How to mitigate construction in your downtown

Nur Asri is an Associate at Larisa Ortiz Associates

Downtowns and cities around the country are undergoing rapid physical transformations whether due to re-investment or adaptation to technological advancements. However, during the process of transformation, roads and sidewalks are often torn up and diverted, street furniture and public spaces are re-designed and replaced and the shopping environment is essentially disrupted.

Regardless of the length of time in which the disruptions occurs (two months or a whole year), customer traffic for retail businesses will be affected because downtowns appear to be less accessible by car and even more difficult to navigate on foot. Furthermore, construction often occurs during the day (and during peak visitation times!) and can be loud and dusty, resulting in an overall unpleasant shopping experience.

Downtown businesses associations and storeowners across the country are adopting a variety of strategies to mitigate the impacts of construction on their operations, sales and visitation.

Here are some steps that you can take to maintain business vitality during your downtown transformation: 

‘Still Open for Business’ Signage

These signs help increase visibility of stores to pedestrians and vehicles passing through your downtown. Customers often assume businesses are closed during construction and are therefore quick to make the decision to drive past and go somewhere else altogether so it is crucial that accurate information is relayed to customers through these signs. Include the names of businesses that are open and directions to any alternate business access, and make sure the signs are placed at key intersections and entry points to your downtown. Some cities have also gotten really creative with their signs:

In Arlington, MA, Capitol Square Business Association plays around with the regular text found on construction signs.

In the City of North Bend, where roads were being torn up for an infrastructure project to bury utility lines and replace the sidewalks and street trees, sign spinners were hired to sing, dance, and do cartwheels while holding out signs that say ‘Downtown Business are Open!’

Signs, however, are only one part of the solution. There are many more steps that need to be taken to ensure that downtown businesses aren’t severely impacted by the process of transformation.

Marketing/ Promotion
Many business associations have dedicated resources to organizing district-wide marketing campaigns to educate customers about construction work and businesses that still need their support during this time.

Pre- Construction
In Madison WI, marketing efforts began two years before construction occurred in order to inform locals that stores and restaurants would remain open throughout the process. The guerilla campaign was extensive and consisted of yard signs, community newsletters, local media coverage and even a Facebook page.

During Construction 

The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership launched an ‘Eat Drink Shop [HERE]’ Campaign. The Partnership rolled out bright yellow signs and handouts that list all of the businesses that were open during construction. 

Meanwhile, in Bangor, Maine, (and also downtown Coral Gables) happy hour events ensured that customers were still coming downtown after dark despite the facelift it was undergoing. Bars affected by the construction zone participated in the ‘Hard Hat Happy Hours’ events, which took place weekly. Customers who attended were then rewarded with highly coveted downtown parking passes and gift certificates to local businesses to drive return visits. Similarly, many other downtowns have also handed out coupon books to entice customers to continue shopping thru the construction period.

Valet parking
When convenient on-street parking spaces are temporarily lost to construction activity, customers may be less than willing to patronize downtown stores if they have to park in parking garages/lots located farther away from the retail core. Every effort should be made to ease the driving customer’s journey (especially if the majority of your downtown customers are arriving by car!) and this might include a valet service.

In Birmingham, MI, where construction through the city center is expected to take about 4-5 years, the city’s promotional arm Birmingham Shopping District is planning to provide valet service that would allow customers to drive to the edge of the construction site to drop off their cars before hitting the rest of the downtown on foot.

Painted fences/barriers

Finally, there are creative ways to turn construction fencing and barriers into public art. Back in 2012, we featured Alliance for Downtown New York’s RE:Construction program. Since then many more downtowns and cities have also turned to art as a way to mask the eyesore of construction. In 2013, the Downtown Ithaca Alliance put out a call for artists to adopt 8x4 plywood panels that were put up as fencing around the reconstruction of the Commons public space. Selected artists were invited to paint directly on to the panels that stayed up throughout the construction period.

In downtown Seattle, WA mural artists and artist-teams have created 200-foot long murals now on view on the Civic Square construction fence. The site will be home to a mixed-use, high-rise tower and open space that will complete the city's Civic Center Campus.

While the above strategies aim to ease the impact of construction for customers, there are also steps that need to be taken to mitigate the impact on business operations.

Loading/Unloading
Even without the complications of construction downtown, loading and unloading of delivery trucks is already a common issue faced by business owners. Without a well-thought out contingency plan, your downtown may face heavy congestion as a result of trucks double-parking on narrow side streets.

To avoid this, pre-planned alternative delivery routes must be identified for affected drivers and relayed early on so that staff are alerted to the change of procedures. In addition, detour signs must be posted clearly to guide delivery drivers. Where possible, alleyways may be re-purposed for loading/unloading during construction phase.

Low-interest loans
With larger-scale construction projects, many cities such as Portland, OR and Salt Lake City, UT have set precedents for dedicating resources to offer low-interest loans to affected businesses. Salt Lake City’s Economic Development Office, for example, established a revolving loan program and set aside funding for light rail construction mitigation up to $20,000 at 3% interest per applicant. Successful applicants simply had to be within one block of construction and be able to demonstrate how they were being impacted.

Finally, with additional financial and technical assistance, business owners might even consider implementing another method to reach customers if they don’t already have one. Starting online delivery services can certainly nudge customers who are unable or unwilling to navigate through construction to continue to support downtown businesses.

Make sure your downtown transformation works for you
The menu of strategies offered here cost lots of time and money to plan and implement. (Note: Birmingham Shopping District set aside $100,000 just to carry out a promotional campaign including free valet parking and shopping coupons). Depending on the capacity and resources of your downtown, and also the scale of construction happening, you may elect strategies that work best for your businesses.

Most importantly, ensure that you start planning early and work very closely with local merchants to ensure their buy-in and support for your elected strategies.

Introducing the "Strengthening Commercial Districts" Series - A Guide to Downtown Wayfinding

LOA presents “Strengthening Commercial Districts” a new series of publications that aims to highlight key actions and interventions for successful commercial revitalization. LOA works closely with municipalities and local community organizations to diagnose existing conditions and develop comprehensive and creative strategies to improve the downtown business environment.

In this first part, we take a closer look at wayfinding and signage as a key public realm redevelopment strategy to improve downtown visibility and accessibility. The guide provides a brief overview of what wayfinding systems are, their importance to commercial districts, and how downtown managers may begin to implement this strategy in their local communities. The guide also offers visuals of best practices for various types of signage so that readers are able to easily understand and implement effective wayfinding systems in their own communities.

It is important to note, however, that although physical signs are crucial for visitors to orient and navigate themselves once they have arrived, the experience of downtown really begins online. Most customers are going online to research products, services, and travel destinations before doing anything or going anywhere. In our guide, find out how you can adapt your downtown wayfinding system to ensure it is comprehensive and remains relevant in this digital age.

To find out more, download the full guide here.  

LISC #CorridorChallenge Storefront Improvement Design Guidelines

Last month, we wrote about the importance of using PR and Communications to build buzz around important commercial corridor work – with the Commercial Corridor Challenge as a prime example. LOA has been working closely with the New York office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) on the Commercial Corridor Challenge, a program funded by Citi Community Development that provides financial and technical support to some of New York City’s most underserved and rapidly changing communities.

As part of our work, we helped put together a set of guidelines that not only informs Corridor Challenge participants about relevant New York City code and regulation requirements related to storefront improvements but also suggests best practices for these improvements. With architectural expertise from Dadras Architects, the guidelines also features renderings of potential storefronts on Bay Street in Staten Island, Southern Boulevard in the Bronx, and Fulton Street in Brooklyn.

The guidelines covers a range of storefront improvements including signage, lighting, awnings, façade and paint and color. It offers visuals of best practices in each section so that users of the guidelines are able to easily understand and implement the improvements.  

Here are some highlights of the guidelines:

• Avoid the use of security gates to increase store transparency. If necessary, open-mesh security gates on the interior can still provide visual access for security (preferred by law enforcement) and will not be subject to alteration by graffiti.
• Maximize the visibility of your signs without compromising transparency of storefronts. This might include illuminating signs with separate light fixtures and ensuring signage does not block doors or windows.
• Avoid waterfall-style awnings. Retractable canvas awnings are highly recommended because they get less dirty and last longer than fixed awnings.
• Use interior and exterior lighting to illuminate your storefront and street. Adequate lighting is a proven crime deterrent.
• Fix broken windows and avoid paper signage. Broken or boarded windows negatively impact the overall commercial corridor and paper signage obscures the business activity from potential customers on the street.
• Use color and painting to enhance storefront appearance. Remember to coordinate colors to fit the context of the neighborhood.

By increasing the transparency, lighting, and physical attractiveness of businesses, the Commercial Corridor Challenge program hopes to provide long-lasting benefits to participating corridors by boosting foot traffic and improving sense of safety in these areas. For more useful tips around storefront improvements, download the guidelines here!

We hope this resource will also prove helpful in rethinking and redesigning your storefront.

How to encourage walking within your commercial district

Nur Asri is an associate at Larisa Ortiz Associates

Pedestrians in downtown NY. Photo: Kars Alfrink via Flickr

In a recent study by Robert J Schneider, of the Department of Urban Planning at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, two distinct design features were identified to significantly impact shoppers’ choice to walk along a main commercial street rather than drive.

Sure, we’ve all heard that curb extensions, street trees and transparent ground floor facades all play an important role in creating walkable environments but no research study has associated urban design features with the choice to walk rather than drive. Therefore, in order to understand the relationship between urban design and the choice between walking and driving, Schneider tested roadway variables such as the convenience of parking, sidewalk and buffer widths, corner curb radius, number of lanes, traffic volume and speeds. 

After controlling for personal travel and socio-economic characteristics, the study by Schneider identifies two significant design features that are associated with shoppers choosing to walk versus drive between activities in a commercial district. Most importantly, given that survey respondents included in the study all drove to the district, the findings serve to reinforce the ‘park once’ downtown strategy.

1. Fewer driveway crossings

Schneider’s study found that respondents were significantly less likely to choose to walk when the main commercial drag had more driveway crossings. These crossings were perceived as barriers to walking as they added to walking travel time. In fact, every 10 additional driveway crossings was perceived as adding another minute to walking travel time. 

Case Study: Morganton, North Carolina

Earlier this year, we worked in Morganton, North Carolina. A beautiful, small downtown with a commercial core with about 1,300 linear feet of ground floor retail and office space. We found, anecdotally, that customers in the district could easily cross shop at the retail core because there were few barriers to walking, including only two driveway crossings, as shown below.

In addition, one of these driveway entrances is slightly elevated, requiring vehicles to slow down before making the turn into the driveway, increasing safety for pedestrian shoppers who are already walking and browsing up and down the commercial drag.

What was also interesting was the moderate correlation between driveway crossings and annual average daily traffic volumes. This begs the question of average daily traffic as a critical retail site selection criteria. Sure, more cars passing through the street increases visibility of the retailer but if this means fewer shoppers on the street willing to walk over to your business (i.e. sidewalk foot traffic), then what’s the point?

2. Lower speed limits

Next, Schneider also found that the posted speed limit had a significantly negative association to walking within the shopping district. The lower the posted speed limit, the more respondents walked within the shopping districts.  In fact, every 5-mile per hour higher speed limit was found to be equivalent to between a minute and 75 seconds of additional walking time – again, increasing walking time for pedestrians.  

In many downtown districts, the 25mph speed limit has become a common traffic calming action to take to increase comfort levels for pedestrian shoppers. Here in Brooklyn, on Atlantic Avenue, the slow zone has a posted speed limit of 25 mph (in addition to retimed traffic signals to a 25mph progression) to help check motorists’ speed.

Of course, Schneider recommends that other complementary changes be made in order to increase walking within shopping districts. Past studies have alluded to compact and diverse developments leading to increased walking. According to many studies, in compact and dense areas, walking distances between different buildings and stores are short and these short distances are a main reason why walking is a more common mode of transportation in traditional urban shopping districts than in newer suburban retail areas where buildings are farther apart.

In support of this, Schneider’s study also found that when travel times for either walking or driving are the same, for short distances, walking is still preferred over driving. However, when travel distances increase and walking times become much longer than driving times, driving has an advantage over walking.

Finally, mixed uses, mixed jobs and mixed population within an area are all things that enhance walkability, and oft-repeated, that can now be further complemented by the proven design features of fewer driveway crossings and lower posted speed limits.  

Read: Schneider, R. J. (2015). Walk or Drive between Stores? Designing Neighbourhood Shopping Districts for Pedestrian Activity. Journal of Urban Design, 20(2), 212-229.

The Do's and Don'ts of Outdoor Displays

A furniture store in Sanford, FL
curates a seating patio outside its store.

Nur Asri is an associate at Larisa Ortiz Associates

The public realm is extremely important in commercial districts. While plazas and parks offer areas for visitors to rest and enjoy a meal, sidewalks make up a larger percentage of the public realm and are often optimized by businesses to attract customers. As a result, many store owners have taken to displaying merchandise on sidewalks as ‘teasers’ to what else is in store for potential customers.

However, business owners need to be aware that every city has its own regulations around sidewalk merchandise displays. Here in NYC, although stores are permitted to have outdoor displays of merchandise with no required licenses (for the most part.. Note: ‘Zero Sidewalk Display’ streets and streets in historically designated areas), these displays are restricted by types of goods and by size and structure.

The City requires that items displayed outdoors consist only of goods that are available for sale inside the store and that all sales must still occur inside the premise. Structures used to display the merchandise outside the store must also be temporary in nature and may extend no more than 3 feet into the sidewalk from the building line, and no higher than 5 feet. If a business owner were to break any of these regulations, a fine between $250 and $300 may be issued by the City.

In Cambridge, MA, where we recently completed work on a citywide retail strategy, the outdoor display of merchandise is even harder to do because a sidewalk obstruction permit is required by the City of Cambridge and costs $75 to submit.

Regardless of municipality, businesses must recognize that the regulations around sidewalk merchandise display are often well-intentioned and aim to meet the following three key principles:

1. Maintaining standards of cleanliness and hygiene
2. Enhancing pedestrian comfort and safety
3. Ensuring collective business viability

More than 8' width pedestrian zone outside
this fresh food market in Mt Vernon, NY.

Through our work in different downtowns and commercial corridors across the state and country, we’ve seen a number of best practices in outdoor merchandise display but we have also seen some that have done more harm than good to the overall business environment. Here are some quick tips to ensure you use outdoor merchandise displays to your business’ and your corridor’s benefit.

Do’s:

Leave sufficient sidewalk space for pedestrians to walk. On busy downtown commercial streets, for example, the City of Boston recommends a minimum of 8’-12’ width dedicated as the ‘pedestrian zone’ to ensure easy flow of pedestrian traffic on sidewalks. The clear path will ensure the sidewalk remains accessible to multiple users, including those in wheelchairs or pushing strollers, and will also maximize the foot traffic for businesses.

(NYC sure was right in limiting the depth of outdoor display structures to no more than 3 feet from the building line!)

Shoes on display outside this men's clothing store
maintains a clear path to the doorway.

Keep the path to the store’s entrance clear from any physical barriers. The fewer the barriers to entry, the more likely the customer will walk beyond the entryway. Having seen a teaser of products outdoors, businesses will want customers to continue browsing merchandise indoors and extend their dwell times so ensure that outdoor merchandise displays do not block the entryway nor reduce the visibility of the store’s entrance.

Maintain a neat, organized and relevant display rack. The success of your business and the success of your overall commercial district are interrelated. If your district’s sidewalks were spilled over with messy and unmaintained outdoor merchandise displays with expired or irrelevant products, the overall image of the district would be spoiled and customers would perceived a neglected commercial street and take their shopping elsewhere.

Switch out and rotate the merchandise you put on display outside every other day (in the case of fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables) or every few months (in the case of seasonal gifts and clothing) and ensure the display racks are kept tidy. Maintain a good image for the corridor and your business will only reap the benefits.

Curate and get creative with your outdoor merchandise display. A well-curated outdoor display can attract both visitor and resident customers. Take the time to select and curate pieces that market your business best. Furniture and antique stores, flower shops, and even bike shops are increasingly using outdoor merchandise displays to their advantages and luring customers with unique and colorful outdoor product displays.

Don’ts:

Florist on Montague Street, Brooklyn NY

Clutter products in the allowable outdoor display areas. If displays appear cluttered and messy, customers are more likely to be confused by the products offered by the store and will quickly move on to neighboring businesses. After all, “less is more” is the common rule for merchandising. According to retail experts, high product density results in visual chaos that overwhelms the shopper. There isn’t enough time for the shopper to sort through the clutter and determine if the merchandise is of enough interest to stop and shop. 

Stack products high in front of store windows. Often, business owners get overexcited about being able to promote merchandise outside and forget the importance of maintaining transparency of storefronts. Sure customers are now able to see products on display outdoors, however, storefront transparency also serve to discourage crime with ‘more eyes on the street’ and reduce energy consumption by letting natural light into the store. Remember that many storefront guidelines recommend having 70% of the façade surface completely transparent between 2’ and 10’ height above the sidewalk.

Display products that are hard to reach by customers. When businesses pack as many products as possible outside, it becomes “physically impossible for a consumer to shop comfortably”. As a result of stacks and stacks of products, shoppers are often unable to reach most of the products on display and are therefore unable to examine the merchandise more closely, resulting in them losing interest and walking away.

While outdoor merchandise display can do wonders in advertising and promoting goods on offer in stores, it is important to note that some products lend themselves better to outdoor display than others. For example, lighter-weight articles can easily be blown over by wind outdoors, and food and drinks may become spoiled from long exposure to sunlight and humidity. We’ve also seen long articles of clothing getting dirtied by outdoor dust and particles, ruining the overall appearance of the sidewalk display.

If you’re thinking of enhancing the vibrancy of the sidewalks in your commercial district, first make sure you abide by the regulations set by your municipality and, secondly, ensure that the displays don’t result in dirt or mess on the sidewalks, and don’t create tripping hazards, fire hazards or nuisances for your customers. After all, your customers’ experience is central to the success of this effort.

Creating a successful open street

Nur is an associate at Larisa Ortiz Associates

Last month, I got up on a beautiful Saturday afternoon to the sound of loud, popular music from a neighboring street. As I followed the music, I was brought to Tompkins Avenue in the residential neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where I was faced with gridlock traffic. Every car was being rerouted to Gates Avenue because, as it turns out, Tompkins Avenue was closed to vehicles for the annual Tompkins Avenue Merchants Association (TAMA) Summerfest.

TAMA Summerfest is a local open streets event organized in partnership by local Bridge Street Corporation and Tompkins Avenue Merchants Association, and this year it was in its 4^th year running. Since its inception in 2013, the open streets event has more than doubled in size from only covering two blocks between Hancock Street and Putnam Avenue to a full four blocks between Hancock St and Monroe St.

All over the country, Open Streets programs have sprang in numbers from only 10 of such programs a decade ago to over 70 by the end of 2011. In New York, we call it 'Weekend Walks' – multi- block, multi-day events on commercial corridors supported by NYC Department of Transportation. They also entail closing traditional streets to automobiles and converting them into temporary public spaces for pedestrians and cyclists. As with other types of public spaces, a variety of activities is often programmed to occur on the street, for example, musical performances and catwalk shows on Tompkins Avenue. These programs often attract local residents in the neighboring areas but also increasingly attract visitors from much farther away, which might result in higher-than-normal foot traffic for local businesses lining the street.

However, as I found at TAMA Summerfest, the activities programmed on the street only work best for businesses when:

1. They relate to the services and goods already available at adjacent storefronts

I sat along Tompkins Avenue during the Summerfest observing users of the street and found that food vendors out on the street had a very organic relationship with the local bars and wine stores. The products offered were complementary so as visitors walked away with snacks in hand, they would venture slowly over to Bed Vyne Brew to get a cup of sangria, wine, or soda.

In addition, many of the established businesses on Tompkins Avenue were also active street vendors during the Summerfest and were creating physical outdoor extensions of their already existing or soon-to-be storefronts. As a result, many customers were seen venturing further into storefronts after perusing the small selection of products on display out on the street.

In fact, a study of open streets programs by Hipp et al, 2012, in St Louis supports this observation. 73% of participants in an open streets program in St Louis had spent money at a nearby business and 68% became newly aware of a store/ restaurant. These findings certainly bode well for the merchants on Tompkins Avenue.

2. Sprinkled throughout the corridor and not just concentrated on one end or another

Overall, areas along the street that were punctuated with a hub of activities found visitors lingering for longer periods of time. From my observations, I noticed parents would browse products in store windows while their children played in the bounce castles, and younger women were getting their nails done outdoors as their spouses finished their beers. 

In the same study of open streets in St Louis in 2011, each participant reportedly spent an average of 108 minutes on the route, which might have translated to increased expenditure at nearby businesses. 

However, on Tompkins Avenue, there was a distinctly inactive zone at the intersection of Madison Street (see diagram above). This was a result of no programmed activities in that area, aside from one vendor selling mobile phone covers. Not only was the product offered not complementary to the Chinese food stall behind it, it was sitting isolated from all the other activities on the street. Businesses such as Calabar Imports, a specialty home goods and furnishing store, located across from the Chinese take-out restaurant, did not appear to benefit from cross shopping as a result of the inactive zone. It's therefore important to ensure that an even spread of activities and street vending occurs along the open streets route to avoid a dip in vibrancy in the public space that might affect the foot traffic to the few businesses located around an inactive zone.

Aside from this single inactive zone, however, the Summerfest on Tompkins Avenue appeared to be a lively event that showcased local businesses on the corridor (new and existing!) and that seemed to work on the whole as a public space. There were pedestrians, cyclists, skaters and even parents with strollers throughout the corridor that afternoon. Merchants were interacting with customers in the open space, promoting products and services offered on a regular basis, and ultimately ensuring a return visit was in the works.

The 0.25 mile open street on Tompkins Avenue certainly had all the features recommended to encourage local economic and community development. Local businesses were set up as active street vending participants and the program was organized in partnership by the local merchants association and not-for-profit Bridge Street Corporation. Finally, the free public activities including the NY Public Library mobile library and music performances were critical in getting local residents to participate on the day itself.

I hope TAMA Summerfest continues to enliven the commercial corridor in my neighborhood for years to come and hopefully this brief social observation study provides an insight to how they might improve the positioning and programming of activities along the corridor in future iterations. 

The Growth of Food Trucks

Food Truck Fest in Troy, NY (Photo: Townsquare Media)

Here at LOA we are paying close attention to food trends as this category continues to grow its share of overall consumer spending. Consumer dining habits are rapidly shifting as more and more spending is happening on meals outside the home than on buying groceries and eating in, according to the most recent expenditure data (Bureau of Economic Analysis, Q1 2016). In recent months, we’ve covered the new categorization of food services, and delved deeper into food hubs and food halls, but now it’s time to take a closer look at food trucks.

Food trucks are establishments primarily engaged in preparing and serving meals from a mobile truck. Food is normally prepared, stored and cooked on the truck and the truck may or may not use the same location every day. Today, there are over 4,000 food trucks across the nation. According to IBISWorld, a market research firm, from 2011 to 2016 industry revenue grew at an annual rate of 7.9% and in 2016 reached over $1.2 billion – and that’s why we’re paying attention to this industry.

NYC Food Truck (Photo: Sacha Fernandez)

Like full service restaurants and other eating places, food trucks can primarily be found in densely populated cities and regions. According to a Zagat survey from 2012, the most concentrated cities include New York (11.1% of industry establishments), Boston, Washington, DC, Miami, Houston, Austin, TX, Cleveland, Chicago, Portland, OR, and Los Angeles. The West and Mid-Atlantic are the most important regions for this industry, accounting for an estimated 25.2% and 23.3% of food trucks in 2016, respectively. As its popularity grows in Florida, the Southeast is also anticipated to account for a greater substantial share of food truck establishments.

Food trucks, however, were never this popular in the past. Early on in its inception, food trucks predominantly existed to serve the budget-strapped working class citizen searching for a cheap lunch deal. Trucks would be parked by construction sites and a hefty meal would cost no more than $6-8. Food trucks were also widely acknowledged by entrepreneurs as the quickest and most affordable way to break into the food business with low set-up, operating and licensing costs.

Today, the tables have turned. Food trucks are increasingly being used as promotional and marketing tools for established chefs, hotels, and restaurant brands. Bigger companies and national chains are using food trucks to service private events and music festivals just to get their name out there. Brian Pekarcik and Rick Stern, co-owners of Spoon and BRGR restaurants in Pittsburgh, launched a BRGR truck for that very reason. “As brand recognition, it's a great advertising piece,” they explained. “And we expect that it will drive customers to our restaurants.”

Food Trucks on parking lot in San Francisco, CA (Photo: Quinn Dombrowski)

And meals are not as cheap anymore because the trendy, young professional seeking new and gourmet food has now become a major customer segment in densely populated cities.  These changes are also reflected in successful sales locations for food trucks. In 2015, only 15% of food truck sales were made at industrial/ construction work sites versus 18% at venues and events, according to Mobile-Cuisine.Com.

Cities, however, are still trying to navigate this burgeoning industry. Some are implementing programs and policies in support of these small food businesses, while others are taking a protectionist approach by heavily regulating and hindering the growth of food truck operators for fear that they may take away sales of brick-and mortar restaurants and eateries. Others also blame mobile food trucks for congesting sidewalks and streets and diminishing the urban quality of life.

Food trucks outside restaurant in Cleveland, OH (Photo:E Little)

In Chicago, IL, for example, food trucks are being held back by regulations that prohibit them from setting up shop within 200 feet of a bricks and mortar restaurant or from parking in any one location for more than two hours. Bricks and mortar restaurants are often, if not always, located near the retail core of downtowns and near entertainment and leisure destinations where a considerable amount of foot traffic is already established. By disallowing food trucks from setting up in those areas, they may be pushed to peripheries of downtowns or less attractive streets where there isn’t a sufficient threshold of customers to break even. Also, in Chicago, where parking ratios are lower, food trucks would be hard pressed to find desirable parking spots quickly – resulting in lost critical sales hours. These restrictions and more have stifled the industry’s growth in Chicago at a 1:100 ratio of food truck to restaurants.

Food truck on Leather Lane, London UK (Photo: duncan c)

This defensive position, however, may be unfounded because the Bureau of Labour Statistics has found that counties that have experienced higher growth in mobile-food services have also had quicker growth in their restaurant and catering businesses. For example, in Seattle, the number of restaurants and surrounding King County has grown by 16% since 2010 in spite of a thriving food-truck scene. In Travis County, Texas, which includes Austin, the restaurant count has jumped 18% even as food trucks have increased more than six-fold. In fact, in Houston TX, restaurants have experienced increased business generated by food trucks parking nearby and drawing more people to the restaurants’ neighborhoods. Restaurant owners themselves have reportedly asked the Houston City Council to ease existing laws that make it difficult for food trucks to operate.

In other cities, parking laws and other ordinances are evolving to catch up with the industry’s transformation and although there is no one-size-fits-all solution, here are some best practices from around the country if you’re looking to take a supportive approach leaned towards fair ordinances that allow food truck vendors to flourish.

BEST PRACTICE: Austin, TX – Simple and non-prescriptive Food Truck Ordinance

In the City’s Zoning Ordinance, mobile food establishments, or food trucks, are permitted in all commercial and industrial zoning districts and are minimally restricted from operating between the hours of 3:00 am and 6:00 am. The distance restriction on operating a food truck near a restaurant is also very minimal at 20 feet, versus the 200 feet in Chicago.  In more residential neighborhoods, the City allows for neighborhood association areas to reasonably request further restrictions on the operations of food trucks to avoid noise and litter nuisances in predominantly more residential areas.  And that really is the end of the restrictions on food truck operations in the City.

BEST PRACTICE: Cincinnati, OH – Streamlined permitting process

Austin , TX and Cincinnati, OH are two cities that have streamlined and centralized their food truck permitting processes. This strategy lowers time and cost on the part of small business owners hoping to license their food trucks and start operating. Austin’s permitting web page has detachable forms and blank spots for the necessary signatures, with instructions regarding who to contact to obtain those signatures. On the same page, it also specifies the actual schematics of the truck components required for food preparation and handling safety, and best of all, nowhere does it suggest to refer to a subsection of the zoning code or statute not included in the document. Simplifying and making the process clear is crucial to encouraging food truck vendors.  Meanwhile in Ohio, the Cincinnati Department of Health is the only agency responsible for the city’s permitting process, application process, and payments associated with the city’s mobile food vending. Half the time, food truck vendors are required to submit applications to four or five different agencies and this process can become confusing for applicants.

Food Truck Thursday in Washington DC (Photo: Ted Eytan)

BEST PRACTICE: Washington DC – Mobile Roadway Vending Zones

Farragut Square, Washington DC, is now a vibrant outdoor food court since the city implemented Mobile Roadway Vending zones, or MRVs, in 2013 allowing trucks to vend for four continuous hours without breaking parking laws. The city rolled out eight MRVs that year, including ones at Farragut Square, Franklin Square, L’Enfant Plaza and Metro Center. 95 parking spots were made available in the MRVs and are handed out via a monthly lottery. These food trucks sell food at lunch hour to the thousands of workers in each district.

Food truck on private lot in Brooklyn NY (Photo: Jason Lam)

BEST PRACTICE: Portland, Oregon – Vacant Lots for food truck clusters

After a study in 2008 by researchers at Portland State University that concluded food carts benefited residents, the city began encouraging the use of vacant land for food-truck clusters or “pods”. The No-Vacancy guide explores temporary use of vacant space (including food truck vending!) and its applicability in the Central Eastside Industrial District. The guide shows property owners and food truck vendors how to navigate permitting and zoning processes in these scenarios.

Establish a pilot program!

If your downtown is still getting its feet wet in the food truck business, try implementing a pilot program to make informed decisions on what regulations to adopt in the future. Pilot programs are meant to test the waters and can very easily bring to light the issues that are unique to your community.  A small pilot program will also minimize any unintended impacts while still gleaning insight on what works and what doesn’t locally.

The City of Cambridge, whom we are currently consulting with on a citywide retail market strategy, launched a pilot program in 2011 that allowed permitted mobile food trucks to park in spots adjacent to riverfront parks. An initiative of the Community Development Department, the program was used to determine whether a future, permanent program should be implemented.  In the pilot, food truck vendors had to apply to participate in the program and spaces were leased on a week-by-week basis for a per-day fee.

By the end of the pilot, the City learned that the designated vending spots did not work for trucks. The City has selected low pedestrian traffic areas or times because it had wanted to activate these spaces, however it backfired on vendors who found they could not make their businesses financially viable in those areas. The City also learned quickly that a cluster of trucks needed to be marketed versus just one at each spot. Marketing and communicating to the customers that there were more than a single food option was found to be more effective.

With all the lessons learned, the City of Cambridge hopes to re-launch a new food truck program with policy improvements that were suggested by food truck operators.

Let us know if your city has an effective food truck program too!

For more examples, read NLC’s Food On Wheels Report: www.nlc.org/sites/default/files/RI_FoodTruckReport2013_final.pdfhttp:/www.nlc.org/sites/default/files/RI_FoodTruckReport2013_final.pdf

Institute for Justice’s Food-Truck Freedom Report:

http://ij.org/report/food-truck-freedom/

http://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/7-myths-and-realities.pdf

Urban Vitality Group and City of Portland’s Food Cartology Report:

www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/200738

Fake News - Retail is not dead!

This past weekend we had the privilege of attending the National Planning Conference at the Javits Center here in New York City. There were over 600 sessions, discussions, and mobile workshops on topics ranging from retail and downtown revitalization to short term rentals and agricultural tourism. A theme that seemed to permeate many of these discussions was one of continued strength and adaptations in brick-and-mortar retail. City officials, architects, market consultants, and planners at various panels resoundingly agreed that retail was not dead in their communities, or in communities they were working for, and that there are still steps to take to support its growth. We've all read the recent reports on large national retailers like Macy's pulling back on storefronts and abandoning suburban shopping malls. However, this calamitous picture being painted in the media of retail's impending doom seems to be clouding the realities on the ground. As Steve Dwoskin, Vice President of Callison RTKL, aptly said in his session on The Reality of Planning for Retail, "It's Fake News".

Retail Trends
There are so many ways that retailers today are adapting to changing consumer trends and habits in order to sustain growth. At the same session, Kate Coburn a partner at HR&A, explained the importance of understanding the changing shopper demographics across the country and using that to retail's advantage. Millennials, as many of us know, currently make up the biggest proportion of the population with over 92 million of them here in the U.S. This group, combined with the growing Generation X-ers, are the shoppers that retailers need to watch and adapt accordingly to. More importantly, there is also a growing Hispanic and Asian population here in America that needs to be accounted for in retail market strategies and downtown retail tenant mix. Not to forget the high rates of urbanization that are also forcing retailers to rethink configurations of properties, store formats, and partnerships.

Here are some ways in which retailers, downtown organizations, and developers are adapting to these dynamic consumer trends:

1. Reconfiguring properties from single purpose malls to mixed use developments in more urban and transit-served areas
2. Changing store sizes and formats to fit downtown main streets rather than suburbs
3. Repositioning and retenanting resulting in many developments shifting reliance on department store anchors to entertainment and dining anchors
4. Focusing on experiential retail as a result of growing e-commerce competition
5. Targeting localized tenants that cater to diverse demographics in different localities
6. Using multimedia strategies and moving from traditional media to social media advertising

Ikea was an example of a retailer that has been seen to adapt to its changing consumer habits. Its original 400,000 SF model has since been shrunk to 100,000 SF stores in order to be able to fit into more urban places. Its aim was to "bring the Ikea home furnishing range and expertise closer to customers" who lived in urbanized areas. Although these smaller formats are not able to carry full product ranges, customers are still able to order from the Ikea online range for collection at dedicated collection points of smaller format stores - similar to Target's fulfillment centers that we wrote about last week. It's important to acknowledge, however, that furniture is one of few retail categories that has fortunately been less vulnerable to e-commerce. Make-up/ cosmetics, services like hairdressers and laundromats, and restaurants are some other categories that continue to thrive despite the growing shift toward online shopping because they all require in-store product experience and demonstrations before consumers are able to make purchases. Likewise, local businesses that offer authentic experiences are becoming most valuable in today's retail climate. 

What cities can do to create a supportive system for all types of retail to thrive

1. Provide appropriate spaces for retail
• Cities can often provide tax incentives to landlords and property owners so that they may renovate and provide viable retail spaces. In our work, we 've often seen downtowns struggle with high ground floor vacancy rates and yet long lists of potential tenants. This is often the case because tenants and small businesses do not have the capital to rehabilitate and fix up the vacant spaces in order to make them viable for business
2. Be strategic about co-tenancies
• A block-by-block tenanting strategy should be developed by merchants associations or downtown organizations in order to effectively cater to communities living in surrounding neighborhoods and also to increase retail diversity
• Curating retail mix can only be effective when property owners are involved in the strategizing. However, this often requires that cities provide financial incentives for them to be active in such discussions.
3. Grow customer base close to retail corridors
• Provide diverse housing options that meet full range of household incomes needed to support a variety of retail
• Encourage flexible spaces of employment (office and manufacturing) near retail corridors that encourage strong daytime worker populations with a range of income and interests
4. Right-size parking and vehicular areas
• With the increasing use of shared car services like Uber and Lyft, and with retail moving to urban places, parking requirements no longer hold the same weight as they did. Retailers in urban areas are instead seeing the need for drop-off areas more so than large swathes of parking. Some downtowns are even revisiting parking requirements for retail uses given the changing environment.

Ways to support small businesses through zoning
More specifically, zoning can be an effective tool in supporting the growth of retailers and small businesses. A panel discussion opened by Arista Strungys, Firm Principal at Camiros, Ltd, dived into some tried and tested zoning modifications and tools that have lowered barriers to entry for businesses. The session cautioned municipalities about out-of-date use structures that were often the biggest barriers to small businesses thriving downtown. According to the panel, building flexibility into zoning and land use ordinances is key to supporting small businesses, including retail. This flexibility can be achieved by establishing a generic use approach rather than specific use approach and also tailoring uses to different districts. The former encourages readability of the ordinance by eliminating pages and pages of descriptions that outline every specific use allowed. Instead of listing retail categories such as 'Clothing Stores' or 'Book Stores', the ordinance simply says 'Retail Goods Establishments' to build in flexibility for allowed uses. Tailoring uses to districts, on the other hand, is best represented in a 'Uses Matrix' like the one below. This approach also encourages readability of the ordinance and eliminates the cumulative structure of traditional ordinances.

Eastern Neighborhoods Zoning Guide - Sample Use Matrix

Finally, monitoring new types of uses is also key to being flexible for businesses. Robert Azar, Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Development for the City of Providence, Rhode Island showed how his City was encouraging small businesses by introducing newer use types in the ordinance including Residential-Commercial/ Residential-Professional uses that encourages live-work spaces downtown. By doing so, the City is using these new permitted types as a calling card for itself - inviting newer types of businesses downtown such as micro craft breweries and specialty food producers and retailers.

For all the news articles and media bombardment of brick-and-mortar retail declining, there is also a strong movement at local levels to grow retail in dense, urban areas through a myriad of financial and regulatory tools. If your town or city is also doing something innovative to adapt to the changing retail trends and consumer habits, let us know! Get in touch at info@larisaortizassociates.com

Client Case Study: Neighborhood 360 Commercial District Needs Assessment (CDNA)

Authored by Larisa Ortiz

About two years ago, LOA was engaged by the New York office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a long standing client of ours, to lead the development of a commercial district needs assessment methodology (now known as the CDNA) that is used by the City of New York's Department of Small Business Services (SBS). The project was designed to support a budding partnership between LISC, Citi Community Development and SBS. 

Using our own consulting approach as a starting point, we developed a formal methodology for collecting and interpreting both qualitative and quantitative data that could be taught and replicated internally by SBS staff. The results of these efforts are now coming into high-relief. In Staten Island alone, the tool informed the allocation of $1.5 million dollars in spending along the Bay Street corridor ("$1.5M grant to fuel business on Bay Street", SILive, 3/20/17).  And we have recently been engaged again to develop it into a national tool utilizing the lessons learned in New York. In its newest iteration it will be called the "Commercial DNA" toolkit, because in truth, the ability to understand and diagnose commercial districts is all about understanding their "DNA" and utilizing that information to make more informed investment decisions. 

To date the methodology has 

been used in six neighborhoods, with more to come. In each case, the data has been collected and turned into sophisticated overviews of each district, highlighting district challenges and needs. The reports can be download here. 

While not every City has the resources nor the capacity to complete these assessments in-house (nor should they!), we look forward to sharing the learning and the approach more broadly in its next iteration. Stay tuned!