While the process has not been as public as those to develop a concept for the River Music Center and to choose a firm for the skybridge, the city's effort to develop new plans for its property at 53rd Street and Eastern Avenue is moving forward.

Clayton Lloyd, Davenport's director of community & economic development, said he expects to have a recommendation on a consultant in time for a city-council vote on February 20. An informal 12-member search committee will hold public interviews of three finalist land-use-planning firms on Thursday, February 7, beginning at 12:30 p.m. in city-council chambers. (The committee includes city staff and a variety of people with an interest in the project, including smart-growth advocates and developers.)

Lloyd said the process for coming up with a recommendation for the city council "is not clearly defined," but the main criterion will be a firm's demonstrated experience and success in a community process that will generate either broad support or consensus.

The goal is to use an approach that will avoid the division created by previous processes and plans for the 53rd and Eastern project. A lawsuit stopped one plan, while an ad-hoc task force was unable to come to a consensus on a new plan.

Once a firm is chosen, Lloyd said, the firm will probably take between six and nine months to develop a new plan for the city-owned land. It is during that time that the public will be more engaged in the process, he said.

The proposals of the three finalist firms can be found online at (http://www.cityofdavenportiowa.com/ced/rfp.htm).

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