BetaPr was brought on board to provide public outreach efforts for the Coconino Estates Improvements Phase 1 Project (a CMAR method of delivery) in conjunction with the City of Flagstaff, their design engineer and their contractor.
The project consists of improving the existing water, sewer and roadway infrastructure within the Coconino Estates neighborhood.
To help drive the design phase with area stakeholders’ involvement, BetaPr began outreach efforts with the design and production of a Project Notification Flier to introduce the project to the local area
The flier highlighted key project details and invited stakeholders to attend the first of two community meetings scoped for the project. It was mailed to over 470 stakeholders identified by the City of Flagstaff and was hand-delivered to each stakeholder along the project corridor.
Following this distribution, BetaPr facilitated the first of two community meetings. The first meeting was geared towards introducing the project to area stakeholders and presenting preliminary design plans. Members of the entire Project Team were present, including City officials, the design engineers, and contractor management. The preliminary meeting was a success and the local community was pleased to have the opportunity to learn about the project and have their questions and concerns addressed by knowledgeable project staff. A key topic of the meeting was the installation of sidewalks, due to the fact that the existing right-of-way can accommodate the addition of sidewalk on both sides of the roads throughout the project corridor.
To assist the city and design engineer in soliciting the project’s necessity as well as developing sidewalk design throughout the project, BetaPr created a Sidewalk Survey that was distributed with a second Project Notification Flier.
The Sidewalk Survey solicited the community for the need and desire to include the installation of new sidewalks as part of the project, as no sidewalks are currently in place within along the improvements corridor. The survey included visual renderings showing what the roadway would look like with sidewalks installed, provided a means for stakeholders to choose whether or not they would like sidewalks and included space for community members to share their comments and ideas. The surveys also included a return envelope so stakeholders could return their survey to the team via mail or in-person delivery. The second Notification Flier was developed in conjunction with the survey and invited area stakeholders to attend the second community meeting and provided an update regarding the status of design.
With the need for community inquiries and concerns to be addressed in a timely manner, a 24/7 Project Hotline was developed. Following distribution of notification materials, BetaPr staff facilitated the second community meeting to introduce the project in greater detail, discuss the sidewalk survey, solicit survey responses and share detailed rendering of the current design plans. Following the community meeting and survey submission deadline, BetaPr developed a comprehensive summary that compiled all the survey answers, comments received, highlighted the details of the public meetings.
Following final design and prior to construction beginning, BetaPr held a digital pre-construction meeting to share what the upcoming project would look like and how construction would progress.
A digital format was utilized due to the COVID-19 pandemic impacting in-person gatherings in the local community. BetaPr designed and produced a Notification Letter for each construction zone which was then bulk mailed to over 2,200 stakeholders in and around the project area. The letter was also hand delivered to each stakeholder along the project corridor, both to open channels of communication and to help them better understand and plan for the construction activities.
BetaPr staff coordinates with the City of Flagstaff Communications Manager to produce and disseminate Press Releases to local media outlets and City social media channels.
Following the widespread distribution of outreach materials, BetaPr continues to maintain the project hotline and document each call we receive in a Public Issues Log which is delivered to the project team on a weekly basis. An eNewsletter containing up-to-date construction activities, traffic control impacts, work hours and project contact information is currently being distributed to stakeholders who have opted into the contact database on a weekly basis. BetaPr also works with the City of Flagstaff Web Administration Staff to ensure that the City’s project-specific webpage is updated with pertinent construction information on a weekly basis.