 In the Spring of 2001,
the Fayetteville Downtown Task Force at the urging of Walter
Vick, AIA, contacted the AIA North Carolina
Urban Design Assistance Team (UDAT) program. The purpose of this
contact was to discuss the possibility of assembling a volunteer
team of Architects and Planners from across the state of North
Carolina to convene in Fayetteville and work with the citizens
and the community to develop a Fayetteville Renaissance Plan.
Several
meetings were scheduled with North Carolina State University
professor and program Executive Director, Peter Batchelor, FAIA,
FAICP, to
formalize plans for the team's visit in late February of 2002.
Mr. Batchelor contacted Mr. Bill Monroe, AIA president and founder
of WCM Design Inc. in Charlotte, NC to lead the design team.
Based upon his experience
with the UDAT process in Winston-Salem, and
the knowledge of the design community from service as past
president of AIA North Carolina, Mr. Monroe assembled a select
team of
design professionals from across the state.
 Beginning
in November 2001, meetings with the Task Force leaders Mac Healy
and Ben Brown were held to initiate the UDAT process. Mr. Healy
and Mr. Brown desired for the team to revisit and update a master
plan developed for the City in the mid 1990's by Robert Marvin and
Associates of Walterboro, SC. This plan, "A Complete Fayetteville
Once and for All", Called for an annual review of the plan
and the newly formed "Renaissance Fayetteville" group,
along with the City of Fayetteville, endorsed the idea of the UDAT
team coming to Fayetteville to accomplish this goal.
The Fayetteville Renaissance Plan seeks to rediscover the urban
attributes of successful cities and towns. By preserving important
threads of the existing fabric and respecting the rich history
and heritage of the city, the Fayetteville Renaissance Plan completes
and unifies the city with a focus on quality of life issues for
its citizens. The plans and design strategies will guide future
development and investment in the city core, which are necessary
to move toward a Fayetteville Renaissance.
 The Urban Design Assistance Team utilized the precedent of Fayetteville's
past as a point of departure for the Fayetteville Renaissance Plan.
The idea and strategies for development contained in the plan represent
the translation into drawings and words of this community's citizens'
vision and dreams for the future of Fayetteville. The plan provides
the framework for realization of this vision over the next 25 years.
The Fayetteville Renaissance UDAT wishes to thank the citizens
of Fayetteville for their hospitality and for sharing their dreams
with us. We also thank the Arts Council Staff for providing not
only a studio space as an incubator for the Fayetteville Renaissance
Plan but also for giving generously of staff time in support of
our efforts. Mac Healy and Ben Brown provided Task force leadership
from the start and orchestrated the forums, which provided the
opportunity for Fayetteville citizens to provide input for the
plan's development.
|
