A Fork in the Road

The River View project has taken a seat for the moment. Signs point to a slower closer consideration of the project. Consensus seems to be that the project is good from at least one angle: people are thinking big about downtown New Albany and, likewise, thinking big about housing downtown.

One of the concepts placed on the table for discussion is a "public-private partnership". This term, for such a relatively new concept, seems to be fast becoming not just a way to avoid the messy details of public projects, such as tax-based funding, but also a somewhat inaccurate cliche. The very willingness of a private developer to step forward with an idea seems to place the onus of acceptance at the feet of the citizens, who are then hectored for ingratitude if they balk at the generosity proffered by the developer.

To me, the most appealing feature of the River View plan is its river view. (As mentioned previously, that was the prime motivation behind Gonder Platz.) The design of the condos is prosaic and seems out of scale--but that is a personal and subjective take on it.

For the discussion to have carried forward to the point where slicing into the flood wall is seen as at least on the table, suggests that the City has bought into the cut, at least conceptually. That's great. And if that is the extent of the "public" side of the "public-private" partnership, I'm fine with it.

And therein lies the problem. I don't like the condos. I like the cut in the flood wall. I don't like the scale. I think this. I think that. I did run for office and I do have a vote on this issue. But I can't see the future, and I can't see if what we do today on this unbelievably significant investment for the City's present and future generations is the best course to pursue. Something this monumental, and of this lasting, directional change for New Albany calls for all hands on the wheel.

With the River View project we have a chance to democratize the concept of a "public-private partnership". This democratization, if pursued, would have a direct effect on New Albany's relationship to the river in the immediate case. But, significantly, and lastingly, it could affect our future and our ability to adapt more smartly to it.

Perhaps the best method of democratizing this project and, indeed, the entire process of building a modern, adaptable, environmentally responsible city for now and the future is found in the Smart Growth tenet of Form Based Codes. Here are a couple links to Form Based Code information: Link one and Link 2 .

New Albany is at a fork in the road now. We've been at the fork of other roads before. At one such point we chose to demolish a beautiful and significant structure in our downtown--the Post Office at Pearl and Spring Streets. Through a series of forks in roads we whittled away much of what had made our city something special, and instead opted for sprawling away from our community.

But the River View project is different. It can reorder this City for many, many generations. It can reunite us with the Ohio River, or it can put in place a multi-story ghost town which would act as a pall on future downtown revival. It is a major fork in the road. Joe Biden might call it, "A big forkin deal." And he would be right.

The fork is not whether to go forward with Bobo Platz and River View, or whether to turn down the plan. The BFD is, do we involve the citizens of this community in an inter-generationally defining project, or do we kick it around the Plan Commission and the City Council and come up with something "that we can live with"? A Form Based Code gets the community involved in defining how our City will develop both literally and figuratively.

As the primary campaign winds down, I pledge now, if I am given a second term,to do all that I can to push this city toward a full exploration of a Form Based Code. It may not be the answer to all our planning issues. It may be unworkable here for one reason or another. Or, it may be what lies down one direction of that fork in the road, the direction that leads us sensibly and responsibly into the still-new century.

Even though New Albany does not now operate under a form based code, the overlay of those concepts on the River View project would be a good and sensible way to proceed with that project. Community meetings, called charettes, are a hallmark of form based codes, and it is in these democratic meetings where the citizens can chart the course for their City by saying how they want new to fit in with old.

River View is too important a decision to not include as much community thought as possible.