APATX24 State Planning Conference

Sometimes you have to pull hard; other times you push harder. The AICP Code of Ethics expects you to do both to make planning more effective and to create better communities. Sometimes planners have to pull voices and issues into the forefront to help ensure that attention and resources are apportioned consistent with the principles espoused in the Code. Other times, planners have to push back on those who direct our work because they seek outcomes that don't represent good planning. This session recognizes those push/pull responsibilities and proposes way to respond in strength with wisdom. Speakers will explore ethical power plays from their experience. This session will offer participants the opportunity to work in small groups to refine their push/pull techniques.

Professionals across our industry struggle to streamline gaining stakeholder consensus within the planning process and to ensure plan relevancy in response to a rapidly changing future. Other organizations (Military, Oil/Mining firms) excel in their preparation for an uncertain future. What makes them different is that they use strategic foresight or “futuring” to plan for the future. Integrating “futuring” in a planning process leads to proactive consensus building around an idea/ plan. It leads to a strong, inspiring future vision that clearly states the community's values, goals and priorities. “Futuring” is a process that unflinchingly examines future trends in technology, society, the economy, the environment and politics to ask, “What is our future likely to look like twenty (or thirty) years from now?”

Denton is a community of approximately 148,000 residents that has origins dating back to the 1860s and has the traditional downtown with the historic county seat courthouse framed by “the square.” South and east of Downtown is the City’s historically known Black residential neighborhood, home to descendants of Quakertown. In the 1920s, Black families in Denton were forced to move from Quakertown, a prosperous middle‐class Black community located northeast of the Downtown square, to the southeastern part of the City. Quakertown’s proximity to the nearby College of Industrial Arts (now known as Texas Woman’s University) in the first decades of the twentieth century was unacceptable for Denton’s residents and the College leaders. This was due to white students living near the prominent Black community. Under the pretense that the town desperately needed a civic center park and the misconception that a thriving Black community constituted “blight,” the City used federal funds to force the Black community’s displacement. The area is now known as present-day Quakertown Park, where the City Hall is located.

Downtown is thriving and loved by those who visit and call Denton home. Yet, it is experiencing an approximately 25% vacancy rate. It has underperforming properties that could benefit from adaptive reuse and infill development. Quakertown Park is the site of many community events and has local historic designation as it is home to historic structures designed by well-known Texas architect O’Neil Ford. The commuter rail A-train station is within walking distance of Downtown. To the east, it is surrounded by intensive industrial and tired commercial uses and undeveloped land longing for transit-oriented development that could support increased ridership and provide additional housing options. Some presume this area to be a natural extension of Downtown. Yet nearby residents to the south, some of which are descendants of Quakertown, disagree that this area is part of Southeast Denton.

Although it has been almost a century, the trauma of the forced relocation has remained. Many long‐time residents and their families have not forgotten what happened, and the destruction of their homes and property caused huge financial setbacks and disrupted generational wealth accumulation. These stories have been passed down through generations, resulting in strong emotions within the community and feelings of distrust of the local government that are still prevalent today. While appreciated by residents, City investments in infrastructure improvements are still questioned, such as, “What is the City’s ulterior motive for these improvements?” Elected and appointed officials are challenged in decision-making, seeking to understand what the community truly desires. The City is accused of wanting to convert Southeast Denton into Downtown due to a “dot on the map” in the comprehensive plan.

Because of these combined factors, the City of Denton is trying to repair past harm within its Black community by adopting a community-based area plan for Southeast Denton. Simultaneously, the City is updating its vision for Downtown and identifying key catalyst opportunities to better position Downtown for future redevelopment and investment, including a new master plan for Quakertown Park that includes opportunities for memorializing the events of Quakertown with the adoption of the Design Downtown Denton plan.