Plan El Paso
In 2010 the City of El Paso commissioned Dover, Kohl & Partners to create a detailed Comprehensive Plan and regional-scale Future Land Use Map for the city. The Comprehensive Plan is an overarching policy document that directs the City of El Paso in its implementation of consensus-based goals created through an extensive public process. The goals, objectives, and strategies of the plan involve all aspects of City administration and community life: land use, urban design, historic preservation, economic development, housing, transportation, health, sustainability, infrastructure, public facilities and services, international coordination, and Fort Bliss Army Base relations. Dover-Kohl lead a project team that includes Spikowski Planning Associates, Charlier Associates, Hall Planning and Engineering, Sottile and Sottile Architects, Chael, Cooper & Associates, Urban Advisors, Zimmerman/Volk Associates, IPS Group, Mind Mixer Web Solutions, CEA Group, W-ZHA Economics, UrbanAdvantage, Matrix Environmental, and The Street Plans Collaborative.
The Plan El Paso Comprehensive Plan process was interactive and bilingual, and included two three-week charrettes in multiple areas throughout the city. During the charrettes, the team was able to talk to over 800 studio visitors, meeting attendees, and hands-on participants. Over 20,000 people followed the project on its website or took part in online conversations and polling in the project’s virtual town hall. Newspaper, television, and web coverage of the project was extensive. The project was used as a case study in the national discussion on placemaking and city planning by the National Resource Defence Council.
On March 6, 2012, Plan El Paso was adopted by unanimous vote of the El Paso City Council. The EPA awarded Plan El Paso a 2011 National Award for Smart Growth Excellence in Programs, Policies, and Regulations. The EPA grants this award yearly to "recognize exceptional approaches to development that respect the environment, foster economic vitality, and enhance quality of life." Plan implementation has involved new capital improvement projects, amendments to land development policy including form-based coding for large portions of the City, and private-public partnerships to build transit oriented development along the City’s developing Bus Rapid Transit Network. Plan El Paso ensures that as El Paso grows it continues to be the community that its citizens desire it to be.
