Beginning in 2010, we managed a conceptual redesign of the waterfront in Port Angeles (WA), leading a multi-disciplinary team to implement the direction of an earlier strategic planning study and address a key stretch of the waterfront, a city-wide wayfinding scheme and transportation recommendations improving area walkability. Recognizing that plans have little chance without resident buy-in, SCJ staff carried outreach techniques to new levels: conducting hundreds of one-on-one and group interviews and using a downtown storefront as a working studio for a week’s worth of public interaction. Beginning with an innovative “Art Slam” event, multiple concepts were developed and tested, from which residents established a preferred, far-reaching scheme. The plan was adopted by unanimous Council vote, and received a 2011 APA/PAW Award for outstanding physical plans.