Photo Safari Exercise

Purpose:

The purpose of this exercise is to provide a better method of communicating your ideas regarding the defining elements and components of your community's character. For the Blanton/St. Joe Road Area in Citizens' Advisory Committee Planning District 2, one of the main issues raised during the County's Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) process was the protection of the area's rural character. This exercise should assist the group in identifying and focusing on those elements of rural character that are important to your community.

  Elements of Rural Character:

  When thinking about rural character and design standards, there are some common elements that often affect the community's perception of their area such as:

1. Community Character -General

■ Rural Entranceways/ Scenic Views

■ Extensive Agricultural Areas

■  large Networks of Conservation lands

■ Green fields/Open Space

■  Pattern of Residential Development -often large lots (what the subdivisions look like)

 2.  land Use Compatibility (variations between agricultural/residential lot sizes,           buffers between incompatible land uses, and non-residential uses next to residential uses)

3 . Infill Development (vacant/developable land surrounded by existing neighborhoods)

4.  Blighted/Distressed Areas (areas that are in decline, may have code enforcement issues)

5. Commercial Areas (existing commercial uses and/or vacant property currently     zoned for commercial, what is next door, how does it support or detract from the      rural character)

 6.   Transportation/Land Use Compatibility (role of roadways in supporting and/or      detracting from the community character)

7.   Natural Resource Protection (areas that should have additional protections based on topography, wildlife habitat, wetlands, etc.)

8.   Recreation and Open Space (types of recreational areas/amenities that support      the rural community)

As you begin to create and form your own individual ideas about rural character, you may want to think about how each of these elements affects your perception of your community. These categories are not meant to limit your ideas about what supports or detracts from the character of your community, but are meant only to help begin to generate your own ideas -Use them or discard them at your pleasure.

  Instructions: 

As a group, you should be looking for a random sampling of photographs that will help you to create a meaningful and presentable definition of community character for your area. The photographs are intended to help you initiate a discussion to more clearly define the preferred future for this community. Please go through your community and inventory your likes and dislikes, those items that support the community character and those things that detract from the community character. You may want to travel to other rural locations to identify images of what you would like to become or would like to avoid. This portion of the exercise can be done individually or in small groups.

  1st Step- Prepare 

Think about what you like and dislike about your community today, or as you would like it to be in the future. Prepare a list of your own categories that cover the range of thoughts that you have. Think about good examples that, if photographed, will communicate your likes or dislike within each category. These examples need not be the worst or the best. They can just be good representations of the problem or opportunity you have in mind.

  2nd Step- Get moving

  Go to locations of your examples and take one photo at each site. Capture the points you wish to make. Don't take multiple photos of the same like or dislike, even in different locations. Fifteen photos of traffic issues, for example, are not as valuable as fifteen photos of fifteen different types of problems or opportunities. If you have access to a digital camera or can have the images burned to a CD as well when they are developed, they can be used in the Small Area Plan workshops.

  3rd Prepare your photos

  Discard any bad photos, even if they were of important things. Using a ballpoint pen

make the following notes on the back of your photos:

■ Upper left corner- your first and last name

■ Upper right comer -leave blank

■ Middle- your brief caption of the issue/item (e.g. "storm water pond design")

■ Lower right comer -"like" or "dislike"

■ Lower left- your category (e.g. "rural entranceway")

4th Step- Share 

Get your group together and share. The amount of time that you should plan for your meeting will vary based upon the number of people who participate. See the approximate times for each exercise below and plan accordingly. Select someone who will act as a facilitator and timekeeper to make sure that this exercise stays on track.

 Initial Consensus Building (approximately 45 minutes)

Break out into groups (preferably no more than 5-7 per group)  Share your photos with each group member, agree on the most important categories and select the "likes" and "dislikes" about the Blanton/St. Joe Area that can help describe the components of your community's character. The group may want to use flip charts, markers and tape (to tape up the photos) to create a composite result of the consensus of the group.

Group Discussion (approximately 5 minutes per group)

Each group should report to the whole group on the categories that were determined.

 Summary (approximately 15 minutes)

The facilitator should summarize the ideas that were shared by each of the groups to help reach consensus on the categories

Next Steps:

A priority ranking of "character components" will be generated from the summary of your "categories" and  your "likes" and "dislikes" during the Special Area Plan process. This information will ultimately be used as support documentation for potential future land use recommendations, standards for the review of re-zoning requests, design standards, and other applicable Comprehensive Plan objectives and policies that address these character based values.

Good luck and have fun!