Reno Reporter

The City of Reno invites the public to participate in a public engagement session with Gehl, an urban design and research consultant, as part of the next phase of the Virginia Street Placemaking Study. 

During the public engagement session, Gehl will summarize the data collected through the more than 2,700 Virginia Street Placemaking surveys that community members submitted earlier this summer and gather feedback from the public to draft a community-driven vision for Virginia Street and a thriving downtown. 

The public engagement session is scheduled for Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 5:30 p.m. Community members are invited to join in person or virtually:

In-Person Engagement Session  

• November 2, 2022
• McKinley Arts & Culture Center - 925 Riverside Dr, Reno, NV 89503
• 5:30-6:30 p.m. Presentation and Q&A 
• 6:30-8:00 p.m. In-person engagement with Gehl

Virtual Engagement Session

• November 2, 2022
• Zoom
• 5:30-6:30 p.m. Presentation and Q&A 
• Feedback will be collected through a form available on Reno.gov/Engage. 

For those unable to attend a live presentation, a recording will be available at Reno.gov/Engage following the engagement session with links to the online engagement form. The public will be able to provide feedback through the online engagement form for two weeks, November 2-16.

Next in the Placemaking Study process, Gehl will draft a proposed street design and programming concepts for public review and feedback. For more information and the latest updates, visit Reno.gov/Engage.

Background

In September 2021, the Reno City Council approved funding to conduct a study to provide a cohesive and regional vision for the future of Virginia Street and downtown Reno. The goal of the placemaking study is to create a vision for a downtown corridor where locals and visitors want to spend their time.

After a comprehensive search process, including a formal Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process, the City of Reno selected Gehl to oversee and facilitate the placemaking study based on their approach to human-centered research and digital data to document the experience of place.

The placemaking study’s success relies on community and stakeholder input and feedback. The City wants to understand the goals, aspirations, and challenges the community sees for Virginia Street and how they envision the future of Downtown. 

Led by community feedback, Gehl will ultimately provide a concept design narrative and implementation, phasing, and financing plan for the preferred conceptual street design and programming options. Following that, the plan will be presented to the Reno City Council for review and approval.

Original source can be found here.