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At the 14^th annual Grand Valley Metro Council Growing Communities Conference, held on June 14, 2007, Nederveld’s Brikyaat Neighborhood Development Plan won the 2007 Metropolitan Development Blueprint Award.   With this award, GVMC annually acknowledges individuals, companies, agencies, municipalities and organizations that have made efforts throughout the region to create better community. The award is reviewed against the 21 “Blueprint Principles” covering areas such as land use patterns, conservation, citizen involvement, infrastructure, and community design.  Since the inception of the Metropolitan Development Blueprint in 1994, eighteen Blueprint Awards have been given.

 

This is the second award for the Brikyaat Plan, which won the AIAGV Regional and Urban Design Honor Award in April 2007.

 

The Brikyaat Development Plan, which was a collaboration between Nederveld, Lott3Metz and Past Perfect, represents a sixteen month design process based on public participation between the design team, neighbors, business owners, farmers market vendors and other stakeholders from the Midtown Neighborhood. During this process, two charrettes were conducted along with numerous feedback loops, which engaged the public in the entire design process and ultimately led to a master plan which meshed a strong and creative vision with the existing urban context.

 

Members of the award review committee summarized the project as follows:

 

 

The final implementation of The Brikyaat Neighborhood Plan will occur when it gains formal approval and adoption as an Area Specific Plan in the City of Grand Rapids Master Plan. This implementation is continuing as the plan went through the public hearing process on June 14^th, at the Grand Rapids Planning Commission. It is expected within the next month that the plan will be formally adopted at the city level, at which time it will become the first Area Specific Plan added to the City Master Plan.