First Town Hall Meeting for Town Square - Meeting Notes

Thanks to the more than 80 Noe Valleyans who showed up at the July 15 Friends of Noe Valley Meeting to discuss the possibility of creating a Noe Valley Town Square.

A special thanks goes to Friends of Noe Valley (Richard May, President) www.friendsofnoevalley.com for hosting the meeting. I would also like to thank Meredith Thomas and Sunya Ojure of the Neighborhood Parks Council for facilitating an excellent meeting. And finally, I would like to thank Chris Guillard from CMG Landscape Architecture for donating his time as well as his firm's time to this project.

The next Town Square Community Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept 21 at 7:30PM at James Lick Middle School. Please plan to attend

Here are the "brainstorming" notes from the July 15 community meeting. Each table thought of possible uses for the space as well as issues to address/overcome.

1. Table One

• Mixed Ideas – like new use
• Could have more uses
• Still need some parking
• Plaza should bring people in
• Should have mixed use residential (one opinion)
• Plaza could have a stage, music, displays, movies, vendors, art, structure for kids

2. Table Two

• Keep the space flexible for maximum use
  
• Community gathering, sustainable green/community
• Space should be social, safe, available for many ages and for diverse users
• Curvy lines/design
• Reflective/fun space
• “Ultimate outdoor community center”

3. Table Three

• Keep the lot as open space - but program "considerate" activities
• Keep noise down, especially for movies/music
• Farmer’s market could occur more days
• Center area, greening, buffer of trees, garden club could maintain

4. Table Four

• No development of the lot on 24th street
  
• Farmer’s market
• Important; neighborhood has many families and self-employed individuals
• No large building - maybe small storage restroom facility
• Security is important
• Stage, skateboarding feature are option
• Money needed for security - especially useful for all afterschool programs and events
• Should explore underground parking

5. Table Five

• Keep the lot as open space – pedestrian friendly that promotes interaction
• “Meeting place”
• Flexible, hangout, open, beautiful home-away-from-home, special

6. Table Six

• Urban village, safe, diverse
• This could be a way for lots of uninvolved folks to get involved
• Old vs. new Noe - get ideas from ALL people on what to do with open space
• Maybe have some parking still, or maybe change street parking to make more space
• Sound wall needed, no amplified sound
• Tot area and dog run
• Active, sustainable, community, fun, safe, quiet, lively park

7. Table Seven

• Lot should be an open space because we don’t use current parking
• Many ideas, need increase community involvement, develop community using this farmer’s market
• Green, water, water collection, mobility of furniture 5 or 100 people could use.
• Safe at night
• Bathrooms, kid’s area, sound protection so could have music

8. Table Eight

• Preserve the lot as open space – safe space for kids to run around
• Sidewalks narrow on 24th Street
• Outdoor exercise, speaker’s corner
• No development because it would add to neighborhood challenges: could be conflicts of use funding; need enough to maintain
• Underground parking an option?

9. Table Nine

• Keep the lot as open space – do more things like the farmer’s market
• Like green and parking both
• Sound-wall good, mixed feelings about music, flexible, space for engagement
• Commons and green

10. Other comments:

• Play area could combine history of neighborhood
• Car share may bring in money
• Maybe block space on mornings so farmers can load/unload
• Food pantry – supp. food program would be good use – would run program
• Noe is changing - need to figure out how to involve whole community
  
• Flagpole
• Closed at night (barrier)
• If parking spaces were metered would support neighborhood; coordination around parking needed.
• Create survey to find out what people want
  
• Food pantry and farmer’s market well-supported
• Push forward “branding” of “Town” of Noe
• “Village of Noe Valley” - Name suggestions
• City needs operation and maintenance money
• Ideas - create a parking district
• Could we sell building rights to a developer - they can build bigger building in return for keeping the lot as open space in middle of Noe Valley?