Main Street ideas
include bus, walkways,
incentivesl

By Ann Petersen

Residents called for improved parking, signage and pedestrian routes to help revitalize Main Street at a public meeting April 22. About 35 attended.

Comments included moving parking lots off Main Street, establishing a downtown shuttle bus and creating financial incentives to encourage changes by businesses and property owners.

Gathering public comment is the first step in a downtown plan conceived a year ago when borough assembly members deadlocked over the fate of properties at two mothballed schools on Main Street. MRV Architects of Juneau has been contracted to write the $37,000 plan. It’s scheduled for completion in the fall.

Main Street grocer Mike Ward said property tax breaks or low-interest loans would provide incentives and said he was willing to re-examine parking at his stores, including a lot at Third and Main.

 “If there was a way to replace that parking, we’d put something on that corner that was more attractive,” said Ward, who also called for enforcement of the one-hour parking law on Main Street between Second and Third avenues.

Borough finance chief Jila Stuart said she appreciated beautification efforts and said other towns pay for them with proceeds from local bed taxes.

Editor Tom Morphet called for first identifying borough property needs, then concentrating businesses along Main Street and establishing parking behind buildings.

Borough manager Tom Bolen said downtown needed a comprehensive parking plan that considered the most logical location for parking, irrespective of what exists now. “If we can come up with a comprehensive parking plan, we may be able to move forward,” Bolen said.

C.J. Jones cautioned against reinventing the wheel and said past improvements like signs at Fort Seward just needed to be shored up. Details are the difference between something looking really nice or just okay, she said.

Heather Lende and Ann Marie Palmieri called for improving pedestrian access, including bicycle routes from outlying areas, more crosswalks, and snowblowing downtown sidewalks in winter. “People should have the right-of-way, not vehicles,” Lende said. Others called for connecting existing walking trails.

Planning commissioner Lee Heinmiller, grocer Ward and innkeeper Phyllis Viche spoke favorably about a downtown shuttle bus. “A community bus might have some merit,” said Ward, who said he has considered operating one for his store.

 Commissioner Greg Brask said the plan should start out broad and include strategies for using land not yet developed. “I don’t care how much time it takes to get it right, because we should be looking forward 75 years.”

Commissioner Rob Goldberg said signage and trails and downtown and waterfront beautification work could be funded by the cruise ship head tax. “A lot of this could happen because of this funding source.”

But shopping on the Internet and out-of-town doesn’t bode well for retail on Main Street, Goldberg said. “It’s tough for all of us now in this business climate. It’s hard to imagine Main Street becoming a vital, new area because it’s hard to have a business here.”

Besides hosting last week’s meeting, planners have conducted surveys around town to try and gather opinions from businesses, residents, and visitors. Planning and survey specialist Ashleigh Arledge said recurring comments included a “lack of attractiveness and poor aesthetics” on Main Street. Signage, parking and sidewalks are major issues for residents, and people want action on the fate of the school lots, she said.

Planners next will draw up graphical representations of several plans for Main Street and return with them in July. MRV president Paul Voelckers said the company would interpret comments, identify themes and present options ranging from modest to ambitious.

The former might be a plan to add incentives for adding canopies to downtown businesses and improving signage. An example of the latter would be changing portions of Main Street to a pedestrian only mall during some times of the year.

Voelckers said residents should continue their discussions of plans for Main Street, and give input once his firm lays out options in summer.

Voelckers said implementating a plan can be tricky, and methods range from subtle suggestion and incentivization, to code changes that regulate the look of downtown businesses.