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10.24.03
Creating the "new" Coatesville
Bajeerah Lowe, Staff Writer
COATESVILLE
-- Input from city residents and the skills of mid-career and
student architects will be combined over the next few days to create
plans for a redeveloped Coatesville.
Just a day after
a proposal for $300 million in new development in the city was
accepted by council and announced to the public, the University of
Miami’s charrette team launched their six-day stay in the city
Wednesday with a town meeting.
The group made up of university staff, 13 fellows and nine students
will hold 12 community sessions focused on various components in the
city in an effort to come up with a workable community plan for the
future.
"All issues are on the table," said Charles Bohl, director of the
Knight Program in Community Building at the university’s school of
architecture, adding that the fellows are open to discussing such
issues as parking, parks, structures and transportation.
Through the Knight Program the services come to the city at no cost.
Coatesville is the third city the charrette has come to in three
years. San Jose, Calif., and Macon, Ga., were the two other
communities.
Bohl said all sessions, which started Thursday morning and will
continue through Sunday, are open to all residents. Held at City
Hall, the sessions will focus on topics such as land use, churches
and nonprofits, housing, schools and safety. Bohl said each and
every one requires community input. "This doesn’t work unless we
have a lot of people coming out," he said.
Members of the group, including Bohl and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk,
dean of the school of architecture, spent time in the city prior to
the launch of the charrette in an attempt to identify the character
of the area.
"When we look at Coatesville, we see a real place, an authentic
place," said Bohl, adding that the group is looking, "not to
reinvent the wheel," but rather capitalize what is already there.
"Coatesville is something that’s not out there on the highways, not
in the subdivisions," he said.
Plater-Zyberk said the group has identified the locale, including
the Brandywine Creek and the rising hills surrounding the city, as
an asset. "You have a very intimate feeling," she said.
The train rail and the historic buildings, including the brick homes
and civic establishments in the center of town, also are viewed by
the team as huge assets, said Plater-Zyberk.
"Frankly, we would die for it in Miami," she said of the buildings.
After holding open meetings through Saturday afternoon, the group
will come together with the community at 4 p.m. Saturday for a
review of ideas. The community, said Bohl, will be asked to let the
fellows know whether they are heading in the right or wrong
direction. On Monday from 6 to 8:30 p.m., a reception and closing
presentation will be held to unveil the results.
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