In this case, the plan will be a first draft of a form-based code for downtown Winter Park and key commercial corridors. A form-based code seems ideal for Winter Park, which is justifiably proud of its unique downtown “village character” and wants that character to influence the way the town grows into the future.

Getting to a new regulating plan through the charrette process is also ideal. The method has proven to be the most effective way to move collaboratively towards an actionable plan supported by all citizens, whether they look at the regulation of new development through the eyes of a real estate professional or a neighbor.

Winter Park’s charrette begins with two topic-focused meetings and an opening presentation and discussion on April 11. (For an hour-by-hour schedule and an explanation of opportunities to participate, go here.) It’s a five-day affair with just over 26 hours set aside for public meetings and citizen engagement. But it’s important to understand that this is not just a series of meetings.

Getting from ideas to action

Sunday night, April 13, when the teams “pin-up” work in progress, citizens will get a chance to critique approaches and refine concepts they came up with only hours before. By the final presentation on the night of April 15, the framework for Winter Park’s regulatory approach in the study areas should be defined well enough to take to final draft form in the weeks after the charrette, then through the community review process, and, ultimately, into implementation.

The goals for the charrette week are ambitious ones:

• To work through key citizen concerns and hopes towards principles that can guide a regulatory approach to “village character”;
• To test alternative illustrations of that approach in the study areas; and
• To make critical choices for carrying the best ideas forward in the first draft of a regulating plan.

All that will be done in continuous collaboration with citizens, elected officials, city staffers, business people, real estate pros, and others who have stakes in responsible growth in Winter Park.

Getting to community through collaboration

A crucial advantage in the charrette process is the environment it creates for developing community perspectives as opposed to merely indulging competing wish lists of individuals or groups. When people are in the same room hashing out common goals for places they love, all the things that connect them become immediately more apparent than the things that separate them.

The concept of connectivity will be a thread in charrette discussions throughout the week. The five general topics for the focused meetings in the first two days are not just separate, parallel issues to somehow reconcile. They are interdependent components of any plan for healthy growth in Winter Park. The charrette is organized to make that realization easier to grasp and build upon. Immediate feedback loops are planned into the process. When citizens see their collaborative efforts immediately rewarded by professional illustrations of how their ideas might look applied in their own neighborhoods, they are inspired to trust the process and to do the hard work of advancing the charrette’s outcomes. Charrettes build buy-in by building ownership.

That’s why city officials and the consulting teams encourage citizens to participate in as many of the charrette sessions as possible. Working through ideas together is the best way to sense the potential of the charrette process and to feel confident in what emerges at the end of the week.

But if you don’t have time for in-person participation, you can watch the process unfold on this website. Return often. The site will be updated daily through the five days. And the final presentation will be posted the day after the charrette concludes. By April 16, the City of Winter Park and its citizens will have a permanent, easily accessible archive of every step they took towards planning in these key study areas.

Come if you can. Tell your friends. It’s an historic week in Winter Park’s modern history.