Park Morton: Updates

Park Morton Community Engagement Recap

On November 16, 2015, the New Communities Initiative hosted a community dialogue to discuss the Park Morton redevelopment. An initial presentation was made by the Director of New Communities, Angie Rodgers, that focused on the history and background of New Communities, the strategy for moving forward, including the selection of the former Bruce Monroe school parcel for offsite “Build First,” housing, and what to expect for the process and engagement going forward. It was communicated that the next major milestone in the process is for the community to work with the District, the Housing Authority, and the master development team to update the Park Morton master plan from 2008 that will affect timely and implementable change (community planning and design workshops were scheduled for December 1st and December 12th). Attendees were then split into moderated breakout groups, where they were asked a series of questions about their neighborhood, and were given an opportunity to share any concerns or feedback about the strategy moving forward. Below are links to the full notes, as well as a summary document highlighting the major themes that came up in discussion:

On December 1st, 2015, the New Communities Initiative hosted the first planning and design workshop, facilitated by Torti Gallas, the architect and planner for the master development team. An initial presentation was given by Murphy Antoine from Torti Gallas that focused on the Guiding Principles of New Communities, planning efforts to date, initial site analysis of both Park Morton and the Bruce Monroe site, planning feedback from the community to date, and concepts, themes and areas of focus for planning and design. The presentation can be viewed here:

The feedback from the December 1st meeting will inform a set of design scenarios and themes that will be discussed and analyzed further with community input at the December 12th planning and design workshop.

For photos from the meetings and additional information, please visit: http://www.parkviewengage.com/