the fifth street project: equity, heritage, & planning in unincorporated communities
DESCRIPTION
This presentation was made to the University of Texas' Institute of Urban Research and Policy Analysis. It includes a case study and discussion of the Fifth Street Project, a project I created and led in an unincorporated community in Fort Bend County, Texas near Stafford and Missouri City. Long neglected and marginalized, the community participated in a planning and visioning process that later produced a final market study and report located here: http://soa.utexas.edu/csd/fifth-street-projectTRANSCRIPT
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Equity, Heritage, & Planning in
Unincorporated Communities
Andrea Roberts
March 4, 2014
Institute for Urban Policy & Research Analysis
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Presentation Overview
• My Background
• Research Agenda
• 5th Street Project
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MY BACKGROUND
Origins
Academic
Professional
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I'm From
Ft. Bend County
• Historic Plantations
• Prisons
• “Mc Mansions”
• Master Planned
Communities
• Sprawl
• East-West Income &
Race Divide
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Academic
Vassar College
– BA Political Science/Women’s Studies (1996)
Fels Institute of Government, University of Pennsylvania
– MA Government Administration, Certificate Public Finance (2006)
UT School of Architecture
– Doctoral Student, Community & Regional Planning/Historic
Preservation Program (2016 Expected)
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Professional
– Historic Preservation Advocacy (Austin Landmark
Commissioner)
– Project Management
– Public Finance Consulting & Management
– Federal Grant Administration
– Non-Profit
– Community Organizing
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Sites, Subjects
• Invisible & Marginalized Geographies
– Freedom Colonies
– Unincorporated/Suburban Fringe
Communities
• Economic Justice & Cultural
Sustainability
– Land Tenure
– Cultural Landscapes
– Intangible Heritage
– Traditional Cultural Practices
– Opportunity & Asset Accumulation
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THE FIFTH STREET PROJECT
• Origin
• Scope
• Goals
• Strategies
• Status
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Project Origin – FIS Cemetery
• FIS Mutual Aid Society
• Platform
• Abolish share-cropping & credit system
• Promote ownership
• Promote improved farming methods
• Foster cooperative buying
• Sickness & health benefits
• 21,000 members in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas (1909)
•
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Black Bodies, Difficult Memories: African American
Heritage & Spatial Agency in Fort Bend County, TX
• Difficult public memory
• 2 Case studies
– FIS Cemetery
– Sugar Land Imperial
Development - Mayfair
Park
• Planning & development
avoid opportunity costs
associated with “dark
heritage”
10
Dark Heritage Panel,
Critical Heritage Conference,
Gothenburg, Sweden, 2012
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Project Purpose
• Fifth Street community’s quality of life is below area standards
• Community needed a vision, revitalization strategies
• Goal: Community centered marketing strategy, based on
culture/heritage
Fifth Street Meadowcreek, ¼ mile from Fifth Street
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Fort Bend County Contract for Services with
University of Texas
– August 2012 to March
2014
– Lead local planning
process
– Conduct community
survey
– Perform market research
(housing, business)
– Help community develop
vision
– Compile final report Fifth Street community survey participant
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Fifth Street Study Area:
East Fort Bend/Southwest Houston
Population 2,486 (2010)
Total Area 3 sq. mi
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Life & Culture in Fifth Street
• Culture
• Family
• Faith (60 area churches)
• FIS Cemetery (historic),
Fifth Street, and
Community Center most
commonly identified
landmarks
• Surrounding area contains
• Black Working/Middle
Class
• White Middle/Upper Class
• Residents are mostly Latino
• 65+, youth drive population
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Community Engagement: Fifth Street Task Force
• Ongoing consultation with residents, business, government
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Chapter 4: Community Survey
Process
• 390 households
• 15% of residents (88)
• Door-to-door
Results
• Needs, Concerns
• Community Culture/Heritage
• Consumer Preferences
• Desired Amenities
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Needs/Desired Amenities
Needs
• Safety and drainage improvements
• Small business training, access to
credit
• Coordination between municipalities
to access services, solve problems
Desired amenities
• Healthy Food/Farmers Markets
• Grocery Stores
• Clinic/Medical Services
• Restaurants
• Parks /Public Space
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Chapter 5: Fifth Street Demographics
5.0%11.5% 9.7% 11.9% 9.9%
4.4% 6.8%
7.5%
11.7%10.6%
10.7%
6.9%
6.4%6.7%
4.4%
6.8%6.0%
7.8%
4.8%
3.6%
7.6%4.5%
5.5%7.3%
8.3%
5.6%
4.7%
3.7%
1-person 2-person 3-person 4-person 5-person 6-person 7-or-more-person
Housing Tenure by Household Size (2000-2010)Fifth Street CDP US Census
2000 Owner Occupied 2010 Owner Occupied 2000 Renter Occupied 2010 Renter Occupied
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Chapter 6: Market Study Housing Analysis
• Household type,
tenure & composition
• Multifamily demand
• Area subdivision
comparability study
• Top ten landowners
• Development
potential
42 acres in vacant parcels available
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Chapter 7: Business/Retail Gap Analysis
• Retail gap and amenities in survey results overlap
• Grocery stores, restaurants, and clinics found outside Fifth Street’s 1 - 3 mile radius
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Chapter 8: Developing the Fifth
Street Neighborhood Plan
All day planning & visioning
workshop
Expert facilitators (ACDDC)
Completed charrette drawing
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Stakeholder Vision for Fifth Street “Village”
• The desired vision is for a
community that is
• Walkable
• Has healthy food, recreation
nearby
• Includes a variety of housing
options
• Near a substation, urgent care
• Able to creating an area identity
with public art that
commemorates area families
“Fifth Street shall be the center of the Missouri City
– Stafford community”
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Workshop Sketch
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5th Street
Master Plan
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CHAPTER 9: ADDRESSING CHALLENGES,
EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES
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Recommendation: Market Fifth Street Village as
East Ft. Bend’s “Green” Business Core
• Fifth Street’s values (family, faith) and enterprising people (skilled craftsman, construction,
landscaping) can provide goods and services that attract green consumers or “locavores”
• Village is ideal for Community Assistance District that promotes green/local business
• Empty retail space in adjacent areas is a competitive advantage (convert to shared, small
business incubator sites)
• Use open green space for food trucks, open air markets, housing development
• Prioritize learning and job training (possible Texas Workforce Commission site)
Texas Color Plants off Joann Street
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Developer’s Symposium, March 2014
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• Build residents’ capacity to use report
• Scholarship
Next Steps