LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Thursday, Aug. 20) – The City of Little Rock is seeking community volunteers to help out with a survey of the greater Quapaw Quarter area in September after receiving a $40,000 grant to study neighborhood properties.

The grant from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program was awarded for the examination of existing structures and vacant lots in the specified area, which amounts to 8,000 parcels. The survey results will include recommendations for how to incorporate those parcels into long-term neighborhood planning. Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm PlaceEconomics is coordinating the Relocal Field Survey from Sept. 8 – 12. 

There’s strength in numbers, and the city needs plenty of participants to help cover a lot of ground for the survey, which will go parcel to parcel. Volunteers who sign up will undergo training and can participate as much as their availability allows. Those who register will team up with up to two other volunteers to take photos and complete a survey on a smartphone or tablet.

“This field survey is as grassroots as community outreach gets,” says Brian Minyard, AICP, with the Planning and Development Department. “By enlisting the help of our citizens, we are recognizing that everyone has a stake in what happens to our neighborhoods. This grant presents an opportunity for the City to collect new data for areas we’ve seen changes in over past several years.”

The survey consists of around seven questions that looks at a structure’s condition and architectural features, the state of the sidewalk, and how a parcel of land is being used.

Relocal is a tool used by PlaceEconomic’s Rightsizing Cities Initiative that provides a framework for evaluating the health and vitality of a city’s neighborhoods using data-based criteria. Utilizing more than 70 quantitative metrics as well as a community priority survey, Relocal measures the economic impacts of historic preservation.

The goal of the survey is to gather valuable data that will assist city administrators when it comes to deciding what to do with vacant and abandoned properties, establishing priorities for strategic planning, and allocating resources.

Those wanting to participate as a volunteer can sign up at surveymonkey.com/s/LittleRockFieldSurvey  

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