From Planning to Implementation Implementation Committee

As noted in the introduction, a critical first step in MAP’s implementation is to formalize an Implementation Committee tasked with stewarding the plan from vision to reality. Convene leadership from the UDA, Main Street Macon, NewTown Macon, and the College Hill Corridor Commission as well as a few additional members recruited from the MAP Steering Committee to form the initial MAP Implementation Committee. Set a quarterly meeting schedule for the first year, and at the first meeting, review the suggested early action items, prioritize them, and assign roles and responsibilities for making progress each quarter.

Staff Up

Dedicate staff time for focusing on MAP implementation so that not a week goes by when the plan sits on the proverbial shelf. Initially, the Implementation Committee should craft an MOU between the UDA, Main Street Macon, NewTown Macon, and College Hill to delineate responsibilities. Lead organizations should then design workplans to meet their implementation targets. Depending on staff ability to integrate MAP responsibilities into existing workloads, the Committee may opt to explore the need for a new full-time MAP Coordinator position, hired and paid for by the partners organizations represented by the Implementation Committee.

Involve the Community

Macon understands service and volunteerism. Through the Knight Neighborhood Challenge Grant program in College Hill, the Urban Core learned firsthand about how much can be accomplished through the work of many toward a common goal. MAP outlines a host of new strategies for action across the Urban Core; launch a next generation challenge grant for the Urban Core to empower neighbors, the emerging downtown neighborhood association, and other community groups throughout the Urban Core as agents of change.

Early Actions

The Implementation Matrix that concludes each of the Goals & Strategies chapters highlights recommended early action items. The same strategies are listed here.

Create An Unparalleled Urban Core Experience

• Develop a consistent, compelling brand and message for the Urban Core – The collective impact of implementation actions that flow from MAP will be more powerful if associated with and tied together by a recognizable brand and message about Macon’s Urban Core

• Design a palette of signs to establish the brand and assist with wayfinding – With recent and impending investments in signage in the Urban Core, now is the time for collaboration among key partners and institutions to develop a signage system that brings cohesion and legibility to the Urban Core, while also differentiating destinations and improving navigability

• Beyond branding and signage, invest in placemaking with a signature MAP beautification project – The UDA has committed funding for a capital improvement project in the first year of MAP implementation, and this pool of money must be spent wisely to make a splash in a location that connects multiple aspects of the plan, from creating a central gathering space to improving the public realm, supporting local businesses, and bolstering activity and the sense of public safety. Rosa Parks Square is a prime candidate at the heart of the Urban Core. In addition, pursue small-scale improvements including street tree lighting for Cherry and Poplar Street and purchase movable furniture to adorn 1-2 small, public spaces Downtown.

• Demonstrate community support for the proposed Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve – The bill that authorizes a study of the Ocmulgee River Corridor to evaluate the merit of re-designation as a National Park and Preserve is now before Congress. The local community must show support for this catalytic opportunity by supporting ONPPI in its bid for Park and Preserve status and demonstrating such support through capital improvements to the streets and neighborhood fabric that together form the approach to the Ocmulgee Mounds.

Focus On Urban Core Living

• Support mixed-use development proposals that add density and housing choice, particularly downtown – Work with private developers to usher in new residential and mixed-use developments that add households and services to the Urban Core in keeping with the market potential identified by Zimmerman/Volk Associates’ housing market study. Begin working to secure funds to develop a form-based code for the Urban Core that will create clearer expectations for new development.

• Focus on blight removal in Beall’s Hill, Pleasant Hill, and East Macon’s Main Street Neighborhood – Partner with the Shalom Zone to engage neighbors in the process of community stabilization, and collaborate with the Macon-Bibb County Blight Task Force to remove dilapidated, vacant houses and maintain cleared lots in Urban Core neighborhoods where vacancy and abandonment pose threats to community health and well-being.

• Lay the ground work for Mill Hill Arts Village – East Macon’s Main Street Neighborhood has emerged as a focus for the City-County, UDA, Macon Arts Alliance, and local residents and community groups including the Family Investment Center. Delineate responsibilities and phasing to advance the Clinton Street gateway, land stabilization, and revitalization efforts through art and community development.

• Engage in focused community planning in Pleasant Hill – Beall’s Hill offers evidence of the importance of community organizing to unify a strong community voice in revitalization efforts. Momentum is building in East Macon for a similar grass-roots approach. Pleasant Hill has great need for stabilization and revitalization, but the community must be empowered to envision change and improvements for the neighborhood, block by block. Undertake a focused neighborhood planning effort driven by the Pleasant Hill community to build a plan that addresses local concerns.

Support The Engines Of Economic Development

• Create a medical corridor – Link the Urban Core’s multiple medical campuses, increase their visibility as destinations and employment centers with signage and streetscape improvements that support active lifestyles and extend the bustle present within hospital walls to the adjacent public realm.

• Mix up the downtown business mix – Adopt a proactive and multipronged approach. Work with property owners to update retail and office spaces to better attract prospective businesses. Market the tenant build-out revolving loan fund to prospective businesses, and pilot a mini-storefront pop-up space program for entrepreneurs looking for proof of concept. Work with existing businesses to increase programming and consistent hours of operation.

• Build upon College Hill’s work to foster entrepreneurship and support a local start-up culture – Invest in collaborative workspace that can incubate ideas and new businesses and inspire creative production.

Cultivate Connectivity

• Parking! – Everyone agrees that the current parking situation in downtown is unacceptable. To improve visitor experience and support local business by increasing parking turnover, make early strides to install parking meters, introduce a modern, technologybased payment system, increase enforcement, and improve awareness, visibility, and use of off-street parking lots and garages.

• Improve connections to the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail along the River Initiate discussions with GDOT about an alternative design to foster a safer and more scenic pedestrian and bicycle connection over the MLK, Jr. Boulevard Bridge and Spring Street Bridge. Begin designs for a connected, continuous Downtown River Loop with spurs via medians and new on-street bike lanes that support active transportation throughout all of the Urban Core.

As change continues to unfold and new opportunities arise, revisit and re-prioritize the early action strategies. The list may change, and that is a good thing that says the Macon Action Plan is a living document.

We built this plan together, Macon. let’s roll up our sleeves and take ACTION! Now,