Plan the Keystone Blog

Mount Joy Main Street Character Development Workshop Presentation

This week, the design team took the broad ideas and themes developed by the Mount Joy community and prepared a series of implementation strategies and action items which will lead the Design Charrette scheduled for December 8-10. Products included lists, maps, and diagrams outlining the physical urban design initiatives and program improvements to the marketability of Main Street Mount Joy. An interim presentation was delivered to the board members of Main Street Mount Joy which is available here.

Mount Joy Character Development Workshop - Opening Day Recap

Our Character Development Workshop for Mount Joy’s Main Street and train station began with a somewhat soggy walking workshop.  A group of about eleven excited participants endured a cold, rainy morning to talk about opportunities for improvement in and around Main Street.  The conversation included ideas about taming the Main/Marietta intersection to make it easier for pedestrians to cross both streets safely, how to make parking work more efficiently for the businesses along Main Street, and potential improvements to the train station.

 

The team worked through the day to organize the ideas presented by community members during previous focus group meetings and the Tuesday morning walking tour downtown and prepared presentations and graphics in preparation for the evening public meeting.

For about three hours Tuesday night, about twenty members of the public turned out to contribute a laundry list of ideas geared toward improving Main Street Mount Joy.  The design team presented a summary of the Focus Group Themes and Bob Gibbs of Gibbs Planning Group specifically presented a hopeful message as to the status and positive position of the Mount Joy retail and commercial market.  The public poured out a great deal of excellent suggestions and inside knowledge for the design team to consider and utilize in the planning and urban design of the community.  Through two exercises, the community defined what they value about Mount Joy and they commented on ways in which the design team can advance the overall themes.  Finally, community members vigorously discussed the design team’s initial input on Branding and Wayfinding as they commented on various comparable examples and provided notes on ideas for logos.

 

The day was a real success and provided key perspectives into the everyday experience and dreams of the Mount Joy Main Street community.

 

The presentation can be downloaded here.

Mount Joy Character Workshop

What defines the character of Main Street in Mount Joy?  The Plan the Keystone team will try to answer this question and others during our upcoming workshop.  We are holding this workshop to develop consensus on the elements of the Mount Joy Brand (the logo, color palette, and materials), to develop an outline of the steps to improve the Main Street experience (improved market positioning and strategy, a list of potential streetscape/public space improvements, a strategy for infill development sites/programs, and ways to capitalize on connection to station), and to define the range of possibilities for train station improvements (Platform location, parking amount, location, and access, potential building program). 

 

Is it an ambitious goal for the week?  Yes.  Is it possible?  Yes, but only with your help.  We will be having a public meeting on Tuesday, October 27 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall (27 East Main Street) to get your input, and additional drop-in times on Wednesday at the Main Street Mount Joy offices.

 

We look forward to talking with you and learning about what you think is special about Main Street in Mount Joy.