Station #1

Overview

What is the Core Neighborhoods Master Plan?

Overview

What is the Core Neighborhoods Master Plan?

On the heels of the 2018 Downtown InFocus plan, there was widespread recognition that the neighborhoods closest to downtown were in need of a new plan of their own. There was also recognition that, while different from each other in important ways, the neighborhoods face many of the same challenges and possess many common assets.

Instead of doing piecemeal planning neighborhood-by-neighborhood, the City of Fargo decided to take a core-wide approach—using one process to cover all nine of the core neighborhoods at the same time while still focusing on the individual goals and needs of each neighborhood.

The planning process began in January 2020 and is organized around the following essential tasks:

Identify and understand the issues that core neighborhoods face—from universal issues to those that are more localized

Define desired outcomes for the neighborhoods and what the community is able and willing to do to achieve them

Create an implementable plan that will guide the actions of a wide range of stakeholders, both within and outside of City Hall

Who's behind the plan?

While the planning process is being coordinated by the City of Fargo’s Department of Planning & Development and its consultant, czb, at the heart of the project are four committees with over 80 community volunteers.

The Project Steering Committee is providing a citywide perspective to the project and three ‘Sub-Area’ committees—each comprised of three neighborhoods—are providing more localized guidance. Sub-Area volunteers joined their committees through an open recruitment process in early 2020.

The voices of committee volunteers have been supplemented by an April online survey and will continue to be informed by feedback from this open house and more targeted outreach performed by the City, czb, and committee volunteers.

Project Steering Committee

North Sub-Area Committee

Central Sub-Area Committee

South Sub-Area Committee

What is the project timeline?

The Core Neighborhoods Master Plan will be completed in three phases over 12 months.

Phase 1 finished in June and focused on the identification of issues and trends from a combination of data analysis, feedback from an online survey, and conversations with committee volunteers. The process of identifying outcomes for each neighborhood also began in Phase 1.

Findings from Phase 1 are now informing Phase 2, which involves the development of a toolkit to respond to critical issues and trends.

During Phase 3 in late 2020, the full plan will come together and include plans for each of the three Sub-Areas and implementation briefs for each of the nine neighborhoods.

How will the plan be implemented and used?

For a plan to advance a vision for the future, it must be a useful tool for making consistent decisions. And for that to be the case in Fargo’s core neighborhoods, this planning process is striving to achieve the following:

Cultivate champions for the plan's implementation

Champions for the plan show up to meetings to make sure the plan is followed, and they generate support and understanding among their neighbors and peers.

Blend many voices into a shared and accessible vision

The vision in a neighborhood’s plan needs to be clear and understandable to existing and potential residents, and it should resonate broadly within the neighborhood.

Align solutions with existing or new systems

If tools in a plan do not automatically align with policy and administrative systems within City Hall and its partner agencies, the plan must guide changes to those systems to make the tools usable.

Focus on budgetary and political realities

A plan should never be a wish list divorced from financial and political reality. It should only reflect what the community is able and willing to commit to.

Interested in getting updates on the Core Neighborhoods planning process?

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Thanks for spending time exploring Station #1. Head to Station #2 to learn about key issues and trends in Fargo's core neighborhoods.

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