The City of Buffalo announced today it is organizing a series of neighborhood workshops to help assemble the first detailed, citywide land use plan since 1977, the year of the infamous "Blizzard of 77." The workshops will convene residents, employers, and employees from the respective neighborhoods across the city to chart a course for future development. The neighborhood workshop that includes the Larkin District and Hydraulics (as well as the Old First Ward, Valley, Clintonville, and Near East Side) is set for March 2, 6:30-9:00 pm, at the Montessori School, 342 Clinton St.
Tens of millions of dollars in mixed-use neighborhood investment is now underway in the Larkin District and the Hydraulics. Streetscapes are refurbished. Major tenants are jumping into the mix. The construction of new office space and loft apartments is set to get underway this year. The neighborhood is coming back, yet in 2011 this hip, edgy extension of downtown Buffalo is still operating under a land use plan from the days of the disco diva and an even older zoning code from 1951 that calls for coal pockets, tipples, and trestles.
The March 2 neighborhood workshop is probably the most important planning meeting for the neighborhood in over a generation. Why? Because the process to completely overhaul Buffalo's land use policies and zoning codes happens only once every few decades. This is your chance to tell the City of Buffalo about your vision for the future of the Larkin District. Want better public transit? Cool bars and restaurants? Beautiful public spaces? Traffic calming? More economic development? Whatever your priorities are, it's your chance to tell the City where things in the neighborhood need to be going. The ideas you bring to the table will directly inform a new plan for the neighborhood and from that, an entirely new, green zoning code will be created.
Bring your neighbors, coworkers, even drag the boss along. Don't miss this neighborhood workshop! Montessori School, 342 Clinton St., March 2, 6:30-9:00 pm. Be there, or B2.
For more information, please visit the website of the Buffalo Green Code.
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