Redevelopment of the Georgia-Pacific mill site; options and alternatives for public participation and stakeholder collaboration in the planning process

This thesis examines the redevelopment of the Georgia-Pacific mill-site in Fort Bragg California, a case involving a long-term planning process with multiple layers that encompasses a host of complex and intricate issues. The three central issues addressed in this work are; 1) an analysis of a community-based approach that the author recommends should guide the planning process and identify appropriate policies and projects for the mill site redevelopment, and; 2) a description of the various methods that can be used to enhance public participation to create a community-generated vision that can provide goals for the redevelopment planning process, and; 3) the description of a collaborative planning process that could potentially be used in this case. This thesis then concludes with the recommendation of a mediated multi-party planning process, or stakeholder collaborative, to help facilitate cooperation between stakeholders on the creation of a Specific Plan required for the mill-site's redevelopment. In that this thesis was initiated during the scoping and pre-planning phase of the site's redevelopment, this work is forward looking. It analyses this case in its infancy and attempts to advise the community and key decision-makers on matters of policy direction and public participation methods that can be employed as the process proceeds. The field research methods for this work included (approximately) twenty semi-structured key informant interviews used to sample the personal perspectives of involved citizens, planning professionals, and elected officials within the community of Fort Bragg between February of 2003 and September of 2003. These interviews were used to inform the researcher's understanding of an 'insider's' view of the context as a whole, detail involving municipal government, and the hopes and fears of local citizens for their community's future. Each interview contained a general range of questions that was compiled prior to commencing the interview phase. This thesis also includes a significant experiential component derived from participant observation of events between May 2003 and February 2004, as well as direct presentations by the author to both the community and the Fort Bragg City Council. The researcher compiled observation research as a participant in public forums and private group meetings hosted both by a local citizen group, North Coast Action (NCA) and by the Fort Bragg City Council. Participation in events sponsored by NCA included; discussion of a "community-based" approach to redevelopment, explanation of various participatory mechanisms, recommendation of collaborative planning processes, political analysis, grass-roots strategy dialog, and assistance in facilitating a community visioning forum. This experiential process culminated in four presentations before the community describing a community-based approach to the redevelopment and the concluding recommendations of the thesis. Two presentations were held at community forums hosted by North Coast Action, see Appendix E and F, and the third took place at the invitation of Mayor Jere Mello before the Fort Bragg City Council at a regularly scheduled Council meeting , see Appendix C, and the final presentation took place before the Fort Bragg City Council at the request of North Coast Action, see Appendix G.