The City of Danville held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday afternoon for the Plan Danville storefront. Plan Danville is a community planning process to develop the comprehensive plan: a 20-year policy document reviewed every five years and acts as a guide for land use development, zoning, and prioritization for future development.
The Plan Danville Storefront at 206 North Union St. will be the central hub of engagement and activity: a place designed for capturing the thoughts and inspirations of all ages so that we can build a bright future together. Community ambassadors will serve as local grassroots organizers. They will lead small conversations in the next several months.
According to City Manager Ken Larking, the city used a similar plan prior to the revitalization of downtown Danville.
“About 10 to 15 years ago the community started talking about what it can do to improve downtown,” said Larking, “a plan was made about 2010, and 12 to 13 years later if you think about what our River District looked like ten years ago and what it looks like now you can see how carefully designing a plan with community input and executing on that plan can make a true difference for a community. An example of that is that we’ve had $52 million of public investment, which has resulted in $310 million of private investment…so what we’re trying to do here is replicate that throughout the city.”
Larking noted that in this plan the city will have ambassadors going out into the community to the hardest to reach people to make sure their voices are heard. The Danville Regional Foundation provided the city with a $200k grant to help with the effort.
Plan Danville is looking to get input from everyone on what they want the future of the city to look like according to River District Association CEO Diana Schwartz.
“This is your chance to have a part of this community development opportunity, everybody is welcome and needed. When everybody participates in what happens, really the outcomes are much richer for all,” said Schwartz.
Inside the storefront, citizens can share their thoughts on some of the weaknesses and strengths of the city. People can also share opportunities and challenges within the city.