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For More Information Contact:
John Jackson, AICP, Executive Vice President
McKenna Associates
248.596.0920 | email

(NORTHVILLE, Mich., September 22, 2009) The American Planning Association has spotlighted the plan written by McKenna Associates, Inc. for Detroit’s struggling Brightmoor neighborhood as an example of how cities can reconcile the growing urban phenomenon of too much housing for too few residents. In a presentation titled “How to Turn a Place Around: What to do with 4,000 Surplus Lots,” McKenna President and CEO Phillip C. McKenna, AICP, PCP and McKenna Senior Principal Planner Amy Chesnut, AICP detailed the plan before professional planners and community leaders at APA’s Chicago headquarters on September 22, 2009 as part of the organization’s "Tuesdays at APA" lecture series.

"Like many U.S. urban neighborhoods, Detroit’s Brightmoor community has been left with a surplus of housing as a result of the difficult economy, a rise in foreclosures and a general decrease in population,” said Amy Chesnut, McKenna’s lead planner on the project. “Our plan offers a somewhat radical, but logical prescription of transforming empty housing stock to space for the one thing the community needs most: jobs.”

The Brightmoor Development Plan (sponsored by LISC) calls for converting large tracts of residential streets to industrial or commercial districts to attract business, pull jobs back to the city and ultimately increase demand for remaining housing. The plan lays out a strategy for condensing miles of sparsely populated city blocks into key residential districts where schools, retail centers and city services would be maintained. Large districts, the plan prescribes, would be rezoned to allow for industrial development, a change that would ultimately enhance the City’s tax base and increase demand for remaining housing as families seek to locate near job bases.

“Brightmoor’s challenges are similar to those of many older communities,” said Phil McKenna. “This plan offers a road map for communities looking, not for short term or superficial improvements, but radical transformation that will be sustainable for decades to come.”

Working with McKenna on the plan was Al Bogdan of AAB Strategies, LLC. The Brightmoor Redevelopment Plan is currently under consideration by the City. McKenna’s presentation (PowerPoint and Podcast) is available on the APA website at www.planning.org/tuesdaysatapa/2009. The presentation is also available on the McKenna website at www.mcka.com.

McKenna Associates provides community planning, landscape architecture, urban design, zoning, economic development, and public communication and public participation services to more than 200 cities, counties, townships, villages and select private clients in the Midwest. Headquartered in Northville, Michigan, McKenna maintains branch offices in Detroit and Kalamazoo, Michigan and Cleveland Heights and Lebanon, Ohio. For more information about McKenna Associates, call 888-226-4326 or visit www.mcka.com.

view the presentation