Downtown Action Agenda Unveiled

Date: 2/05/2002
By Lori Henson
Tribune-Star

Terre Haute's downtown has a lot going for it and some well-known obstacles to progress, too. But HyettPalma consulting firm thinks it's found a way to bring beauty, art, culture -- and people -- back to downtown.

Dozens of city leaders, business owners and residents turned out Monday night in the Vigo County School Corp. board room hoping to hear innovative solutions to decades-old problems in downtown.

And for the most part, they weren't disappointed.

Downtown revitalization guru Doyle Hyett of the Alexandria, Va.-based HyettPalma laid out specific actions his firm thinks will take downtown where the community wants it to go. His presentation was based on his firm's study of Terre Haute, two months in the making.

Many city leaders, residents and business owners, who all made suggestions to HyettPalma in November, described the plan as doable.

Among the suggestions in the "action agenda" Hyett presented were to:

* Focus efforts in two development districts -- an arts corridor and an institutional/service district

* Eliminate any new parking lots

* Keep businesses' facades on the sidewalk, rather than the suburban-style setbacks of recent additions

* Support attempts to fund a reopening of the Terre Haute House now in the works

* Market more aggressively the facade grant program, the forgivable loan program, Small Business Development Center

* Establish design guidelines and providing design assistance for business owners renovating buildings

* Hire a traffic engineer and a streetscape architect to turn many streets back to two-way, with angled curbside parking; make Third Street more pedestrian-friendly and prettier

* Establish "way-finders" including signage at city entrances advertising downtown attractions

* Keep parking spaces open for shoppers with an escalating fine system for violators and a computer ticketing system

* Implement suggestions in 2000 parking study including white-painted curbs and signs and eliminate streetside loading zones

* Recruit sponsors for free riding days on public transportation and get students free passes

* Make downtown a "Riverfront Development Project Area" to get eateries alcohol licenses

* Extend business hours

* "Beat the bushes" for appropriate new businesses

* Develop incentive program to include seed money to attract desirable businesses

* Beautify area with quality, minimal streetscaping using color and public art in open spaces

* Make maintenance a full-time city position

* Create a "downtown story" used in all marketing material in cooperation with Indiana State University

The full report is about 200 pages, with specific actions the city can take to implement the changes city residents and business owners said they wanted during the November survey. The report includes funding opportunities and economic tools and programs, among other instructions for revitalization. Hyett said it will be up to the community to be persistent with its commitment to downtown.

"This stuff doesn't take care of itself," he said.

He and his business partner, Dolores Palma, recommended Downtown Terre Haute Inc., affiliated with Indiana Main Street, be responsible for implementing the changes. He said it should become a permanently staffed organization with a budget and board that reflects a truly public-private partnership, directed by someone with a revitalization background.

Todd Nation, Downtown Terre Haute Inc.'s current president, said he welcomes the suggestion and will discuss it with the group's 14-member board of primarily business owners in the days to come.

"I think it all sounds overwhelmingly positive and very doable," said Nation, owner of BookNation and Arts Illiana. "We're completely up to this and ready for the next step."

Mayor Judy Anderson said she is excited that many of HyettPalma's suggestions are already in the works, such as the hiring of a streetscape architect and securing the long-awaited funding to reopen the Terre Haute House.

Hyett and representatives of Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, which arranged for HyettPalma to study 11 Indiana downtowns as part of a statewide program, said they were pleased with the community response Monday night. He said Terre Haute is ready to commit to a project this size.

"All the pieces are there," he said.

Matthew Greller, executive director of the Association of Cities and Towns' foundation, which is funding the project, said he knows funding the changes is a concern. He'll go to Washington D.C. this week to solicit funding to help the project's 11 cities fund measures in their action agendas.

Nation thinks this action agenda, unlike many past studies, will get stakeholders working together toward the same goal.

"One of the things we've lacked is a vehicle through which to get the community on the same page," he said after the meeting. "I think we're closer than ever to getting on that same page."