Help prioritize strategies developed for embracing the heritage and enhancing the future of the Southside Community

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Work with property owners to create targeted landmark overlays and local historic preservation districts to preserve the integrity of historic commercial and residential buildings, especially in the following locations:

• Phoenix Avenue
• Agassiz Street north of Butler Avenue
• Humphreys Street and Mikes Pike
• South San Francisco Street

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Consider a historic preservation overlay that gives the Heritage Preservation Commission the ability to review the design of exterior changes to contributing structures that change the material, bulk, mass, or scale of the structure.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Support grant applications for National Park Service African American Civil Rights Grants, Underrepresented Community Grants, Save America's Treasures, and other historic preservation grants in the Southside, along with any other grants that would assist with protecting and maintaining the character and recording the neighborhood’s historic and cultural significance.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Update the Southside National Historic District’s context and inventory at least once every 10 years.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Create design review criteria and transect zone frontage types for the Southside that acknowledge distinctive neighborhood characteristics, including:

• Trees in the front setback of residential properties
• Cupolas and clear stories
• Store front facades with gables facing the street
• Front doors and windows facing the streets that present a simple cottage pattern typical of the street
• Use of recycled and reclaimed materials
• Front yard fencing that is unique and artistic
• Public art, especially murals
• Distinctive dark sky lighting

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Allow exceptions and administrative modifications to the Zoning Code that allow for existing historic patterns where it conflicts with the code on adaptive reuse projects.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Ensure that homeowners are aware that the alternative building codes, such as the International Existing Building Code (IEBC), can be applied to contributing structures and their renovations.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Change the Zoning Code to allow a hold of demolition permits for contributing structures with significance and integrity for 30-90 days with the recommendation of the HPC in order to give the property owner and community time to consider the findings of the report. Currently the HPC can only put a temporary hold on demolition permits if the property is in the Downtown Overlay or the Townsite Overlay.

Work with congregations on Landmark Overlay designations for all historic churches within the Southside.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Require a public notice for Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) agenda items in the Southside to be posted on the property 14 days prior to the Commission’s review.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Encourage affordable housing projects in the Southside, including those that adaptively reuse historic homes and buildings.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Design property adjacent to the street (in the front setback and along the front of commercial buildings) so that it interacts with and beautifies the public street to support a walkable and inviting pedestrian environment that is attractive to families and long-term residents.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Recalibrate the conventional and transect zones to achieve the desired characteristics for each subarea described in Chapter 3, including strategies such as:

• Support the reduction of maximum building heights in the CC zone from 60 feet to 45 feet
• Modify the T5 zone in the Southside (along South Beaver Street, South San Francisco Street, and Phoenix Avenue) to limit height to three stories, stair step upper stories, and provide more compatible storefront design.
• Recalibrate the building types and form requirements for the T4 zone to be more compatible with the existing buildings.[1]
• Change the requirement for the stacked triplex building type to require a larger lot, limit the number of bedrooms per unit, and address the building’s design to be more compatible with the existing single-family homes in the neighborhood.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Involve local organizations in all redevelopment projects to help them get necessary space to provide public services and facilities.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

The City should promote the addition of childcare, school, and medical facilities in redevelopment projects.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Allow for one-story commercial buildings in the transect zones south of Route 66.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Adopt an area-specific design guideline that new large buildings avoid “fronting” Butler Avenue and stay oriented to the historic corridors of the neighborhood.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Continue to research and investigate linkage funds and other ways to ensure a just transition of land uses.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Promote the Southside as a place for craft industries and entrepreneurship.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Increase the safety and comfort level of people crossing Route 66 and the railroad tracks to encourage pedestrians.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Adopt zoning that allows existing buildings to be adaptively reused without requiring additional parking, landscaping, or other nonconforming issues.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Promote the creation of small museums and/or other cultural attractions that support the arts and heritage preservation communities in the Southside.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Adjust zoning so that it limits the size of individual commercial suites within a larger building in order to encourage diversity and a mix of commercial uses.

Change transect zoning to allow shorter commercial first floor heights to match existing neighborhood characteristics and local business demand.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Form a Southside Business District to fund activities and improvements similar to Downtown’s for the Southside Main Streets.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Promote the creation of more event space (indoor and outdoor) for community gatherings and events that attract customers to Southside businesses.

Support programming of more promotional events that are unique to the Southside, like a Second Saturday music walk.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Add wayfinding and visual cues to the north side that let people know there is more to see south of the tracks.

These strategies particularly apply to the Live/Make Center Subareas in blue on the map.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Create new, unique zoning and Regional Plan policies that allow residential above or behind light industrial activities in the north side of the U2 activity center (Live/Make Center).

Allow industrial uses with impacts that are more compatible with residential in the new zone.

Remove Suburban place type in the Regional Plan’s Future Growth Illustration and replace with Employment/Urban (see Chapter 3 for details).

Create a Regional Plan Policy about blending residential in with employment when addressed in a specific plan.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Consider the creation of portals for the Southside that give a sense of welcome and community identity to those visiting commercial corridors and special cultural landmarks.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Market the Southside and the north side as the two components of central Flagstaff that provide unique benefits to different types of businesses and entrepreneurs.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Consider partnerships with NAU to support Business and Live/Work goals, policies, and strategies.

These strategies particularly apply to the Southside Main Street Subareas in pink on the map.

ull text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Modify zoning to allow compatible light industrial within existing commercial/residential mixed-use areas along the Southside Main Streets.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Allow developments to pay an in-lieu fee that goes toward a centralized public space instead of providing their required civic space on the property. Exempt affordable housing from civic space requirements.

Prioritize park locations that are in an active area and include a mix of businesses and residents around them.

The City should speculatively purchase individual parcels that could be used later (sometimes much later) as a park or as part of a park.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Plant more street trees that don’t conflict with traffic sight lines.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Make alignment of the Little Rio de Flag more publicly accessible by purchasing strategic sections or creating a public easement that completes access through blocks where Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) can be implemented.

Add trails within the “little” Rio de Flag alignment where Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design can be implemented.

Improve landscaping along the Rio de Flag to manage the channel and improve passive surveillance of the area.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Encourage collaboration between multiple community gathering spaces to program community dinners and kitchens, art installations, and historic storytelling installations and events.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Create a cultural walk that showcases the neighborhood history and encourages walking through the neighborhood.

Install informational plaques throughout the neighborhood.

Redevelopment of culturally important buildings should require a small portion of the newly designed site to be civic space that celebrates the past structure.

Create a schedule of pole banners and holiday lighting that provide branding and marketing of the Southside’s identity from a historical and commercial perspective.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Consider the inclusion of affordable housing and learning centers in larger park and public spaces.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Use civic space in-lieu fees, if collected, for community space improvements at the Murdoch Center.

Ensure the amenities and details of the Murdoch Center are designed with the community.

Identify existing gaps in services, such as a flooding information center, in the Southside that can be filled cooperatively through the Murdoch Center. Consider potential Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for these services.

The community could collect signatures for a petition and propose a special assessment, such as an Enhanced Municipal Service District, to fund expanded improvements, programming, and operations for the Murdoch Center.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Build more bridges for pedestrians at popular crossing locations across the Little Rio de Flag after the floodplain designation is addressed, prioritizing those that complete connections in the bicycle and pedestrian network.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Consider the safety, speed, and volume of adjacent streets when designing new parks.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Support an increase in public art to help create a unique feel when in the Southside.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Investigate the feasibility of creating a large park near new South Lone Tree Road that is large enough to throw a ball in and can be programmed by the community for art and events.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Investigate the feasibility of creating a large park near new South Lone Tree Road that is large enough to throw a ball in and can be programmed by the community for art and events.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Improve Rio de Flag green space along South Ellery Street between South Verde Street and South Agassiz Street to create a linear park space.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Create public, shared off-street lots that allow overnight and long-term parking for nearby residents.

Direct some ParkFlag revenues toward creating more public, off-street parking designed for short term needs, especially in the Southside’s busiest commercial corridors of South San Francisco Street and South Beaver Street.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Require more on-site parking for new residential development, especially where large numbers of bedrooms per unit exist, and when more than three dwelling units are on a lot.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Locate funding to construct drainage, curb, gutter, and sidewalk to better define driveways so they do not get blocked, and so all parking laws can be better enforced.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Evaluate tactical painting and sign strategies to organize parking where curb, gutter, and sidewalk are missing (for example, success on Fountaine Street that keeps parking out of travel-way).

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Create a process that allows parking restrictions to be relaxed on streets by petitions for recurring events, such as church services or weekly community meetings, when the exemption would have a limited impact on ParkFlag revenues. For example, this process could allow for some area to have extended free parking versus 2 hour limited parking on Sunday mornings to accomodate church services and activities. 

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Continue annual NAU Community Welcome and educational campaigns to disseminate parking updates and information to NAU students living off campus.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Install temporary barriers to prevent driveways from being blocked. (Pilot project on South Verde Street, just south of West Dupont Avenue).

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Encourage private off-street lots to lease spaces for nearby residents for overnight and long-term parking.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Consider timed loading zones on the side streets near South San Francisco Street and South Beaver Street to address the need for deliveries for businesses.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Add a new FUTS route that starts at the FUTS in Sinclair Wash, then connects Franklin Avenue to Ashurst Avenue along the Rio de Flag, then continues along O’Leary Street and takes advantage of a pedestrian/bike signalized crossing at that location.

The Concept Plan shows a strategy of improving a crossing for bicycles and pedestrians at or near O'Leary St.  This Concept needs further study of road conditions and sight distances before it can be implemented. This adds uncertainty to both the location and design of such an improvement and it may ultimately look different than the strategy illustrated here.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Support the Active Transportation Master Plan’s route connecting NAU to the north side via Humphreys Street, the alley near the Cottage Place, and a tunnel under the railroad and Route 66.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Add more (dark sky compatible) streetlights, specifically on Phoenix Avenue east of South San Francisco Street and on Benton Avenue between South San Francisco Street and South Beaver Street.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Support the Active Transportation Master Plan’s grade separated crossings of South Milton Road between Butler Avenue and Route 66 and/or on a wider railroad bridge at its existing location.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Add more street trees and/or other landscaping features that have longevity, are simple to maintain, don’t negatively affect surrounding infrastructure, and encourage planting and preservation of trees in front yards.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Develop Dupont Avenue as a bike boulevard that allows an east-west alternative to Butler Avenue with a crossing at the Little Rio de Flag east of South San Francisco Street.[1]

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Redesign and reconstruct the bicycle facilities on Butler Avenue. Consider adding a painted buffer between the bike lane and vehicular lanes to create a protected bike lane (physically protected and separated by curb, bollards, etc.), or design solutions that move the bike lane on top of the curb.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Move the curb in to increase sidewalk width, where possible, such as on South O’Leary Street south of Butler Avenue, and Phoenix Avenue between South Beaver Street and South San Francisco Street.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Continue to address ice and cinder issues in the bike lane on Butler Avenue as a high priority.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Add a signalized pedestrian and bike crossing for Butler Avenue at O’Leary Street if it can meet the proper traffic warrants and vehicular sight distance. Evaluate other locations between South San Francisco Street and South Lone Tree Road if the South O’Leary Street crossing is not feasible.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Support keeping the Downtown Connection Center in the Southside.

Have the Southside community work with Mountain Line on the Downtown Connection Center design.

Coinsider how the redevelopment of the Downtown Connection Center may influence and support the redesign of multimodal traffic on Phoenix Avenue between South Milton Road and South Beaver Street, such as wider sidewalks or adding bike lanes, changing parking, and lessening conflicts with buses.

Contribute financially to help get the community’s most desired amenities at the Downtown Connection Center.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Collect in-lieu fees for new development that are pooled together to create complete blocks at a time rather than having developers build partial improvements that are disconnected such as the "sidewalk to nowhere" on S. Fountaine.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Encourage cooperation and consideration of access and maintenance easements with property owners for access, and the ability of the City to maintain/improve grading, clear sediment, obstructions, trees, weeds, and trash (this will need to happen along the entire length of the Rio de Flag through the Southside or it will not benefit flow volume).

Be proactive and work with property owners that have channel obstructions to keep the channel clear to address regional and localized flooding.

Continue existing and promote more community clean-ups along the Little Rio de Flag.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Educate the community on options to physically protect their homes/businesses.

Explore funding opportunities to assist in physical protection of homes/businesses.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Identify and create a plan to mediate environmental hazards like the railroad-related brownfields in the 500-year floodplain and other potential sources of water pollution.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Educate property owners and renters about changing regulations and anticipated flood conditions post floodplain removal.

Educate the community and insurance agents on flood insurance options.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Explore funding for an insurance subsidy program for qualifying households.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Get Southside residents signed up for alerts and on lists for evacuation assistance.

Work with NAU City Liaisons to distribute alert information to NAU students in the Southside each school year.

Train local residents through the Murdoch Center to assist the homebound, elderly, and disabled in the neighborhood to sign up for alerts about flooding and get on lists for evacuation assistance.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Create a more pleasant walking environment and more events in the neighborhood to draw additional people to the area.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

 Work with private property owners to control vegetation and hidden areas of their property, especially with private portions of the Rio de Flag and vacant parcels.

Give people more places to go, like highly visible benches and pathways.

Create a Southside, Downtown, and NAU shared campaign to support bystander intervention and combat street harassment.

Educate and encourage bar owners and bartenders to take part in programs that prevent underage drinking, harassment, and overserving.

Educate, in partnership with the Police Department and their NAU liaison, nightlife participants and establishments on minimizing disturbance to their neighbors that often have different hourly needs.

Continue the increased police presence around closing time for bars and restaurants to help control noise

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Increase (dark sky compatible) lighting in the Southside neighborhood.

Add more (dark sky compatible) streetlights, especially on Phoenix Avenue east of South San Francisco Street, on Benton Avenue between South San Francisco Street and Beaver Street, on O’Leary Street south of Butler Avenue, and on other well-traveled, unsafe, or desired locations.

Add more (dark sky compatible) lights in public spaces and give options for security lighting that is dark skies compliant on private buildings that are close to the sidewalk.

Add pedestrian-scale (dark sky compatible) lights in heavily visited commercial areas.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Recommend that the directors of shelters and social service organizations in the neighborhood create cooperative partnerships between their clients and the wider Southside community.

Full text of the strategy in the draft Southside Community Plan:

Educate property owners on strategies they can implement to address nuisance issues on, or adjacent to, their property.

GOAL 1: Protect the landmarks and historic character that make Southside a unique community in Flagstaff.

GOAL 2: Create greater awareness of programs and incentives that support the preservation of historic properties, particularly single-family homes.

GOAL 3: Support investment in the Southside Community that addresses longstanding issues and community concerns.

GOAL 4: Support a diversity of buildings and mix of uses that is compatible with the scale and architecture of historic landmarks and area character.

GOAL 9: Make parking management more effective through partnerships and design.

GOAL 10: Manage the supply of public parking in the Southside to balance the needs of businesses and residents.

GOAL 14: Resolve longstanding flooding hazards in the Southside community.

GOAL 15: Ensure safety for all people and property during a flooding emergency.

GOAL 16: Reduce the occurrence of high-frequency low level crime that affects quality of life in the community through environmental design.

GOAL 7: Give opportunities to all Southside residents to access parks and green spaces within a ten-minute walk from their home.

GOAL 8: Activate streets and cultural gathering places to support community connections and vibrancy of the Southside for all who live there.

GOAL 5: Support diverse mixed-use areas in the Southside for businesses and workforce development that have a balance of quality urban design, commercial opportunities, and production of goods and services.

GOAL 6: Promote a unique, connected, and creative business community founded on character, diversity, and partnerships.

GOAL 11: Provide for pedestrian and bicycle safety and comfort throughout the Southside community.

GOAL 12: Support the Downtown Connection Center as a hub for multiple transportation options and effective mode transfer.

GOAL 13: Complete streets for all modes of transportation on all streets in the Southside.