The American Planning Association Iowa Chapter will be holding its Annual Meeting in Ames, IA Oct. 31-Nov. 2, 2012. This national group awarded the Gold Coast-Hamburg Historic District Association “Great Neighborhoods in America” in 2011, the first neighborhood award in Iowa. One presentations at the meeting will be “New Challenges in Neighborhood Planning” that includes a panel of local Davenport people. These are Matt Flynn, AICP, and Roy DeWitt, Neighborhood Services Coordinator with the City of Davenport; Bill Boom, Davenport 3rd Ward Alderman; PJ Slobojan, Gold Coast-Hamburg Historic District Association President. The following is the introduction to the presentation:
“With the adoption of its award-winning Comprehensive Plan in 2005, the City of Davenport established a stronger commitment to Neighborhoods. This Goal led to the Davenport Neighborhood Empowerment and Wellness initiative, launched in 2008. A key component of this initiate was to develop 13 sub-area, or neighborhood plans for the entire City. To date, two plans have been completed and a third is underway. Following an overview of Davenport NEW and the neighborhood planning process, the team from the City of Davenport proposes an interactive session where panelists will provide some insight, but ideas are shared among all participants.”