Public Involvement in the Planning Process

The Meridian Development Corporation and City Council emphasized that public involvement was critical to the process of building a Downtown marketing strategy. Toward this end, a variety of tools were engaged to provide citizens with amply opportunity to participate. These tools included:

• Over forty interviews with Downtown business people, property owners and citizens
• Three public meetings with average attendance exceeding 100
• Three public open houses
• Four interviews and presentations to City Council
• Four interviews and presentations with Meridian Development Corporation
• Presentation and discussion with Ada County Highway District Commissioners

The Steering Committee and planning team aggressively reach out to the community to maximize exposure of the process and to ensure people were actively encouraged to participate. Six methods were used to inform and invite the public to participate:

• Press releases to local and Boise newspapers
• Flyers to grocery stores, local businesses
• Direct mailings of postcards
• Emails to an extensive list of interested citizens
• Television interviews and reports
• Public announcements at service clubs, public meetings and City Council sessions

These methods were successful. Over the six month period attendance at public meetings, workshops and Council sessions exceeded five hundred. City Council was very positive in its praise of the Steering Committee's efforts to engage fellow citizens and the business community.

In the initial fact-finding phase of the process, citizens provided consistent feedback on three key marketing issues: City-wide priorities; Target markets; Downtown priorities. The majority's insights may be summarized as follows:

    1. City-Wide Priorities:

• Overcome Traffic Congestion. This was the single-most agreed upon issue. Citizens and businesses alike see transportation management and improved circulation within Downtown as critically important.
• Restore Heart of Community: Downtown. Life-long residents and newcomers alike generally agreed that Meridian needs to nurture its sense of community by restoring the Downtown as the heart of the community.
• Growth Management: Growth for growth's sake was not seen as good. Growth should be managed to allow Meridian to enhance its sense of place, residential quality of life, public safety and overall connectedness of the community.
• Strengthen Sense of Community: With over thirty thousand recent immigrants to Meridian , there is a common priority to build and strengthen the bonds of citizenship and common ground.
• Better Public-Private Partnership; Vision: Government leaders, city staff, business people and residents commonly felt that stronger collaborations are needed between the public and private sectors to define and attain a common vision for the future.

    2. Target Markets

• Our Own Citizens/Families
• People Who are Attracted to Culture & Arts; Events
• Residents Seeking Social Opportunities in Public Settings
• Professional Service Firms that can Serve Major Meridian Economic Sectors
• People Seeking High Amenity Urban Residential Opportunities
• People, Businesses and Organizations Seeking a Place with a Strong Sense of Community

    3. Downtown Priorities (which, though concise, speak for themselves)

• Should be Heart/Social Hub of Meridian
• Great Place To BE, Days & Evening
• Hyde Park (of Boise ) on Larger Scale
• Clear Vision for Future; System to Support It
• Connected to Meridian Consumers
• Highly Attractive; Memorable
• Multi-generational Destination/Center