Charrette participants, from left, Lampros Haracopas, James Palamara and Menachem Roth inspect an aerial view of Indian Rocks Beach.
INDIAN ROCKS BEACH – The May 3 charrette at the city’s civic auditorium drew about 75 interested persons from the community for a marathon of visioning, creativity and sharing ideas for the future of the city.
The meeting started at 8 a.m. with opening remarks by Mayor R.B. Johnson who welcomed the attendees, including Commissioners Cookie Kennedy, Bert Valery, Terry Wollin and Dan Torres as well as interim City Manager Danny Taylor.
Charrette leader Trent Green, associate professor from the University of South Florida’s Community Design Department, explained the intent of the session and described some of the methods the group would use to illustrate their various visions for the development of IRB over the next several years.
Breaking into four groups, the participants began by studying two photo-covered walls for images both in and outside of the city; armed with small red and green stickers, participants marked the images, either approving or disapproving of the images.
The next step in the process gathered the individual groups around tables covered with overlarge aerial photos of IRB, which served as a sort of community sand box where each budding designer was encouraged to build his or her favorite vision of what this corner or that street might look like or function as in the perfect world of tomorrow.
Colored markers in hand and using sketch tablets, charretteers began building, exploring, knocking down and rebuilding as their co-players discovered new, interesting, sometimes surprising uses for a vacant parcel of community property or the next way to gussy up a derelict building or an eyesore of a corner.
The charrette, while loosely formed and with just minimum direction, was an important step “which will result in a product that reflects the concerns as well as the vision of the people who live and work in IRB,” Green said.
The planners will be back with their recommendations in about 60 days.
While many questions from the participants revolved around specifics of the process such as what recommendation might be expected to result from the study, former city Commissioner James Palamara voiced a very personal concern, saying he was there to ensure that he’d have his say before the city told him what to do with his property.
Worried that planning trends favor the city’s interest over those of property owners and businesses Palamara said, “I’m concerned that plans like this keep peoples’ property values down, lets the developers buy cheaper and consolidate properties and then you’ve got another Clearwater Beach.”
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