Ocoee Downtown planners want your feedback

OCOEE When Michelle Bergstein thinks about the future of Ocoee, the word “exciting” comes to mind. 

Bergstein, of BeatCreative Marketing, hopes the public will catch wind of that excitement March 14 at The Future of Downtown Ocoee Public Kickoff meeting. 

The meeting will serve as the beginning of the dialogue between consultants and the residents of Ocoee on what they would like to see in their downtown.

“Nobody knows the city of Ocoee like the residents and business owners of city Ocoee,” said Andrew McCown, planning manager at GAI Consultants.

The downtown area of Ocoee is one of the focus areas of the State Road 429 land-use plan, a joint plan between the cities of Ocoee and Winter Garden.

For the Ocoee portion of the plan, BeatCreative Marketing has been hired to do marketing and social media efforts as well as working with the project consultant, GAI Consultants. 

The meeting will include a brief session on downtown planning 101 from Pete Sechler, director of planning at GAI Consultants, which will give an update on the state of downtown and explain what kind of things makes a downtown successful. The session will then become personalized, where residents will divide into small groups and participate in a series of exercises and questions. 

Residents will be able to offer opinions on the entirety of downtown; however, the most immediate changes they will be able to see will be on Bluford Avenue. Consultants will seek input on creating pedestrian-friendly streetscape there. 

Many neighboring communities, such as Winter Garden, have experienced a boom in popularity from the revitalization of downtown areas. Bergstein is eager to see residents shape Ocoee’s downtown to that level of success. 

“This is that initiative that is going to take Ocoee to that level and make it an attractive destination locally for people to come out to,” Bergstein said. 

Contact Jennifer Nesslar at [email protected].