Bottom Line: Southwest Strategies developed and executed a comprehensive community outreach and education program which ensured the City of Carlsbad’s storm drain replacement efforts were successful and caused minimal impacts to residents.

Key Players

Our Challenge

Carlsbad Village is the heart of the City of Carlsbad and home to hundreds of small businesses, residents and community-wide special events which draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. To repair the existing storm drains, the city began the Grand Avenue Storm Drain Improvements Project, which included the installation of a new 48-inch diameter, reinforced concrete pipe underground, new curb inlets, light pole repairs, electrical wiring for additional tree lighting and road resurfacing along one of the busiest commercial streets in the Village. Road closures and utility interruptions were inevitable. Recognizing the project had the potential to cause disruption to neighborhood residents, businesses and visitors, the city hired Southwest Strategies to help stop problems before they started.

Our Solution

We’ve been working with the City of Carlsbad to implement capital improvement project community outreach campaigns for years due to our positive track record. Our experience with the community allowed us to hit the ground running. We put a plan together to ensure stakeholders understood the process, possible interruptions and construction timeline prior to work beginning. We got the word out quickly and effectively using the following strategies:

• Meetings with project representatives
• Door-to-door walks
• Project fact sheets
• Digital communication
• Contact cards to enable efficient responses
• Construction hotline
• Regular notices of upcoming construction

Due to our aggressive community outreach effort, the Grand Avenue Storm Drain Improvements Project was completed with little community backlash. Residents, businesses and visitors were able to properly prepare and plan for potential disruptions well ahead of time thanks to door hangers and other preparatory materials distributed by the project team. A direct line of communication between the public and project representatives was opened as well to accommodate inquiries. Since the completion of the Grand Avenue project, Southwest Strategies has replicated results for various additional storm drain and capital improvements projects for the City of Carlsbad.