Just Community Planning
Community Planning Collaborative (CPC) understands that not all communities have access to traditional paid planning services. As part of CPC’s work, CPC donates a portion of proceeds from each project to Just Community Planning (JCP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
The purpose of Just Community Planning (JCP) is to assist historically excluded and/or underrepresented communities with access to planning and zoning services, including but not limited to, land use planning, master planning/long-range planning, zoning and code enforcement services, historic preservation services, transportation planning, geographic information system mapping, grant writing, community engagement, and advocacy.
Through assembling a team of volunteer planners, JCP is able to assist communities with projects at no cost. Expenses are covered through proceeds from CPC and donations.
JCP was dreamed into existence in 2020 by Adrienne Burke, with collaboration and input from a team of planners across the country including: Ennis Davis, Wren Ruiz, Jonathan Pacheco Bell, Tia Keitt, and David De La Torre.
Adrienne Burke, Ennis Davis, and Wren Ruiz are the current Board of Directors for JCP. While JCP is in the fledgling stage, it is the Board’s hope that JCP will grow and be able to assist more communities.
Since 2021, JCP has been working on a pilot project with the Eastside neighborhood in Jacksonville, Florida. The Eastside is a historically Black community located in close proximity to the revitalizing Downtown Sports & Entertainment District. The neighborhood contains a mixture of historic single-family, two-family, and small-scale multi-family residential; small-scale neighborhood commercial uses, industrial uses mostly located along its perimeter, and small to mid-scale institutional uses.
Although the Eastside’s physical landscape has been negatively impacted by expressway construction and urban renewal, the neighborhood has notably remained a walkable community with a vibrant public life due largely to the preservation of its historic buildings and built form and the long-held cultural and social “front porch” tradition by its residents.
Today, the Eastside is engaged in a variety of “withintrification” strategies (revitalization driven by people already in the neighborhood), intended to protect the community against gentrification and displacement.
Fulfilling a request by the Historic Eastside Community Development Corporation (HECDC), JCP crafted a review document to lay the groundwork for the creation of a culturally appropriate neighborhood zoning overlay intended to serve as a vehicle for the revitalization or conservation of the Eastside’s most vulnerable districts possessing distinctive cultural features, identity, or character worthy of retention and enhancement. Factors considered included:
History of the neighborhood, specific to Gullah Geechee/African American/Black community
Pressures on the neighborhood related to adjacent development
Need for affordable housing
Historic architecture and development pattern
Historic uses, especially along the commercial corridors
Guide infill development
Limit lot aggregation
Intangible culture and heritage
Intangible heritage “includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts. Intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization. Intangible cultural heritage and practices that are unique to the Eastside and vocalized by the community include informal outdoor gathering places underneath trees or in front of buildings, outdoor cooking and food sharing, fishing, outdoor events, community sporting events, and gardens (either private or community).
As a starting point for the proposed regulations, JCP conducted a review of the draft overlay suggestions and engaged local community stakeholders. JCP’s key findings, GIS mapping analysis and recommendations were then compiled and provided to the HECDC and City of Jacksonville Planning and Development staff to serve as a guide for the creation and implementation of the Historic Eastside Zoning Overlay.
For more information on JCP or to submit an application, contact us!