August 2010 — Training for Charrettes

Linda Weber and Mark Keener recently attended a three-day workshop of the NCI Charrette System™ in Cambridge, MA. The workshop trained and certified them in a design-based, accelerated, collaborative project management system for planning and conceptual design work. The NCI Charrette System™ can be utilized by public and private planners for a range of community and regional planning and design projects.

The word “charrette” as used in the design world refers to an intense effort by multiple disciplines to complete a project or milestone. Charrettes harness the talents and energies of all interested parties to create and support a feasible plan that represents transformative community change. Compared to conventional planning processes that might take months or years to complete, charrettes typically save time and money through short design feedback loops, time-compressed work sessions, and the generation of broad support from community members, professionals, and staff.

Mark Keener appreciates the charrette method. “A three-day charrette, with perhaps hundreds of participants, can be the most efficient way to determine the design of a large, multi-year project. You can begin with no pre-conceptions, minimize re-work, and maximize feedback.”

June 2010 — Preserving New Jersey’s Coastal Heritage

Where many New Jersey coastal towns have experienced dramatic changes in their landscape over the past few decades, Stone Harbor still looks and feels like the small town it was a half-century ago. By restricting the height and bulk of buildings, the community has been able to protect the modest scale of its built environment. Local officials are now turning to the protection of the town’s historic resources. Earlier this year, the Stone Harbor Planning Board asked Brown & Keener to help identify the borough’s historic structures and prepare a historic preservation master plan element. The master plan element will provide the basis for the Borough’s future preservation policies and offer guidelines for private restoration and rehabilitation. Brown & Keener is working closely with a local historic preservation committee on the development of the plan, which is expected to be completed later in the year.

May 2010 — Navigating the Schuylkill Trail

The Schuylkill River National & State Heritage Area offers a fascinating, full-body-contact experience of our nation’s history, from the cobbled streets of Philadelphia and the workings of the Industrial Revolution along the banks of the up-river towns to historic farmsteads still tended by today’s growers. This journey through history is traveled by users of the Schuylkill River Trail, a 130-mile, multi-use trail through Philadelphia, Montgomery, Chester, Berks, and Schuylkill counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania. In collaboration with The Schuylkill River Heritage Area, National Park Service, and The William Penn Foundation, and Trail Steward Kara Wilson, Brown & Keener designed a user’s map of the Schuylkill River Trail. The forty-inch foldout map details trail locations, on-street connections, boat landings, connecting trails, trail heads, and places to grab provisions along the trail. The map will be available later this month at information stands along the river between Pottsville and Philadelphia.

April 2010 — East Orange Futures

The City of East Orange, NJ, a Brown & Keener client, received positive media attention recently in The New York Times (March 28, 2010). The article featured redevelopment projects that have brought hundreds of new condominiums into the market. The grandest project, called Evergreen Crossings, consists of almost six blocks near City Hall. This endeavor has converted two outdated office buildings into 80 market-rate condos. Also in the works is new retail space, a hotel, a conference center, and plans for an “upscale” grocery chain as an anchor tenant.

These new private investments are happening in the context of a city-wide rewriting of the zoning code. If East Orange’s commercial districts and neighborhoods are to evolve in the right direction, its rules need to change. Brown & Keener’s work focuses on the rewriting the City’s inadequate sign ordinance and drafting form-based regulations for three key areas in and near downtown. The sign ordinance is novel in that includes photographs, diagrams, and maps to help readers and enforcement officials easily identify sign types, permitted locations, and appropriate sign dimensions. The ordinance also regulates more modern sign types that are emerging in commercial districts such as electronic message boards and electronic window displays.

January 2010 — A New Mosaic in Philadelphia

Linda Weber, AICP PP, recently joined Brown & Keener as a Senior Associate. She brings to the firm nuts and bolts experience as a town planner for several New Jersey communities. As principal of her own consulting firm, Mosaic Planning & Design in Lambertville, NJ, she also took on urban design and visioning assignments, drafted ordinances, and prepared historic preservation plans and transfer-of-development rights plans. Linda co-authored Preserving Community Character: A Community Design Handbook and the Hunterdon County Stone Arch Bridge Inventory, a historic bridge study. Linda has a Master of City Planning degree with a Certificate in Urban Design from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University. Linda also teaches a course on urban design analysis for the Rutgers University Bloustein Online Continuing Education Program.

November 2009 — Smart Growth Award

At this year’s New Jersey Chapter of the APA annual conference, the Borough of Haddonfield, NJ, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, and Brown & Keener received the Smart Growth Award for their collaboration in crafting the a new zoning code for Downtown Haddonfield. As the first form-based code to be adopted in New Jersey outside of a redevelopment area, it signals new possibilities for communities in guiding development.

Ed Borden, the Borough Commissioner, said at the awards ceremony on November 6 that the process for creating the code worked well. “By the second hearing everyone seemed to understand it,” unlike some large scale municipal initiatives. Borden also remarked that the resulting code helps the Borough clearly understand its own development capacity.

Brown & Keener continues to assist New Jersey municipalities with creating form-based codes, currently drafting such ordinances in Edison, Hammonton, and North Arlington.

July 2009 — TOD Planning Before the T Comes

In transit-oriented development projects in the Northeast, typically the transit station is already there. In the case of Paterson, NJ, the train station is coming. The Passaic-Bergen Passenger Service Restoration Project, a NJ Transit project, is reintroducing passenger service on an existing rail corridor, connecting Hawthorne and Hackensack and, ultimately, offering future passenger connections to commuter rail service on NJ Transit’s other lines up to New York City. This means tremendous possibilities for transit-oriented development (TOD) around the Madison Avenue station and new shopping, living, dining, and employment opportunities for Paterson residents.

The recently-completed Madison Avenue Commuter Rail Corridor Study examines how existing and future transit modes, land use options, and development could benefit from smart planning along the corridor, specifically around the proposed Madison Avenue train station. Brown & Keener conducted the visioning process for this endeavor. BK also translated outcomes from the visioning workshops into a conceptual site plan for TOD in the study area.

The plan can be downloaded from the Passaic County, NJ Planning Department web site.

May 2009 — Economic Development in a Landmark Landscape

In 1876, Philadelphia hosted the nation’s Centennial Exhibition, a celebration of the country’s industriousness, inventiveness, and independence. The spectacle covered several hundred acres of Fairmount Park, which today includes destinations such as the Philadelphia Zoo, Mann Center for Performing Arts, the High School of the Future, and the recently-relocated Please Touch Museum. It also borders the spectacular homes of the Parkside Historic District and a new shopping complex that employs hundreds of City residents. This combination of destinations, institutions, and commerce, and a master plan for investment completed in 2005, signals economic development opportunity.

The Philadelphia Commerce Department hired a team of consultants that included Brown & Keener to develop a development strategy that complements the 2005 master plan. Consultants Urban Partners identified several “nodes” and “mini-nodes” where development should be focused and suggested a viable development program for those areas. Brown & Keener’s role was to visually model possible outcomes and to be an advocate for design that respects its context. The end product is a multi-disciplinary strategy that marries economics with urban design.

April 2009 — Re-Visioning Oak Tree Road

The South Asian-oriented shops and restaurants along Oak Tree Road in Edison, NJ draw visitors from across the region and make this part of New Jersey famous across the country. For being such a destination, however, Oak Tree Road looks and operates like most ordinary suburban commercial corridors. Buildings sit behind large expanses of parking. Car traffic is brisk, with minimal accommodations for pedestrians and bicyclists, even with the Metropark train station located within walking distance. Oak Tree Road even has its own “greyfield” — a vacant strip mall that once housed a Marshall’s store. For being such a well-known destination, Oak Tree Road doesn’t look like a very special place.

Edison Township selected Brown & Keener this spring to help “re-vision” Oak Tree Road. Brown & Keener will work with a group of Township officials, residents, and business- and property-owners to envision transformations to the built form of and movement within the Oak Tree Road area.

January 2009 — Mobilize to Thrive

Chestnut Hill, Flourtown, Erdenheim, Wyndmoor. These are a few of the familiar places centered along Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Each of these communities invests significant resources to maintain and revitalize their respective commercial districts and streets. What if these places were viewed as a constellation of related centers rather than as discrete communities?

The recently-completed first phase of the Chestnut Hill Regional Area Study (pdf, 42mb) takes this regional approach to planning for public and private investment. The study, with its tagline “Mobilize to Thrive,” posits that by enhancing mobility throughout the region—such as by coordinating bus and train schedules or connecting main strees to multi-use trails—people will be encouraged to move more freely between these centers, and in turn, more fully support the businesses and services that comprise each place. The study identifies several priority projects, among them the coordination and enhancement of wayfinding sign systems in the region.

December 2008 — Let There Be Light

The lights are on along Wadsworth Avenue in Northwest Philadelphia. State Representative Cherelle L. Parker and Mt. Airy Revitalization Corporation took a plan drafted by Brown & Keener and brought it to life this month. The plan, called Shops, Streets, Centers: A Guide to Revitalizing Commercial Corridors in Northwest Philadelphia, suggests strategic investments to five business districts, among them Wadsworth Avenue.

Viewed as an outdoor shopping mall, Wadsworth Avenue does a poor job of creating a vibrant and safe retailing environment; the street is only dimly lit, and the sidewalks are dark at night, except for several storefronts blaring light through building-mounted fixtures. Brown & Keener recommended investing in pedestrian-scale streetlights along Wadsworth Avenue. While not an inexpensive investment, Wadsworth Avenue is the right corridor in which to make this investment. The corridor is home to more than 60 businesses and has a low vacancy rate. In addition, it intersects Cheltenham Avenue, a busy thoroughfare that carries thousands of potential customers every day. Furthermore, it is surrounded by homeowners with relatively high household incomes.

November 2008 — Asbury Park Adopts Redevelopment Plan

On November 20, the City of Asbury Park, NJ adopted the Main Street Redevelopment Plan. Brown & Keener worked with economic development consultant Urban Partners to craft the plan.

The redevelopment planning process was an opportunity to think strategically about the development, use, design, and siting of buildings and landscape elements on and along Main Street. As Main Street is a long, multi-faceted corridor, BK recommended organizing the corridor into a series of “character districts” and devised specific land use and design parameters tailored to the unique characteristics of each district. For example, BK classified the section of Main Street that is home to the NJTRANSIT station and the municipal building as the “Civic Core.” The recommended land uses and design parameters within the redevelopment plan would permit this district to evolve into a transit-focused, livable downtown.

September 2008 — New Projects with Edison, NJ and Marcus Hook, PA

The project in Edison, NJ represents a tremendous opportunity to think strategically about the future of the Oak Tree Road Corridor, a busy commercial area featuring a diverse mix of stores and offerings, many of which cater to the South Asian community. While parking is a focus, it must be considered within the broader context of land use, public spaces, vehicular/pedestrian circulation, and transit access.

The Borough of Marcus Hook, PA is considering ways to redevelop underutilized properties near major transit facilities. Development around the Marcus Hook rail station is consistent with the Governor’s “Keystone Principals” of redeveloping first while providing efficient infrastructure (in this case, public transportation). To spur this redevelopment in the proper way, a transit revitalization investment district (TRID) project was initiated several years ago. The ongoing TRID process for this station and neighborhood redevelopment has now reached the stage where a developer is lined up, and a more detailed analysis of the potential value of redevelopment is required. BK is part of the team that will embark on the design component of this project.

July 2008 — Two BK Employees in the News

Kristen Ford completed her research as a Dangermond Fellow of the Landscape Architecture Foundation. Her work is titled “Re-Imagining the Land: Planning for Brownscape Redevelopment in the Delaware River Corridor.” It suggests an alternative approach to brownfields redevelopment that looks at the ecological processes and human use patterns associated with corridors to drive redevelopment.

Matt Wanamaker penned, or rather typed, an article for Next American City exposing how opponents of “density” don’t seem to mind it when they go on vacation. Matt was inspired to write this article while vacationing along the Jersey Shore.

June 2008 — New Jersey Town Adopts Form-Based Code

The Borough of Haddonfield, New Jersey recently adopted for its downtown what may be the first form-based code in the state. Brown & Keener drafted and illustrated the code, which conforms with New Jersey’s Municipal Land Use Law in regulating use, bulk, and building types. The form-based code, however, places a greater emphasis on building types; Brown & Keener defined 15 such building types based on existing downtown buildings.

The form-based ordinance for downtown Haddonfield codifies the downtown element of the Borough’s master plan. The master plan essentially serves as the regulating plan, defining eight “character districts,” each of which reflects the unique subtleties in the scale, character, form, spacing, and size of buildings in each area. Each district calls for buildings and block patterns that extend the recognizable physical patterns of the town, and each allows for a rich mix of land-uses—housing, appropriate shops and offices, and small workplaces—that make the character of the town interesting.

The new form-based code represents new development regulations that will improve the predictability of what gets built and ensure that future infill reflects Haddonfield’s town-building traditions.

The form-based code document can be downloaded from the Borough of Haddonfield website

May 2008 — Smart Transportation Solutions

Brown & Keener provided planning, land use, and graphic guidance for the landmark publication “Smart Transportation Guidebook: Planning and Designing Highways and Streets that Support Sustainable and Livable Communities.” A multidisciplinary team, funded by DVRPC and led by transportation planners Orth-Rodgers & Associates, has worked in collaboration with PennDOT and NJDOT engineers and policymakers to establish place-based specifications for roadway design.

The Guidebook recognizes that the lexicon of roadway types—arterials to rural lanes to mainstreets—can be calibrated more precisely to serve their many purposes: providing local and regional mobility, offering access to homes and businesses, and supporting economic growth. The Guidebook is intended to help agencies, local governments, developers and others plan and design roadways that fit within the existing and planned context of the communities through which they pass. The executive summary of this guidebook is available from the DVPRC website.

February 2008 — TDR in Action

Brown & Keener is working with Columbus, a historic agricultural crossroads community in Mansfield Township, New Jersey, to draft a conceptual urban design plan for the extension of the village. The planning builds on traditional neighborhood design principles—extending the village while preserving the rural character of its environs. Mansfield Township is participating in New Jersey’s transfer-of-development rights (TDR) program and the village is a designated receiving area.

January 2008 — New Year, New Projects

Brown & Keener will embark on two new projects starting this month. BK will work with Chestnut Hill (Philadelphia) businesses and residents and a constellation of nearby centers across the County line for the Chestnut Hill Regional Study. From this study will emerge a regional, mobility-oriented strategy for investing in transportation improvements, as well as recommendations for revising zoning and design standards for new development.

In South Jersey, BK is teaming with ERM to undertake the Black Horse Pike Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, which will help launch a coalition of municipalities along the Route 168 corridor that coordinates local and regional policies, projects, and investments. With a self-sustaining coalition and well-conceived economic development strategy in place, coalition towns can be better prepared to solicit new investment and respond to developer interest.

November 2007 — Transforming Greyfields

“Greyfields” refers to the phenomenon of empty or struggling indoor and strip malls that plague communities throughout the country. Gloucester Township, New Jersey has several properties with greyfields characteristics along one of its main commercial corridors: Blackwood-Clementon Road. Last year, the Township selected Brown & Keener to help residents and property-owners imagine new possibilities for this corridor. BK undertook an intensive community engagement process that included an online community survey, which received more than 400 responses, as well as several community visioning workshops (click here to see the results). Residents almost universally demanded removing vacant structures as well as attracting better shopping choices. Fortunately, a market analysis conducted by Urban Partners revealed significant potential for new development.

A key aspect of the resulting vision plan is to channel this new potential into nodes of experience within the corridor as opposed to individual pods along the road, with buildings connected through a network of smaller streets and sidewalks. The resulting block structure would support retail, residential, and civic uses, as well as new public open spaces.

The vision plan would be incomplete without rethinking Blackwood-Clementon Road itself. One of the key pieces of the vision involves taming this 5-lane highway by converting the continuous center turning lane into a raised, landscaped median that helps guide turning movements and adds more greenery to the viewshed.

With the vision complete, the Township will convene a task force in charge of implementing the plan. Residents are eager to see change as soon as possible. As one survey respondent wrote: “Let’s make it happen. Let’s make Gloucester Township the town it should have been. Let’s keep up with the times!”

September 2007 — Form Based Zoning

The Borough of Haddonfield, NJ, has commissioned Brown & Keener to draft a form-based zoning ordinance for its downtown that will emphasize placemaking and continuity with traditional town development patterns.

This spring, BK completed a vision plan and master plan for Haddonfield’s downtown, laying the groundwork for a “form-based” approach to rethinking an outdated zoning framework that treats most of downtown as a single zoning district.

The new Downtown Master Plan redefined Haddonfield’s downtown as eight “character districts,” each of which reflects the unique subtleties in the scale, character, form, spacing, and size of buildings in each area. Each district calls for buildings and block patterns that extend the recognizable physical patterns of the town, and each allows for a rich mix of land-uses—housing, appropriate shops and offices, and small workplaces—that make the character of the town interesting.

The new form-based code will turn this framework into new development regulations—improving the predictability of what gets built, and ensuring that future infill reflects Haddonfield’s town-building traditions. When adopted, it will likely be one of the first form-based zoning ordinances on the books in any New Jersey municipality.

August 2007 — Next Trail to Capitol Hill

Brown & Keener, together with Toole Design Group of Maryland, has kicked off a placemaking and public art planning process for a segment of the Garfield Trail in Washington, D.C. The trail links Capitol Hill and Garfield Park with the emerging Southeast Federal Center District; this project includes a segment that passes underneath the Southeast-Southwest Freeway. BK will lead charrettes, develop overall placemaking recommendations, and develop a public art implementation plan for the segment. The project is being managed by the District of Columbia Department of Transportation.

July 2007 — BK Grows

We’ve added two new people to our team this month. Matt Wanamaker, an architect and urban designer, joins us after several years working for architecture firms in the region. His CAD and 3-D modeling skills will expand Brown & Keener’s capabilities in site planning and digital rendering.

Kristen Ford joins us after having received degrees in planning and landscape architecture from NC State and UNC Chapel Hill, respectively. Her landscape design skills and interest in ecological systems will diversify BK’s capabilities in interpreting and designing places.

May 2007 — Beyond Belgian Blocks

Brown & Keener recently initiated a planning process involving a remarkable Philadelphia thoroughfare: Germantown Avenue. Originally a Native American trail, this 8.5 mile street inlaid with Belgian blocks and trolley tracks hosts landmarks that represent more than three hundred years of American history, ranging from the Revolutionary War to the Civil Rights movement.

Germantown Avenue is also a business district for many of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods. BK’s work focuses on the section of Germantown Avenue that runs through the Mt. Airy neighborhood, where the Avenue is comprised of a melange of educational institutions, national historic landmarks, senior residences, churches, businesses, and homes. Over the past ten years, the Avenue has emerged as Mt. Airy’s “downtown.” It has come alive with new shops, restaurants, galleries, and buzz-building activities such as First Friday and Mt. Airy Day. However, the physical infrastructure of the street has not seen significant, coordinated investment in years. Working with a team of landscape architects and engineers, BK will examine how the physical infrastructure in the Germantown Avenue corridor should be reconstructed, reconfigured, and refreshed in order to accommodate, complement, and enhance this additional vitality. The final plan will help direct investments that lead not only to triage for crumbling sidewalks and precarious intersections, but that also “tee-up” projects that incorporate art and history into the Avenue’s streetscape and public spaces.

April 2007 — Award for American Street Empowerment

The accomplishments of Brown & Keener client The American Street Empowerment Zone (ASEZ) are featured in the April 2007 issue of Planning. The American Planning Association, along with the U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development, selected ASEZ to receive a 2007 Planning Award for its dedication to community involvement and its innovative fiscal strategy for funding neighborhood improvements. For more information on the American Street neighborhood and details on this exciting achievement, click here.

Starting in 2002, BK’s Mark Keener, led a multidisciplinary team of professionals—including Cloud & Gehshan (environmental graphic design), Glatting Jackson (transportation), Kise Straw + Kolodner (architecture), Lager Raabe Skafte (landscape architecture), Margie Ruddick (landscape architecture), The Lighting Practice (lighting design), and Urban Partners (economic development)—in planning for civic realm improvements for commercial streets within ASEZ neighborhoods. For more information on this project, and to download the final plan, visit the Projects page.

Congratulations to the staff of The Philadelphia Empowerment Zone and the members of the American Street Community Trust Board for receiving this honor.

March 2007 — A Road Runs Through It

New Jersey’s Route 130 used to be the principal north/south route for cars and cargo. Like the famous cross country Route 66, its “kicks” and function have moved on. I-295 and I-95 are faster options for regional travel, and retailers, restaurants, and entertainment venues have located in local malls or along regional roads lined with larger tracts of land. While its heyday has past, Route 130 still has a profound impact on the character and economy of places.

Slicing through Pennsauken Township with six narrow lanes of traffic divided by a Jersey barrier, Route 130 is clearly designed for moving traffic quickly through this community, not for promoting a thriving retailing environment. The result: an accident rate well above the state average for comparable roadways, an agglomeration of auto-oriented businesses, multiple vacant buildings, and a degraded public realm—all within one block of quiet, tree-lined neighborhoods.

The Township designated the Route 130 corridor an Area in Need of Redevelopment and turned to Brown & Keener to craft a plan for stimulating new development and improving the appearance of this gateway into Pennsauken. One of the goals of the plan is to create safer conditions for motorists and a more hospitable environment that will attract meaningful commercial investment. Therefore, one of the key recommendations is to reconfigure much of the roadway from six lanes to four lanes with shoulders. While NJDOT has the final say in making changes to the road, the agency understands that roadway design has a profound impact on local economies and often works collaboratively with municipalities to find solutions that balance economic development, traffic flow, and safety.

February 2007 — Public Art NEXT!

Brown & Keener Bressi recently submitted Public Art NEXT! A Public Art Master Plan for San José to City Council for adoption next month. This document charts a course for the next generation of public art in San José. The plan establishes a bold vision of public art that embraces San José/Silicon Valley’s innovative attitude and becomes a proactive contributor to the design of public places. It also identifies geographic priorities for focusing resources in high-traffic, high-visibility locations—from a reinvigorated Downtown to a new urban corridor in North San José; from community gathering places to the planning of new communities. In collaboration with St. Louis-based Via Partnership, BKB will begin work on focused public art plans for San José’s downtown and for the redeveloping North First Street corridor.

January 2007 — Infill Philadelphia

Brown & Keener Bressi is one of three firms participating in the first phase of Infill Philadelphia, a program focused on revitalizing Philadelphia’s commercial corridors. Sponsored by the Community Design Collaborative and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, this program will target its efforts on three specific corridors. BKB has been paired with the East Passyunk Avenue Business Improvement District to focus design improvements on key intersections along the venerable Passyunk Avenue commercial corridor. This six-week project will culminate in a presentation of each firm’s concepts to the public as well as to a jury of local design and economic development professionals.

November 2006 — Autumn at the Jersey Shore

This fall, Brown & Keener will begin work on planning and urban design projects with two of New Jersey’s Shore towns. In Asbury Park, BK is teaming with economic development consultants Urban Partners to prepare a Redevelopment Plan for Main Street. One of eight redevelopment areas in the city, Main Street is the main gateway into Asbury Park for both motorists and NJTransit riders. BK and Urban Partners will work with a broad spectrum of community members, from municipal officials and residents to property owners and merchants, to develop strategies for re-energizing Main Street.

In Ocean City, BK will examine another shore-town gateway: the 9th Street corridor. With the causeway leading into the city slated for reconstruction next year, this is a prime opportunity to explore how the new approach into the city can become a memorable gateway and support the revitalization of Ocean City’s downtown, the 9th Street corridor.

October 2006 — Next Stop: Vancouver, B.C.

With at least $3 million to spend on public art—and preparations for the 2010 Olympics well underway—the time is ripe for reconsidering how public art projects happen in Vancouver, B.C. Brown & Keener Bressi, along with the St. Louis-based Via Partnership and Portland-based artist Valerie Otani, has been chosen to lead the effort to review the city’s public art program for the first time since its inception in 1990. The team will examine the city’s four main art programs—in civic places, parks, private development, and communities—recommend new directions for commissioning projects, and outline revisions to policies for funding and commissioning art. The team will also recommend how Olympic-inspired “legacy” artwork can be located throughout the city.

September 2006 — Gloucester Township, NJ selects BK for Greyfields Planning Study

‘Turning greyfields into gold’ is parlance for transforming failing shopping centers into successful mixed-use centers. Several such shopping centers line Blackwood-Clementon Road in Gloucester Township, New Jersey. The Township recently selected Brown & Keener to help residents and property-owners imagine new possibilities for this corridor—possibilities that lead to enduring places rather than isolated site developments. Assisting BK in this endeavor is a retail market analyst and an architect specializing in shopping center design.

September 2006 — BK to craft Public Art Master Plan for Clearwater, FL

BK, in collaboration with Via Partnership (St. Louis), will help the City of Clearwater, Florida, develop a master plan to guide its public art program, which will officially begin operations in October of this year. The plan will help the community create a vision for public art, assess opportunities for incorporating art into public and private development, and set out a plan of action to help Clearwater initiate and build a successful public art collection that strengthens the city’s public realm.

August 2006 — BK helps East Falls and Manayunk reconnect to the river

Philadelphians may one day have a few more places to plunk down their canoes. The East Falls and Manayunk neighborhoods are turning to Brown & Keener to make their connection to the Schuylkill River more literal. Hired by the local community development corporations, BK is scoping out places for constructing formal access points along the river. So far, BK has identified several spots and is working with an engineering firm to test their suitability to support foot traffic and boat docks. Concept drawings and cost estimates are in the works. A few years ago, BK crafted a plan to reconnect Philadelphia’s East Falls neighborhood to the Schuylkill River through a series of public realm investments to help visually link the neighborhood to the river.

July 2006 — Camden County selects Brown & Keener for Route 130 Corridor Plan

The Camden County Improvement Authority has selected Brown & Keener to undertake the Route 130 Corridor Plan for Pennsauken, New Jersey. Route 130, a six-lane highway divided by concrete barriers, is lined by a patchwork of land uses that ranges from a few thriving commercial enterprises and community institutions to marginally surviving businesses, abandoned shells, and empty lots. Brown & Keener will lead a team of planners, economic development specialists, and transportation engineers in setting the parameters for future public and private investment in the corridor.

May 2006 — Brown & Keener to assist Philadelphia’s Roxborough neighborhood in community-driven process to create zoning overlay

Philadelphia’s Ridge Avenue, like many of the city’s other neighborhood Mainstreets, has been challenged by the gradual departure of commerce and institutions to suburban locations. One obstacle to developing new commercial/mixed-use buildings, to recruiting quality retailers for vacant ground floor frontage, and to re-tenanting over-the-shop spaces is Philadelphia’s outdated zoning regulations. The new overlay will set guidance for parking, signage, use and character more responsive to the inherent qualities of the street AND to the requirements of contemporary retail.

March 2006 — Brown & Keener named to lead Pinellas County, FL Public Art Master Plan

BKB, in collaboration with the Via Partnership (St. Louis), McGregor Consulting (New York) and artist Cliff Garten (Laguna Beach), will direct a year-long planning process for the Pinellas County Art Commission.

November 2005 — Brown & Keener named to lead San José, CA Public Art Master Plan

BK, in collaboration with the Via Partnership (St. Louis), wins commission to create a new master plan for one of the country’s leading public art programs.

September 2005 — Burlington County invites Brown & Keener to lead “Big Country, Great Places” regional planning initiative

“Big Country, Great Places” is the working title for the ongoing effort to develop a regional land management strategy for thirteen New Jersey municipalities. The Goal? Balanced growth and a future where a viable agrarian economy competes successfully with suburbanizing forces; and where existing towns, villages and rural hamlets can become more delightful—rather than less so—as new development occurs.