Lake Forest Park Town Center Vision

Marcia Wagoner and Rebecca Fornaby worked with the City of Lake Forest Park to develop and implement a public involvement strategy to overcome controversy and move forward with their Town Center Vision project. The City wanted to identify investments the community would like to see associated with a planned Sound Transit bus rapid transit (BRT) line and parking garage.

The project had gotten off to a rocky start due in part to organized community opposition. To determine the best way to engage with community members, we began by interviewing key stakeholders, including those opposed to the project. Building on what we learned through the interviews, we planned a series of small public meetings before hosting two larger open houses. These meetings consisted of facilitated group discussions strategically designed to evoke participants’ shared values and lead them through considerations for the future. 

Over the course of the project, the City received a robust collection of feedback from hundreds of residents and stakeholders who informed the policies outlined in the Vision. In June 2018, City Council authorized the Consultant Team to move forward with the next phase of work on planning for redevelopment, which involves amending the City’s Planning and Land Use Regulations chapter of the code to align design and development requirements so that they better support the implementation of the Vision.