Committee wants help in developing downtown plan

The city of Medford park project working committee at its meeting Monday night passed a motion to recommend the council approve a contract with Graef to establish a concept for the revitalization of the downtown area for the current and future years.

City coordinator and committee chairman Joe Harris said he had heard complaints from residents that the city doesn’t do a lot with the downtown and he contacted Graef to help develop a concept for the site of the former laundromat building that would be the starting point for development for the whole downtown area. He said that was where many people became confused that the city was just developing the one park. Committee member Laura Holmes asked if the city had ever had anyone look at the downtown as whole to see what could be done.

Mayor Mike Wellner said not formally and felt it would be good to have an overall plan. He said the city wouldn’t be able to do everything in one year, but once they did something with the old laundromat property, hopefully the city would keep adding to the re-development of the downtown area. Wellner said a consultant could suggest what he felt the next project or step that the city should do. He agreed that the city needed an overall plan.

Harris asked the committee what they would like to see for the downtown.

Holmes said the comment from downtown businesses is that there are no public restrooms available during events. She said she would also like to see some revitalizing of store fronts along Main Street.

Committee member Brenda Hedlund said someone had called about the building at the corner of Main and Division streets. Harris said the city is working on addressing that situation through legal means.

Wellner said he thought the city should start with the area where the laundromat had been. He said in the past people have come up with ideas for the downtown, but nothing seems to come of them. “I think if we had something concrete to start with for that little piece and at the same time we hire this guy who can give us some ideas of what we can do each year after that.” Wellner said by hiring Graef, the city could get a fresh prospective on what could be done with the downtown which the committee might not think about since they see it every day.

Wellner said it was not an either/or situation. He felt the city could do something with the laundromat property while at the same time work on developing a long-term plan for revitalizing the downtown area.

Alderman Greg Knight, who was sitting in on the meeting, said he would encourage the committee to bring in the consultant sooner rather than later to help develop the scope and vision of what the committee wants to do, where the boundaries of the project area are, help the committee walk through the ideas it comes up with and what the costs would be, and generate a schedule on how and when to implement those projects in the long run. He said it might be nice for the city council to see a plan to know what the long-term goal is and how things might fit together in the future as potential properties become available. Knight said it will let owners in the downtown area know how they fit in that plan and what they can do or how the city might partner with them in the plan.

Harris said one of the reasons hiring the consultant was placed on hold was to see if the committee had any ideas. He said if the committee was okay with the idea of hiring the consultant, the city could pursue that route. Wellner added if he and Harris could tell the council that the committee had met and were in favor of hiring a consultant to develop a much larger plan for the downtown, it would help toward persuading the council to hire the consultant.

The committee members agreed if the city was just looking to do something with the laundromat property, they could come with a plan on their own. But if the goal is to develop a long-term plan for the whole downtown area, then the best course of action would be to hire a consultant.

Hedlund asked if there were other firms that do this type of work. Harris said there are, but that the city has worked with Graef. He said Graef put him in touch with landscape architect Eduard Freer who has “a lot of good ideas” and has worked on many projects around the country.

The committee briefly talked about possibly meeting with Freer. As if by providence, Freer called Harris a short time later during the meeting and the committee had an opportunity to speak with him.

Holmes said the idea has changed from just a simple site project to a plan for the revitalization of downtown Medford and wondered what the city would get for the $25,000 it would spend to hire Graef.

Freer said for $25,000, Graef could develop an overall downtown strategy and conduct several workshops and meetings. He said he would work with the committee to put together a wish list of ideas, as well as come up with several alternatives.

Freer asked what were some of the issues with the downtown. Holmes said it was dying, there were old buildings with some in disrepair, and the lack of public restrooms during events.

Freer said as part of the process they could put together a wish list of what people’s visions are of what they think or remember the downtown used to be like or what other communities are doing with their downtowns. He said he could then put together some images so people can get a sense of what they like and don’t like. Freer said they could then come up with some rough estimates of what the costs might be and put together a strategy for funding those ideas. He concluded by saying he has been telling people over the past 30 years to be respectful and candid of other people’s ideas and try to come up with an agreement of what is the right thing to do first and then figure out how to pay for it.

The committee’s recommendation will go to the council for approval at its meeting on February 2.