City of Kalamazoo

Rebekah Kik

The City of Kalamazoo is embarking on the next decade of visioning. This time we get to apply lessons learned from the past 10 years of our plan implementation. We are starting from a rare place; building on the successful implementation of our last plan, rather than starting from scratch if we had not been able to achieve goals. In 2015, The city managed to engage more than 4,000 people who live, work and play in our community. This was sparked by an imaginative engagement process that is worthy of the title it inspired - Imagine Kalamazoo.

The engagement process for the plan was not for faint hearted; it did take us 16 months. But in truth it was the best 16 months’ worth of conversation we’ve ever had with our community. City staff were a huge part of the lift that it took to get the numbers we achieved. It also wasn’t just about the numbers; it was about hearing from people that normally do not have the time to show up at traditional city hall or townhall style meetings. Our staff worked at tables and under tents helping our community members establish a new vision by participating in open houses, community picnics, Art Hops and food truck rallies. They distributed surveys and held conversations with people from every neighborhood to contribute ideas about places, programs, policies, investments, communal goals and values that are important to them.

We used the appreciative inquiry method of gathering input. This methodology is an iterative method that envisions a positive future for the end result. Balancing optimism toward a future outcome with the challenges that a community can face.

The process was organized into five phases: Imagine It, Plan It, Design It, Draft It and Adopt It. Each phase was designed to build on the previous one, moving from broad community engagement and future-focused discussions to detailed neighborhood planning, action plan development and final adoption through the city’s required public approval process.

By going where people were already gathered, city staff met people that would otherwise not participate in these conversations. We always shared “you are here” information in case this was the first time they had engaged with Imagine Kalamazoo. We showed them the iterative nature of the work, and invited them to view the results of the other phases. Making simple and fun ways to have conversations and create relationships that also staff would not normally encounter. The sum of this method, meant that the vision created hope to enhance quality of life for all, embrace how diversity strengthens Kalamazoo and seek (even more) continuous community engagement as a two-way conversation.

“The plan would be more than a document. It would be a work plan for the city organization and a contract with the community.”

The engagement fostered a moment to look at our plans differently. To create a community contract rather than just a plan. Creating community vision plans – comprehensive plans or master plans – are expensive, time consuming and must be valued by the city officials that conduct them. That should be seen as fiscal responsibility as many consultants charge between $100,000 to $250,000+ to engage with community and write these plans. The shift that we proposed in Kalamazoo when we began to engage our community is that the plan would be more than a document. It would be a work plan for the city organization and a contract with the community that we heard them, and we (the city organization) would be acting on the goals and action items with fidelity. By being out in the front of the engagement, the city staff also got to hear first-hand what challenges residents, business owners and other stakeholders were having.

The engagement that happened became important for continuity with our community relationships. When the planning engagement was complete, we sat down to write up everything we did. We knew the way we engaged was special and needed to be captured and shared. It is now an adopted ‘Public Participation Policy’ for the city. This document helped us to codify what we had done and continue to measure the success of our engagement processes. We update the policy often as we learn new and more accessible ways of engaging our community.

As an added bonus, this kind of innovative engagement is also an excellent opportunity to educate and exchange information about planning, transportation and housing best practices. Engagement is often seen as a one-way communication – the community telling the city what they need. At its roots that is exactly what it can be. It’s also valuable to share with the community what other communities are doing to positively impact the challenges that many face. Sharing these as case studies, hosting book clubs or even small forums during projects that are being planned or as a part of the city-wide vision, help community members to see the ‘why’ behind goals and policy directives. The best practices your community may want to pursue can help you to decide what consultants to hire and the data that should be gathered to shape the conversation toward impact.