Excerpted from the NCI 2005 Best Practices Report
By Keith Covington, Principal
Third Coast Design Studio

Some of the toughest people to deal with during a planning process are those who did not attend the charrette. In the public sector, we have tried just about every method to notify and encourage people to attend. After all, participation is critical to the success of the plan…

This article was excerpted from the NCI 2005 Best Practices Report. Best Practices Reports are available only to NCI members. To get your copy of the NCI 2009 Best Practices Report that focuses on sustainable community charrettes, become a NCI member today.

On a recent plan with regional transportation implications we expanded our typical notification procedures. First, we held separate meetings for major stakeholder groups that included the property owners and leaders of the surrounding neighborhoods whom the plan indirectly affected.

The stakeholder meetings were mostly informational, addressing why we were there and what was to be expected, but they were also a plea for these groups to spread the word to those more difficult to reach. Property owners could reach tenants and nearby neighborhood leaders could reach their constituents without expensive mailings. Coupled with a barrage on the media with many press releases, we hosted the largest charrette to date at the time with hundreds of attendees with varying interests.

Lesson: Do not underestimate the value of wide participation. Identify those who can help get the word out and encourage them to do so. Use stakeholder meetings and pre-charrette presentations to explain the process and why it is critical for community members to get involved and make their voices heard.