Downtown Alley Revitalization Idea Draws Criticism
August 2, 2016 at 6:09 p.m.
By David [email protected]
At the June 20 meeting, City Planner Jeremy Skinner and David Gustafson, who owns 114 S. Buffalo St., the home of Oak & Alley and Three Crowns Coffee, presented a proposal to close the alley between Gustafson’s property and city hall to allow for outdoor seating.
The space also could be used for community events like art fairs, live acoustic music and other activities. All seating and planting would be designed to be moved prior to snow fall.
During Monday’s meeting, Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins reminded the council the proposal was forwarded to the Warsaw Community Development Corp., where she serves as the council’s representative, to research it. A survey was done and she shared copies of that with the council.
An encroachment agreement between the city and Urban Retrend, Gustafson’s company, will be presented to the Board of Public Works and Safety at its meeting Friday at 10:30 a.m., she said.
Councilman Jerry Frush asked if the city was giving space to someone without them renting or leasing it. Mayor Joe Thallemer repeated it was an encroachment agreement that will be discussed at the BOW Friday and it’s been in discussion for awhile.
Frush said he didn’t have a problem with the alley being closed for an event, but he’s talked to people who were opposed to it being closed for an extended period of time for a business. “I don’t think it should be done,” he said.
Thallemer said the idea is to try this idea, which was identified in the Ball State charette several years ago, to help bring traffic to the downtown. The WCDC endorsed the project at its last meeting, he said. It would have a positive impact to the downtown, and the encroachment agreement would provide an opportunity for the city to try something it hasn’t tried before. He noted that it’s very similar to what’s been for a long time with table space on the sidewalk in front of the building.
The WCDC will look at the use of common space, such as sidewalks and alleys, downtown.
The alley revitalization plan is a pilot project, Thallemer said, which will run from May 1 to October in 2017 and the rest of this year to October if approved Friday.
Councilwoman Diane Quance asked if the outdoor seating was only for that business. Skinner said that was correct, it is a dining area specific to that business.
“Keep in mind, what we’ve talked about, what the Ball State charette talked about, what we talked about in strategic planning: creating opportunities. Creating opportunities that support and grow our downtown. This is an opportunity. That’s what we’re really presenting, an opportunity,” Skinner said.
He said the proposal provides an opportunity to try out the space and see whether or not it’s successful and creates a type of atmosphere that the city wants to see and makes businesses stronger. He said he understood that there would be people against it.
Frush said he didn’t see a problem with sidewalks being used for outdoor dining, but did with a whole alley being used in that way. Ron Shoemaker, councilman, said people were already speaking up against it.
Thallemer said the city was doing this to create an opportunity to do something different. It’s a temporary situation, but the city wants to attract people downtown. The encroachment agreement will address concerns such as noise and hours. There would not be any live bands, but at most some acoustic music, which would be done by about 10 p.m. Pedestrians would still be able to walk through the alley, and the business would be responsible for cleaning it up. Thallemer invited the council to look at the encroachment agreement and attend Friday’s BOW meeting.
City council did not take action on the issue Monday.
During public comments, Jerry Opperud spoke out against the proposal and said “the guy in charge can be a bad actor” who doesn’t live by his promises. He said he thinks the plan will bring disorder to the downtown.
Robin Watters, owner of Rex’s Rendezvous, said the city was so focused on this alley that the alley behind his business has been neglected for years. He said the city has been one-sided on the issue.
Jon Goon, of Lake Area Promotional Specialties, said suggestions that the proposal would help revitalize the downtown was way off. He said the city focuses too much on Center and Buffalo streets while neglecting other streets like Market where his business is located.
In other business, the council approved:
• A transfer within the Winona Interurban TIF 2016 budget to help cover the Stellar Communities consulting fees of $40,020.53 by CWC Latitudes. The transfer was for $20,000 from capital projects to professional services.
CWC helped the city with the completion of the Stellar Communities Strategic Investment Plan submission as well as the presentation to the state. Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority will reimburse $10,000 of the cost. The Redevelopment Commission approved it Monday at its meeting.
• A transfer for $2,000 within the Northern Tax Increment Finance fund from professional services to PERF and $1,500 from professional services to FICA. The transfer will cover city engineer James Emans’ PERF and FICA for 2016 that was underestimated at budget time in 2015.
The Redevelopment Commission also approved it Monday at its meeting.
• Ordinance 2016-08-02 amending the capital asset policy as it relates to the fixed asset policy effective Jan. 1, 2004. The change will read: “Donated or contributed assets should be recorded at their acquisition value on the date donated.” Instead of acquisition value, it used to read “fair market value.”
• Held a public hearing on and approved a $230,000 additional appropriation for the Local Option Income Tax distribution received by the state in June for roads. Public Works Superintendent Jeff Beeler discussed the funds at the council’s last meeting. Thallemer said the council had not appropriated the money because the city didn’t know it was going to get the funds. There were no remonstrators against it.
• Held a public hearing on and approved a 10-year tax abatement for West Hill Development LLC on the shell building at 1445 Polk Drive, which consists of just over 60,000 square feet and a construction cost of $6.5 million. Skinner told the council he didn’t know the building would be assessed before being occupied, but it was partially this past January. Dan Robinson, of Robinson Construction, received and paid the tax bill. There were no remonstrators against it.
• Held a public hearing on and approved the tax abatement compliance review forms and continuation of the tax abatement for West Hill Development LLC on the Banner Medical facility. There were no remonstrators against it.
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At the June 20 meeting, City Planner Jeremy Skinner and David Gustafson, who owns 114 S. Buffalo St., the home of Oak & Alley and Three Crowns Coffee, presented a proposal to close the alley between Gustafson’s property and city hall to allow for outdoor seating.
The space also could be used for community events like art fairs, live acoustic music and other activities. All seating and planting would be designed to be moved prior to snow fall.
During Monday’s meeting, Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins reminded the council the proposal was forwarded to the Warsaw Community Development Corp., where she serves as the council’s representative, to research it. A survey was done and she shared copies of that with the council.
An encroachment agreement between the city and Urban Retrend, Gustafson’s company, will be presented to the Board of Public Works and Safety at its meeting Friday at 10:30 a.m., she said.
Councilman Jerry Frush asked if the city was giving space to someone without them renting or leasing it. Mayor Joe Thallemer repeated it was an encroachment agreement that will be discussed at the BOW Friday and it’s been in discussion for awhile.
Frush said he didn’t have a problem with the alley being closed for an event, but he’s talked to people who were opposed to it being closed for an extended period of time for a business. “I don’t think it should be done,” he said.
Thallemer said the idea is to try this idea, which was identified in the Ball State charette several years ago, to help bring traffic to the downtown. The WCDC endorsed the project at its last meeting, he said. It would have a positive impact to the downtown, and the encroachment agreement would provide an opportunity for the city to try something it hasn’t tried before. He noted that it’s very similar to what’s been for a long time with table space on the sidewalk in front of the building.
The WCDC will look at the use of common space, such as sidewalks and alleys, downtown.
The alley revitalization plan is a pilot project, Thallemer said, which will run from May 1 to October in 2017 and the rest of this year to October if approved Friday.
Councilwoman Diane Quance asked if the outdoor seating was only for that business. Skinner said that was correct, it is a dining area specific to that business.
“Keep in mind, what we’ve talked about, what the Ball State charette talked about, what we talked about in strategic planning: creating opportunities. Creating opportunities that support and grow our downtown. This is an opportunity. That’s what we’re really presenting, an opportunity,” Skinner said.
He said the proposal provides an opportunity to try out the space and see whether or not it’s successful and creates a type of atmosphere that the city wants to see and makes businesses stronger. He said he understood that there would be people against it.
Frush said he didn’t see a problem with sidewalks being used for outdoor dining, but did with a whole alley being used in that way. Ron Shoemaker, councilman, said people were already speaking up against it.
Thallemer said the city was doing this to create an opportunity to do something different. It’s a temporary situation, but the city wants to attract people downtown. The encroachment agreement will address concerns such as noise and hours. There would not be any live bands, but at most some acoustic music, which would be done by about 10 p.m. Pedestrians would still be able to walk through the alley, and the business would be responsible for cleaning it up. Thallemer invited the council to look at the encroachment agreement and attend Friday’s BOW meeting.
City council did not take action on the issue Monday.
During public comments, Jerry Opperud spoke out against the proposal and said “the guy in charge can be a bad actor” who doesn’t live by his promises. He said he thinks the plan will bring disorder to the downtown.
Robin Watters, owner of Rex’s Rendezvous, said the city was so focused on this alley that the alley behind his business has been neglected for years. He said the city has been one-sided on the issue.
Jon Goon, of Lake Area Promotional Specialties, said suggestions that the proposal would help revitalize the downtown was way off. He said the city focuses too much on Center and Buffalo streets while neglecting other streets like Market where his business is located.
In other business, the council approved:
• A transfer within the Winona Interurban TIF 2016 budget to help cover the Stellar Communities consulting fees of $40,020.53 by CWC Latitudes. The transfer was for $20,000 from capital projects to professional services.
CWC helped the city with the completion of the Stellar Communities Strategic Investment Plan submission as well as the presentation to the state. Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority will reimburse $10,000 of the cost. The Redevelopment Commission approved it Monday at its meeting.
• A transfer for $2,000 within the Northern Tax Increment Finance fund from professional services to PERF and $1,500 from professional services to FICA. The transfer will cover city engineer James Emans’ PERF and FICA for 2016 that was underestimated at budget time in 2015.
The Redevelopment Commission also approved it Monday at its meeting.
• Ordinance 2016-08-02 amending the capital asset policy as it relates to the fixed asset policy effective Jan. 1, 2004. The change will read: “Donated or contributed assets should be recorded at their acquisition value on the date donated.” Instead of acquisition value, it used to read “fair market value.”
• Held a public hearing on and approved a $230,000 additional appropriation for the Local Option Income Tax distribution received by the state in June for roads. Public Works Superintendent Jeff Beeler discussed the funds at the council’s last meeting. Thallemer said the council had not appropriated the money because the city didn’t know it was going to get the funds. There were no remonstrators against it.
• Held a public hearing on and approved a 10-year tax abatement for West Hill Development LLC on the shell building at 1445 Polk Drive, which consists of just over 60,000 square feet and a construction cost of $6.5 million. Skinner told the council he didn’t know the building would be assessed before being occupied, but it was partially this past January. Dan Robinson, of Robinson Construction, received and paid the tax bill. There were no remonstrators against it.
• Held a public hearing on and approved the tax abatement compliance review forms and continuation of the tax abatement for West Hill Development LLC on the Banner Medical facility. There were no remonstrators against it.
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