Planning & Building Manager City of Lewes Milford, DE
Using art is an innovative approach to obtaining public comment that includes under-served populations and young people. There are challenges and successes involved in taking public comments, turning them into art, and then turning the art into ordinances that will help create a resilient community.
The City of Lewes asked for the public's input on the city’s future environmental footprint. The city held an art contest through the school district and captured, in a short video, children's wishes, worries, ideas, and messages to Mother Nature. They went to the farmer's market, senior centers, library, concerts, and more to have the public write or draw their vision or concern for the environment. Elected officials and planners reviewed all 500+ footprints and volunteers turned them into a tapestry that hangs today in city hall.
The footprints tapestry drove the city to make difficult changes in the way it addresses environmental resiliency by increasing freeboard, decreasing lot coverage, incentivizing pervious and impervious surfaces, and more. The footprints tapestry continue to affect how the city addresses environmental issues and drives its forthcoming comprehensive plan.
Create a roadmap and catalyst for specific, measurable, updated environmental ordinances to address resiliency concerns and tips on how to overcome obstacles during the process.
Design a public engagement process that adopts collaborative means to reach multiple sectors of the community; particularly those that rarely participate in formal planning processes.
Create innovative ways to engage the next generation and validate their voices in the planning process.
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