group 3 Traffic calming and traffic lights needed Convert parking at Gas Light to civic space Important to note that pedestrians rule in Market Square but not in this intersection Add small features that would close in the size of the roadway intersection Page 14
Group 4: Garage is a major gateway to city Lots of paved car space that could be reduced Conduct a car route study Needs a mini area plan, integrate with alley plan This is a bus route from Hanover to Market Street Conduct a snow study to see where cars are actually driving-will demonstrate availability for more pedestrian space, less auto space Re-balance pavement for pedestrians Market Square Group 1 Sociability We like that this place is mostly GREAT with wide sidewalks, seating, coffee, place to hang out, benches, etc. Improve by narrowing traffic coming in from south. There is lane confusion headed west from Market Square Make it two way? Add a trolley from Kittery and bike lanes from Kittery Kiosk needs space, decorations and maintenance. Possible partners are the Chamber of Commerce, the Church and Antherium Group 2: We noticed loss of water fountains and pay phones Crosswalks are not located properly Pedestrian-auto interaction needs to be reviewed Overall traffic flow evaluation Page 15
Improve the kiosk Street furniture is declining Cell tower sight lines Group 3 Sociability Encourage activity inside North Church to drive foot traffic Introduce features that would close in the Market Street interchange Consider removing the parking and create a more vegetative buffer In front of Church could be refreshed with landscaping and other opportunities and placemaking Add more seating that can naturally buffer and protect foot traffic from vehicles, especially since there is no parking on the street Consider widening the raised crosswalks in MB. Perhaps the entire interchange. Group 4: Sociability make even more people space Active winter fountain Old State House foot print-use this as a feature and draw Page 16
Improve bicycle travel through this area Conduct parking study to look at angled parking, traffic flow and fire department access Look at street direction and flow State Street Group 1 The good things are the church, the African Burial Ground, the historic areas south of the burial ground, the area is bookended with good things to the west and east; it is a gateway. Improvements are to make this a Gateway to the city, it is not obvious now. Improve the bank parking lots Reduce the speed of traffic Tree wells block the sidewalks and lines of vision. There are a lot of open and shut views without drawing the eye along the street. Add seating, Close Court Place and convert it to a plaza, Add wall seating along the adjacent bank parking lot on State Street. Partners include the Church, the banks and the Burial Ground partners. General note: There is more public interest in historic sites, not just buildings. Page 17
Group 2: Upper State Street has issues with surface lots, drive through banks, unused spaces High speeds between Pleasant and Chestnut Streets is a problem Make two-way? Or keep one way and add bike lanes and widen sidewalks Group 3 Eliminate street and replace with a civic plaza Civic plaza would have food trucks Investigate public-private partnerships to manage the three parking lots (banks and behind MB) Make a two way street for the entirety Add some street edge on side across from the Church Add seating on the right side of State Street Group 4: Consider a redevelopment strategy for the bank parcels Really don t like the voids, parking So much pavement and private parking, i.e. banks Excess streets- south Church, actual street, pedestrian, one-way streets Pausing and speeding Do a loop system, not quite as intense as Jeff Speck There is no place to sit; add seating Major attraction is here; take advantage of it Page 18
All maps and flip chart notes are available at PS21. Page 19
For more information about Place-Making, Streets as Places and other community development initiatives, please contact: Jane Lafleur, MCRP Lift360 132 Spring Street Portland, Maine 04101 (207) 691-0971 mobile (207) 699-4503 main www.lift360.org jane.lafleur@lift360.org Page 20