Civic Omaha Public Input Session

At the end of Omaha By Design’s one-year project, we will create workable priorities for public and philanthropic investments, enforceable codes, and guidelines for the city’s Master Plan.

This vision will be built from three parts, Green Omaha, Civic Omaha and Neighborhood Omaha. Each is critical to the overall goal of creating a vibrant, functional and appealing community for both businesses and individuals.


The panel of experts field questions and listen to suggestions

On March 31, 2004, a community input meeting was held at the Scott Conference Center on the University of Nebraska at Omaha Campus to present issues for discussion regarding the Civic Omaha part of the project.


Public Service Commissioner Ann Boyle listens intently to recommendations

Civic Omaha seeks to identify locations of critical public concern that need special regulation and develop design guidelines and other policies to enhance locations critical to the City’s image. We also strive set-up priorities for civic improvements both public and privately-funded

The Issues

Creating a sense of place

Omaha can create a stronger sense of place at critical locations within the city.

A proposed civic structure for Omaha could extend along 6 major street corridors.

  • Dodge Street
  • Abbott Drive/10th Street
  • 24th Street
  • 72nd Street
  • 144th Street
  • 180th Street

We will prepare a handbook that puts the salient elements of each corridor into guidelines and requirements, such as special zoning overlay districts, or other amendments to the zoning and subdivision codes. Omaha has not exercised the kinds of redevelopment powers used routinely in many other cities.


Civic Vistas

Civic Vista means a view that is characteristic of Omaha and helps to define its image. The view of the downtown skyline looking west from the Heart of America Park or from inside the Leahy Mall just west of 10th Street is an example of a vista.


A new look for 50th and Dodge

Other vistas that have civic importance are:

  • Capitol Avenue looking west towards Central High School
  • N Street at 24th looking west towards the Livestock Exchange building
  • The Carillon in Memorial Park and the UNO Bell Tower
  • Views coming into Omaha from the east
  • Views looking back east from Omaha towards the Missouri River

Our purpose is to introduce the principle of protecting and enhancing important vistas into every-day development practice in Omaha.

Streetscapes

Streetlights, traffic signals, traffic information signs, parking signs, street identification signs, plus street trees, and street and sidewalk materials are important components in the image of any city. Often they are the product of a series of decisions by various agencies that add up not to a design but to a form of visual noise. People tune them out, but their sense of the city is still very much affected by these elements.

Harmony and consistency are important parts of any streetscape design. Omaha has already made some important decisions about streetscape. New tall street lights downtown, and the globe lights selected for Abbott Drive could easily serve as the basic model for all street lights within civic areas. Ultimately, a successful streetscape design depends on consistent placement of fixtures and standards for placement of signs, signals, sidewalk materials, curbs, etc.

Major Commercial Corridors and Intersections

There are two big design issues under this heading:

1. Commercial District Locations. Commercial districts should occur at major intersections, not in continuous corridors as they exist in much of Omaha – and just about everywhere else. The Land Use element of Omaha’s Master Plan outlines a strategy for remapping continuous commercial zones so that the intervals between commercial centers along corridor streets are used in a different way. The obvious alternative is some form of multi-family housing, but turned to face the neighborhood, not the corridor street.

2. Commercial Districts Design. Traditional main streets, like Underwood Avenue in Dundee, work well with the buildings fronting directly on the street. Getting the same relationship of building to street on main arterials is a problem. Wide, heavily trafficked streets are just not an appropriate place for the front doors of retail buildings. But the standard alternative, pushing the retail buildings back behind their parking lot, loses both the sense of place and the ability to walk from one shopping destination to another that is found on a retail street.

An alternative concept is for stores in a shopping center to front on their own Main Street. Traffic is slowed and it is possible to park close to retail entrances. This internal street should be immediately accessible from the arterials. This alternative retail pattern is finding acceptance in communities around the U.S., and an example is being built in West Omaha at Village Pointe.

The next step beyond shopping centers themed as main streets is to encourage true mixed-use. These commercial locations are also good places for town houses, apartments and small offices.

In addition to these building placement and context issues, there are also issues about the design of the individual structures and their parking lots. Many big box commercial buildings are designed to have a façade on the parking lot side that is emblematic of the building, with no attention paid to the other three sides of the structure. Policies that reshape the placement and location of commercial buildings need to include ways of insuring that buildings that can be seen from several directions live up to their position.

The issue is how we can build on these planning principles to make them standard development practice in Omaha. Any regulations clearly have to permit development practices that make sense for investors and developers. But to accomplish complex objectives, regulations will have to be more prescriptive than they have been in Omaha up to now.

Conservation of Buildings

Omaha has a Landmarks Commission and a well-functioning system for designating historic landmarks and historic districts. However, older buildings that do not meet the criteria for historic designation also need some measure of protection. Such buildings are part of Omaha’s cultural heritage and contribute to its sense of place; they also represent valuable assets as structures.

Omaha has great neighborhoods in the older part of the city, but the houses in many of these neighborhoods don’t offer the size and amenity of houses in newer parts of Omaha. One issue is codes. Setback requirements in the zoning can impose suburban spacing on older, urban buildings, making it difficult to expand existing houses to add a new kitchen-family room, a master suite, or a bigger garage. It may be difficult to adaptively re-use older buildings and meet modern building code requirements.

Other cities have found ways to encourage adaptive re-use without creating life-safety problems, and we need to make sure that Omaha is up-to-date in this respect. As populations age and change, sometimes owners are unwilling or unable to maintain their properties. Often owners need help in financing repairs, or in simply understanding what to do, and how to get it done.

Solutions to this complex cluster of issues include conservation districts, pro-active marketing policies, design handbooks and other assistance programs for building owners, to insure that Omaha realizes the most value from its stock of existing buildings.

Lighting Landmarks


St Cecilia’s Cathedral at night

There are four parts to this issue:

1. Many landmark structures in Omaha are already illuminated.

2. We need to identify other landmark structures in important civic locations that should be illuminated, if the owners are willing to do this.

3. There are some buildings that are illuminated now that are not necessarily of civic importance. Criteria should be established for illuminating buildings, and approval required by before owners can turn on the floodlights.

4. Effective architectural illumination is best done by designers who understand how to bring out the best in a building’s character. Consistent guidelines can help make sure that lighting of landmark buildings achieves its full potential.

Public Art

Omaha has an Art Commission that advises on locations for public art projects. Another role for this Commission is to review the selection of artists for public buildings where 1 percent has been set aside for art. The State of Nebraska has a statutory set-aside of 1% for art in public buildings. Should the City of Omaha have comparable legislation? The Art Commission also has to make policy about what constitutes appropriate public art in public buildings. Should art be defined only as separate commissioned sculptures or paintings, or should the 1% include artists designing integral components of the building, such as floors, railings, landscaping?


Public Art Commission member Larry Ferguson advocating 1% for art

General Quality of Public Design

Building cost is a very significant factor in determining what can and what cannot be done to achieve design quality in structures paid for by city funds. Design quality in public building is a complex mixture of accurate budgeting, appropriate selection of design professionals and review and criticism during the design process.

It is not that good design costs more, although it may, but that the budgets for a building tend to be set by the cost of previous comparable buildings. The problem is that if a design comes in over the budget, and it looks like the previous comparable building, the presumption is that costs have gone up. If the design looks different, the presumption is that the architect is at fault. Architects are aware of this syndrome and are tempted to cover themselves by repeating the previous design approach, whether or not they think it is good design.

A need exists for a reasonable process of finding the best possible designers for each building or structure, using outside, expert advice – at least for high-visibility projects. Many cities use Design Review Boards as a means of insuring quality for public buildings and structures or for projects built with public funds.

 

Learn more about the Omaha by Design process and get more detail on the issues and recommendations at www.omahabydesign.org