Planning with People: Fostering Participation & Public Buy-In During COVID-19

The difference between a good plan and a great plan is buy-in. With a combined population of 40,000 people, Cedar City and Enoch are small rural towns in southern Utah experiencing increased growing pressure. The transportation network needs to grow to continue to be effective and evolve to incorporate all users. In these towns, face-to-face interaction is crucial to getting stakeholders and the public involved in your project. The newly implemented COVID-19 pandemic restrictions severely impacted our usual public outreach efforts which consisted of hosting in-person gatherings such as town halls, booths at public events, and one-on-one stakeholder meetings. We were presented with the problem of how to foster meaningful public participation when we could not have personal interactions. Esri technologies were instrumental to get the public involved! We used ArcGIS Experience as the main project hub since it is intuitive and user-friendly. There, we hosted project information including vision and goals, existing conditions webmaps, and opportunities to gather feedback. The ArcGIS Experience page was used as a living tool which we continuously updated throughout the process to keep everyone informed. To acquire feedback from the public, we built an interactive map using the Crowdsource Polling Tool and a survey using Survey123. We coupled this effort with monthly web-calls with stakeholders as well as a virtual town hall. This unique combination of online tools set this project apart from other public involvement efforts we have previously developed. The result surprised us - over 600 survey responses and 200 map comments were gathered in less than a month! The cities employees, mayors, active transportation committees, local advocacy groups, and university shared the project information on social media and throughout their networks. The residents of Cedar City and Enoch expressed their concerns about traffic, dangerous intersections, and their passion for biking and walking. They suggested projects and enhancements be made to the transportation network, so they could have a more active and connected future. This information allowed us to propose key improvements to the transportation network including bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and connectivity, interchange and intersection enhancements, as well as transit routes. The plan reflects the needs and wants of the public and stakeholders which has ensured its buy-in and will lead to successful future implementation. We hope that sharing this example will encourage others in the planning community to broadly utilize Esri online tools for public involvement as a way to complement their public outreach efforts. This project is an example that meaningful interactions are warranted and possible even during challenging times - participative design can thrive through the pandemic and will get out of it stronger than before. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow us on Social Media! Twitter: https://twitter.com/Esri Facebook: https://facebook.com/EsriGIS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/esri Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esrigram The Science of Where: http://www.esri.com