The Landmarks Preservation Commission has contracted The Lakota Group, a preservation planning firm base in Chicago Illinois for development of a heritage preservation plan for the City of Racine.  The purpose of the Plan is to formulate and identify specific, realistic, and achievable strategies for enhancing the City’s current heritage preservation program and initiatives.  The City of Racine has long been recognized as a leader for preserving and revitalizing its significant historic resources while undertaking successful planning efforts to revitalize Downtown Racine and surrounding neighborhood districts. With this Plan, the Racine community desired to build on these past successes while recognizing that additional efforts are needed to identify priority areas for preservation and reinvestment to shape the City’s urban form, character, and overall economic development. The process for preparing the Plan is comprised of two major phases:

Phase 1: State of the City 

The objectives of the first phase were to establish a dynamic community planning process that involves a wide range of private sector stakeholders and public agency representatives; to define challenges and opportunities in achieving historic preservation planning goals; and to develop a comprehensive base line of information for future analysis and decision-making.

Community Workshop 

Phase 2: Heritage Preservation Plan 

The second plan-making phase finalized specific historic preservation planning strategies and initiatives through research, creative thinking, and community engagement, with the overall goals of establishing a shared, compelling vision. The “plan-making” brought together in a formal plan document, preferred preservation planning strategies based on the community’s vision and consensus for short and long-term planning goals.

 

 

 

Racine Heritage Preservation Plan is a product of collaborative work with the City of Racine and Racine Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Community! The document is an easy weekend read, so make sure to click on the PDF link below to download and enjoy!