Syracuse residents living in the vicinity of the I-81 viaduct and beyond are continuing their engagement as the city develops a vision for how to use the land leftover when the viaduct comes down. Dozens turned out at one of the open house’s earlier this week at Dr. King Elementary to learn more about the new 56-page Community Grid Vision Plan. The city’s I-81 Project Director Joe Driscoll says even though the actual number of acres is relatively small, it’ll greatly influence other development.
“We really want to make sure that we get the development right both for the parcels behind MLK (school) and for the parcels downtown and the parcels in the North that's going to take collaboration with the state," Driscoll said. "But we want to make sure that the city has a strong vision and a strong understanding of what our what our communities want to see.”
Mayor Ben Walsh addressed a crowded cafeteria at Dr. King School.
“Do you think you're all going to agree on all that? No, you may disagree, and that's OK you let us know that give us reasons for that. None of this is set in stone,“ Walsh said. "But it's intended to get to be reflective of the current community thinking to date on the opportunities around this project and it's in and intended to help inform decisions going forward, but it's fluid, it's dynamic, it's going to change.”
The city worked for over a year with urban design and planning firm Dover, Kohl, and Partners to arrive at the vision, which is based largely on resident input. Numerous residents and other stakeholders took part in a week-long design charette in summer of 2022. And, Joe Driscoll says, they did a lot of canvassing.
“We did some some door knocking for a few days in this in this neighborhood for the folks that live closest to it," Driscoll said. "We also we didn't try to start from scratch either. There's a lot of feedback that came in through Blueprint 15. A lot of feedback came in from SHA. A lot of feedback came in from NYSDOT. We've incorporated that into our learning.”
Residents have offered suggestions on everything from bicycle and pedestrian paths to housing and public spaces.
