Downtown Milton/Crabapple Placemaking Plan

Details:

  • City of Milton

  • Milton, Georgia

Highlights:

  • Placemaking Plan to guide future development and greater connectivity in the area
  • Extensive public participation to ensure that the vision was community-supported

Description:

As part of the Downtown Milton/Crabapple Placemaking Plan, TSW led a consultant team to develop Milton’s Downtown Placemaking Plan within the Crabapple character area, originally established through a previous LCI study and Form-Based Code—both also led by TSW. The Form-Based Code promotes low-density development with small building footprints, while still encouraging a mix of uses. The Crabapple area has experienced notable growth centered around the historic Crossroads intersection, along with major public investments such as the relocation of City Hall (opened in 2017) and the construction of the new Milton Public Library. While the area features a strong retail core, surrounding single-family neighborhoods, and three community schools, the street network remains heavily automobile-oriented, limiting safety and accessibility for pedestrians.

The placemaking plan involved an extensive public outreach effort with focus groups, steering committee meetings, open houses, and a 3-day charrette with the entire consultant team that included a walking audit and public input throughout the charrette.

The Placemaking Plan consisted of design and policy goals:

  • Establish locations and programming for park space in the Crabapple area;
  • Create a trail network that connects to sidewalks, schools, commercial development, and parks;
  • Provide streetscape improvements that prioritize pedestrians on key streets;
  • Establish a parking management strategy; and
  • Locate development where appropriate, and determine the most suitable types of development.

The overall design framework addressed these goals with park programming for two sites, a connected trail network along key streets and within the NE Quadrant, wider sidewalks and narrower vehicle lanes, development around the Crossroads, parking management, and adding new streets. The following are key design recommendations that resulted from an extensive existing conditions analysis, market analysis, and public input:

  • Mixed-use development following the Form-Based Code in the Northwest and Northeast Quadrants around the Crossroads;
  • Conceptual designs for two new parks on currently vacant, wooded land, that accommodate passive and educational activities;
  • Short-term and long-term parking considerations (valet parking and potential parking deck);
  • Streetscape enhancements on Crabapple Road, Mayfield Road, Birmingham Highway, and Heritage Walk (Phase 2) with wider sidewalks, on-street parking, bike facilities, and trees;
  • Trails system on streets and between the schools and new parks.