City seeking proposal for downtown streetscape upgrades

Kelly Kenoyer

The City of Sweet Home is requesting proposals for a streetscape and parking plan in the downtown area, meant to give the area a facelift and make it more pedestrian-friendly.

Council voted unanimously in favor of putting out a request for proposals, kicking of a months-long process to find a designer and then get public comment before the plan will be implemented.

Mayor Greg Mahler and Councilors Susan Coleman, Diane Gerson, Lisa Gourley and Dave Trask attended the meeting in person, with Councilors James Goble and Cortney Nash attending remotely.

The streetscape plan will determine locations and specs for sidewalks, parking, benches, street art, trees and landscaping in the downtown area, including Main Street from 9th to 18th avenues and Long Street from 10th to 18th.

“In our downtown, we don’t have consistent design,” said Community and Economic Development Director Blair Larsen. Trees that used to grow in the median on Main grew too large and had to be removed, and there’s inconsistent bump-outs from the sidewalk, he added.

“We’re trying to have some kind of consistent plan to make downtown inviting and pedestrian-friendly,” Larsen said.

Albany Democrat-Herald Reporter and former The New Era Publisher Alex Paul asked city staff whether there’s already been a downtown plan, and Larsen said previous plans dating to the 1990s and early 2000s don’t have “nuts and bolts” planning the way this plan will.

“The studies you’re talking about don’t actually address the streetscape, from what I’ve seen,” Larsen said. “What we’re talking about here is, where are you putting trees, where are you putting benches?”

Larsen noted previous discussions among the city councilors about beautifying downtown.

“The right of way is one of the few places the city has control, with the exception of ODOT, but let’s be positive here,” he said. “The streetscape is basically us telling businesses: ‘Hey, we’ll do our part.’”

One potentially controversial element of the plan will be parking. Adding street trees may remove some public parking spots, but Larsen said that issue may be resolved by coordinating parking downtown.

“There’s definitely enough parking downtown, but there isn’t coordination of parking downtown,” he said.

He envisions a downtown parking plan that allows for a visitor to park downtown and stroll from business to business without having to re-park again.

The city expects the plan to cost at least $25,000 and is seeking proposals for it. That funding doesn’t include construction, though the city has $464,696 available from its Economic Development Fund for projects such as this.

Councilors Gerson and Trask expressed a lot of interest in the plan, but were skeptical of the feasibility with the Oregon Department of Transportation involved.

Larsen acknowledged that the plan will be a bit challenging because of the ODOT’s say over Highway 20, but he said it will be easier to get ODOT to incorporate Sweet Home’s plans if there’s a comprehensive guideline, rather than piecemeal requests.

“They have transportation managers who work for them, and they do respect plans,” he said. “If we go through the process and have public comment on it, they’re more likely to support those things than an individual project here and there.”

“If we’re only impacting the parking and the sidewalks, they’re mostly not going to care,” he added.

Gerson asked whether the plan might be extended to 22nd, but Larsen said the parcels that far out get much larger and less walkable.

“The smaller parcels invite more of that pedestrian experience,” he said of the downtown core. “The key is to have a core area that starts the consistency you’re looking for.”

Gourley had her own questions about the timeline of the project.

“When can we implement it so it doesn’t end up on a shelf somewhere?”

Larsen said the plan will include a desired timeline.

“We ask in the RFP that they recommend phasing, so we don’t have to do it all at once,” he said, adding that the plan itself should be completed by next May.

In addition to passing the RFP,

– Councilors learned after the leak on 9th Avenue was fixed, the city of Sweet Home now has a record low water loss rate for the past ten years, said Engineer Technician Trish Rice. The water loss rate is at just 7.9%, after reaching 50% in the past due to leaks. “This is well below industry standards, Neish added, which place the goal for water loss at 15%.

“They do regular leak detection, and they’re out by 43rd Ave-nue now, so most of the city,” she said of the team working on the project. “They’re working on replacing the large use meters.”

Towry said the change is a 30% reduction in costs for the city, “a huge win for our community.”

– Councilors learned the city still plans to send the old City Hall annex to Detroit to help the city rebuild after the fires, but hasn’t found someone to move the building yet.

“If you know anybody else, have them step to the front of the line. We’re more than happy to have them,” Public Works director Greg Springman said.

– Staff unveiled a new transparent budget website, available at cleargov.com/oregon/linn/city/sweet-home. With the tool, citizens can see the entire budget and even check how their property taxes are distributed in the city. It also includes demographic data and median home price and household income for the community.

“We have financial data back to 2012 in this,” said Finance Director Brandon Neish, adding that users can view budget data by department and break out expenditures and revenue into granular detail. “It really gives viewers an in-depth look at what the city is expecting over the next five years.”

Several city councilors expressed appreciation for how the tool could benefit citizens, but said they would still want a paper copy come budget season.

“Do you still have the stone and chisel copy too?” Mahler joked.

– City Manager Ray Towry said two staff members at the city are resigning to take up new endeavors, including one taking a leadership role in another city.

“Congratulations to both of them,” he said. It means there are some new openings at the city for new hires.

– Public Works is still trying to secure a new street sweeper, Springman said, and has been demo-ing various options.

“The streets are looking pretty good right now,” he said. “We’ve been taking full advantage of the demos.”

He said his department is ready to move, and wants to make sure to spec the new sweeper to the community’s needs. “It could be 60 days or 90 days,” he added, but he hopes it’s far less.

– The city is returning to its normal water shutoff policy after a long hiatus due first to the pandemic and then to the fires. The shut-off date was Oct. 14.

“I have 114 accounts set for turnoff, which is an unusually high amount,” Neish said. For those who have their water shut off, he added, “contact us, we’ll work with you.”

– City Council unanimously appointed David Lowman to the Charter Review Committee to replace Zach Lincoln.

– Linn Shuttle Director Ken Bronson gave a brief presentation on the status of the Linn Shuttle Service, which is has lower numbers of passengers.

“The shopper has been operating at about 65%,” Bronson said. “If you’ve got to get to a job or a service, it’s important that transportation is available.”

Bronson added that the vehicles are making use of a spray sanitation system. “We’re the first in Oregon to do this,” he said.

The system is also maintaining social distancing requirements and has placed protective shields around bus drivers. The service is getting a new 13-seat shopper bus, thanks to funding from the city, which “is designed just to run around town,” he said.

– Senior Center manager Dawn Mitchell updated the council on the status of the Community Center, which is now hosting after school programs and has received some financing from the CARES Act.

The center now has an updated phone system and surveillance system, as well has upgraded office computers, she said.

“We were able to add an internet access point in our east and west dining rooms,” she added.

Total
0
Share