Feb 11, 2009
Does The Cultural District Need An Organizing Body?
By: Kevin Buchanan
This discussion’s gotten interesting enough to spin off into its own post, I think. First, in a previous post about the Near Southside bike lanes, commenter Chad wrote:
i wish you lived in the cultural district. i would love to see this kind of stuff to incorporate the camp bowie district/so 7 development/7th street into downtown.
To which I replied:
Many of the great things happening in the Near Southside are thanks to Fort Worth South, Inc., who has been organizing and spearheading the initiatives around here. I’m actually kind of surprised that there is no similar organization doing much in the Cultural District. The Near Southside has Fort Worth South, Inc., Downtown has Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. – there doesn’t seem to be any sort of driving force in the Cultural District. I find that surprising. A body like FWSI or DFWI could do great things in the Cultural District – perhaps like unifying the zoning and development standards as was done in the Near Southside. Might have averted something like the strip mall behind Montgomery Plaza.
JP then replied:
Regarding Cultural District organizations, I know that Arlington Heights has a strong neighborhood association (http://arlingtonheightsna.com), and Historic Camp Bowie (http://www.historiccampbowie.com) works hard on beautification projects along the boulevard.
I realize that neither of these groups are as all-encompassing as FWSI – (and neither could have saved Montgomery Plaza from the strip mall).
Perhaps if the Cultural District had a stronghold of enthusiastic and outspoken residents like the Near Southside has (or if it had its own champion blogger to raise awareness), this area might get more buzz and see more ideas come to fruition.
(Of course, I talk a big game… then do nothing
And Jonathan also chimed in:
I wonder what impact a neighborhood organization would have had on the multiple large-scale developments currently underway.
It’s a question I’ve wondered about before – the Cultural District and the West 7th area don’t seem to have a grassroots organization like Fort Worth South, Inc. or a bigger money organization like Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. to help unify the district and guide its development. I think the success of FWSI and DFWI is pretty hard to ignore – but would 7th & the Cultural District benefit from a similar unified guidance? Are residents and businesses enthusiastic enough to support such a body? Could such a body have put together a cohesive Cultural District zoning similar to the Near Southside’s new zoning and development standards? (Such a project may have helped discourage such things as the strip mall portion of Montgomery Plaza, for example.) Is there a need for more cohesion beyond what Historic Camp Bowie and the individual neighborhood associations have pulled off?
Love to hear some more thoughts, one way or the other.
Kevin I think the biggest difference is that that Fort Worth South and Downtown Fort Worth Inc have TIFs in the area to help when needed, that isn’t available out in the Cultural District. For instance the midblock crossing you were talking about earlier is TIF funded, where does the funding come from and what is a developer’s motive to advocate in front of someone else’s property. Camp Bowie District Inc (the PID body) advocates for Camp Bowie, but that stops at University.
The TIF is a good point – though not everything that happens in, for example, the Near Southside comes about because of the TIF. I think that the 7th Street corridor could benefit from a cohesive form-based zoning code, for example.
I remember reading this FW Weekly article many years ago with visions of a redeveloped Montgomery Street in my mind (hopefully with a more walkable, urban design).
http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=3343
Since that time, it seems the only new development has been Christ Chapel’s new sanctuary (and parking garage) and Jake’s White Trash & Pink Lemonade Coiffure (with the blue airplane out front).
Granted, the new Science & History Museum is taking shape – but I believe its goal is to redirect people along Gendy (creating enclosure, if you can call it that, near the Cowgirl Museum, the Exhibition Hall, the FW Arts Council, etc.)
And while Camp Bowie (from Montgomery, back west) has a few nice establishments, better zoning might have turned this into a nice, pedestrian/bike friendly stretch. This should be Fort Worth’s proudest street! (I love Magnolia, but a well designed Camp Bowie could have been awesome.) Instead you’ve got a massive amount of cars piled along Clover, for people trying to park near Winslow’s. You’ve got homes at the intersections of side streets getting turned into McMansions. And you’ve got WAY too many stores selling lampshades and picture frames to encourage real foot traffic.
All this to say that this neighborhood seems to have no common thread and no real direction.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned this lack of an organizing body before.
It’s interesting to note that two of the developments under way, West 7th and Museum Place, both seek to create a central gathering place for people within their development. West 7th has its large central intersections with building set back to create a sense of plaza, and Museum Place has its pedestrian plaza arranged to allow large outdoor gatherings. I wonder if that would have happened if there were an overall plan for the district.
There is an organization called the Associated Businesses of the Cultural District (ABCD). In the words of the organization:
“The Associated Businesses of the Cultural District
is a not for profit business association, dedicated to the improvement of the Cultural District and the economic health of the associated members. Founded in 1991, the membership ranges from individuals with an interest in the area, to major corporations and cultural institutions.”
Web site: http://abcdfw.org/
I am a member and would encourage anyone who is interested to consider joining to stop by one of the monthly meetings. Another key difference between the ABCD and DFWI and FWSI is that the ABCD has no full time employees.
Urban design guidelines have been drafted for the area, however I understand they have never been formally ratified. If you’re interested, come get involved. Anyone is welcome.
[...] Does the Cultural District a la Fort Worth South? Kevin asks the question, and I say yes. Along those lines, one thing I’ve wondered is whether the entire Arlington [...]
If the Cultural District had an organization, I wonder how it would view the proposed Kimbell expansion. Comments were closed on the earlier thread at this site concerning the expansion. This discussion isn’t dead; if interested, please see recent letters to the Star Telegram.
Thanks
The Cultural District area had an organization recently that served the same role as the other groups mentioned. CDDI Cultural District Development Initiatives. It was funded by the larger land owners in the 7th. Street corridor. It completed a overall master-plan update for the private land within the district done by RTKL. It also created Urban Design guideline done by Gideon Toal. Both documents were never set out as city ordinances. During that period it had paid full time staff. ABCD is currently looking at taking on the task of presenting those guidelines to the city for adoption.The larger development projects currently under way were accomplished under the spirit of those guidelines. Because the area is an urban village no private public support is granted without approval from ABCD and the area’s two city councilmembers . This provides some protection from inappropriate development. ABCD is focused on takeing a greater role in development input.