Oregon firm chosen to develop revitalization plan for Lewistown, MT

A Salem, Ore., firm, Downtown Solutions, will be hired to provide Lewistown with a downtown revitalization plan, City Manager Kevin Myhre told the Lewistown City Commission at a meeting Monday night.

by JIM DULLENTY
News-Argus Staff Writer

http://www.lewistownnews.com/news4.html

The city has set aside $55,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds for the project. No general fund money will be spent, according to Commissioner David Sather Jr.
Lewistown City Commission members tour construction work underway at the Lewistown sewage treatment plant prior to Monday night’s Commission meeting.

When Myhre suggested he needed authorization from the Commission to go ahead and hire the firm, Sather said the project already had been approved by the city and no further action was needed by the Commission.

Boni Braunbeck, who called herself the “ring leader” of the revitalization effort, told the Commission revitalization already is underway. She noted there was a tremendous amount of work needed to arrive at a decision on which consultant to hire for the revitalization plan.

And in anticipation of hiring such a firm, the Lewistown Revitalization Partnership has been gathering a great amount of data on downtown Lewistown.

“We’ve worked very hard since last spring looking at downtown businesses, their square foot space, and other aspects of each business,” Braunbeck said. She said the survey includes businesses on Main Street and two blocks on each side of Main Street.

After Myhre noted there is some opposition to revitalization and any effort to bring it about has to include a broad cross section of the community including downtown businesses, Dale Pfau, a Partnership steering committee member, said “You can only lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”

Pfau noted the firm selected to draft a revitalization plan is familiar with towns where not everyone is on board at first. He said they recently completed a plan for a town, similar in size to Lewistown, in Iowa where agriculture is the primary source of income and where the downtown is deteriorating.

The non-profit Salem, Ore., team was chosen from eight firms which responded to the steering committee’s request for qualifications. Those were narrowed to three and one of the three withdrew at the last minute, Myhre said.

Of the two remaining firms, Downtown Solutions scored highest in the evaluation process and will be hired. Myhre asked commissioners if they wanted to help draft a “scope of work” for the project but they seemed content to leave that to the consultant and Partnership.

Pfau said it probably will be best to stick with the proposed “scope of work” already submitted by the Downtown Solutions team.

In a release announcing it had been selected to provide downtown development services to Lewistown, the Downtown Solutions Team said the planning effort “is in response to a gradual decline in Lewistown’s central business district.”

The Salem team said this decline is “characterized by a growing number of vacant storefronts and upper floors, an undersupply of goods and services, and deterioration of buildings and infrastructure such as sidewalks.

“The process to develop a comprehensive, action-oriented downtown plan will be community based and include ample opportunity for citizens to participate in the process so that the final plan reflects Lewistown’s own vision, preferences, culture and values for downtown.”

Pfau said the Partnership believes Downtown Solutions and team leader Vicki D. Dugger will provide the city “with the keys to implement the plan” and that it will not be another plan that sits on a shelf.

He noted downtown businessmen are concerned the costs of revitalization will have to be borne by them and they’re already struggling. Pfau explained the Salem group has developed the financing for other towns in the same situation.

“They know what they’re doing. They have done the financing elsewhere,” said Pfau. He added the cost of revitalization will not fall to downtown businesses. Various forms of financing can be used, he said.

Mary Jones, another Partnership member, told the Commission she likes the Salem team because they plan to talk to everyone in the community, not just the committees working on the project.

“I was very impressed with that,” she said.

Dugger put together a team which includes one Lewistown resident, architect Jeff Shelden. Shelden is chairman of the Lewistown Historic Preservation Committee, a city-sponsored group.

Lynn Morrison Gies, another Partnership member, said she is excited about the revitalization plan and noted that investors and developers judge a community’s vitality by the quality and character of the central business district.

Dugger said downtowns “are unique places that reflect local heritage and history. A strong, vibrant downtown gives the community a center and reflects its pride and identity. Beyond the social importance of downtown is the economic importance of a healthy business district.

“Downtowns are traditionally very good places to grow local business which strengthens the economy. Locally owned businesses have a much more positive economic impact than chain stores,” Dugger said.