Saturday September 22, 2007

When the Charlottesville Community Design Center decided to host a contest to help give a new look to Water Street, they didn't expect it to be this big.

"We got five international entries, we got nine entries from local design firms in Charlottesville and then a mix of all over the country," said Jane Fisher, Executive Director of the Charlottesville Community Design Center.

In all, they got more than 60 different possible designs for Water Street. The city wants to update a couple parking lots and from the designs that hung along the Mall, they're really looking to dress it up.

Jane Fisher says getting residents involved was a key part of the plan.

"That's really what we're all about is just engaging the public in these dialogues and not just having it be a conversation between a developer and the city or something like that. It's a really open dialogue and so we feel like it's been absolutely a success and there's some really high-quality submissions that we're excited about."

Many showed up and most were impressed by what they saw. Everyone we talked to walked out with some favorites:

"I liked the ones that had the green roofs and the environmental idea of keeping it in a park setting," said resident Jack Sperry.

Resident Pat Morrow's favorite started "as you came down First Street there was a waterfall...then they took all the water that fell on the Mall from rains and so forth, and they recycled it."

While plenty of votes were cast, the winning design is not assured of a place in the city landscape. A jury of architects and designers commissioned by the city will also get a vote and the winners will get cash prizes and final consideration for the project.