Back in 2006, the Historic Eastside was struggling somewhat as a neighborhood. The City of Longmont funded us to come up with our most pressing needs. We worked together to identify projects, programs and action steps that would enhance the appearance, preserve the character and improve the public and private properties of the neighborhood.
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2006 Revitalization Plan Executive Summary
Neighborhoods are places where people connect with one another. Being part of a community where neighbors know each other and help each other out not only contributes to an individual’s health and happiness, but also makes it easier for people to organize around issues of public concern and community benefit.
The Longmont City Council wants neighborhoods to continue their strong roles in community problem solving and in ensuring quality public services.
However, the Council understands that neighborhoods have a life cycle of their own. As some of our neighborhoods are growing stronger and safer, other neighborhoods may be experiencing issues that threaten their quality of life.
The Council reviewed and discussed some of the issues that are taking place in Longmont neighborhoods, and how revitalization efforts could help sustain a high quality of life throughout all Longmont neighborhoods.
In 2002, City Council established a Neighborhood Revitalization Program for the Longmont community as comprehensive approach to improving neighborhoods in order to address issues in established neighborhoods.
The City of Longmont Neighborhood Revitalization Program offers a comprehensive approach to improving neighborhoods. The program identifies and/or links neighborhoods with resources needed to deal with the community, social, physical and economic needs that are particular to a neighborhood to further improve the quality of life for its residents.
Neighborhood revitalization could include, but is not limited to, the following elements:
- community
- economic
- social and
- physical improvements.
Neighborhoods are determined eligible for the revitalization funds through a selection process that combines a series of positive and negative indicators.
Negative indicators include income levels, police calls for service and percentage of code violations. Positive indicators include organized neighborhood associations, willingness to partner with the city and ability to define residential issues.
Once identified as a revitalization candidates, neighborhoods are asked to apply for funding through a competitive process. In 2005, five neighborhoods were asked to apply for revitalization funds, and it was the Historic Eastside Neighborhood that was selected by committee to receive the 2005 revitalization grant funding.
The Historic Eastside Neighborhood Association worked with City staff to develop a neighborhood plan. This plan will serve as a shared community vision of the neighborhood revitalization effort and provides a vehicle for residents to work together with City of Longmont staff to improve their community.
The goal of the neighborhood plan is to involve and include all groups that make up the neighborhood, identify values and issues important to the neighborhood, and include neighborhood improvement strategies to be implemented by all interested residents and community members.
In 2005 the Historic Eastside Revitalization Committee, made up of HENA residents, formed to assemble a plan that would identify the strengths of the neighborhood with the intent to preserve and enhance them. Based on a statistical analysis of neighborhood surveys and a series of neighborhood meetings and outreach events that included Youth, Latino and Senior specific outreach events, seven planning interest areas were identified early in the public input process.
Those issues, listed in order of importance to HENA residents, are the following:
- Pride in Residences
- Historic Preservation
- Public Safety and Lighting
- Community Building and Neighborhood Involvement
- Traffic
- Community Forest, and
- Collyer Park.
For each of the seven interest areas of the Historic Eastside Neighborhood Plan, projects, programs and action steps have been identified to enhance the appearance, preserve the character and improve the public and private properties of the neighborhood. After the City Council acceptance in the 1st quarter of 2006 of the Historic Eastside Neighborhood Revitalization Plan the neighborhood and the City of Longmont will partner to prepare for plan implementation.
The implementation stage of the planning process is the most anticipated phase since it is the actual development of thoughts and ideas generated during the plan discussions.
The Community and Neighborhood Resources Division will work closely with the Historic Eastside Neighborhood Association to implement the recommendations identified within the plan. The Community and Neighborhood Resources division will also be responsible for assisting in the coordination with the other City Departments and staff members identified as key participants within the plan.
The adopted neighborhood plan is not binding or mandatory, but a guiding document for the revitalization of the Historic Eastside Neighborhood. Unless elements of the plan have been adopted, directly or indirectly by ordinance, the plan will serve to coordinate and structure community building efforts between Historic Eastside Neighborhood Association, the City of Longmont and other local community agencies.
The goal is to have an implementation period of one year, in which Historic Eastside Neighborhood residents, designated City staff and other local agencies work together to complete as many projects and recommendations as possible.
Read the full Historic Eastside Revitalization Plan.
Historic Eastside Neighborhood Association 