(Miami-Dade County, FL) -- During the early morning of Saturday, September 26, 2009, residents of the Richmond Heights community filled the room at the Palmetto Golf Course located at 9300 SW 152nd Street, in District 9 to meet with Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Dennis C. Moss for a Charrette concerning the Downtown area of Richmond Heights. Chairman Moss invited Miami-Dade Planning & Zoning Department to serve as facilitators for the community gathering. The Charrette, scheduled from 9:00AM to 3:00PM, addressed a plethora of issues and opportunities for Richmond Heights.

Chairman Moss greeted the guests and began sharing his vision for the Richmond Heights Downtown area and the purpose behind the Charrette. He encouraged each attendee to get involved with the community design and brainstorming session. Such topics discussed were economic development, social services and community identification. The goal is to develop a master plan based on the Richmond Heights community's suggestions and ideas about the Business District on Olivia Edwards Boulevard (also known as Lincoln Blvd.).
  
During the day-long Charrette, members of the Richmond Heights community viewed a power-point presentation presented by Miami-Dade Planning and Zoning and later broke out into seven small groups to discuss and design, on paper, what they would like to see the future Downtown core look like. Various organizations were represented, such as clergy, homeowners, law enforcement, community activists, business owners, educators, parents, etc. Refreshments and lunch was provided throughout the event.

A Charrette is a collaborative session in which a group or designers come together to draft a solution to a design problem. While the structure of a Charrette varies, depending on the design problem and the individuals in the group, Charrettes often take place in multiple sessions in which the group divides into sub-groups. Each sub-group then presents its work to the full group as material for future dialogue.

As the session came to an end, Chairman Moss expressed his gratitude to the community, the Planning Department and the other partners in attendance for their involvement and concern about the Richmond Heights Community. On October 5, 2009, as a result of the September 26, 2009 Charrette and follow-up plan design sessions, a final proposal will be presented to the Richmond Heights community.

(L to R) M-Dade Commission Chairman Dennis C. Moss;  Rendering of the Richmond Heights Center in District

Local residents and guests at the Richmond Heights Charrette