BROOKINGS The Downtown Brookings Master Plan, a decade-long effort to improve the citys central business district, was OKd at Tuesday nights City Council meeting.
The 7-0 endorsement, which came after the issue was tabled at the Oct. 8 City Council meeting so councilors could read the 94-page document, gets the ball rolling, but dont expect change to come overnight.
I truly believe that the health of a downtown is a great signal for the health of our entire community, Kirsten Gjesdal, executive director of Downtown Brookings, told councilors. It shows how much the community cares about its businesses, about its people. It shows what sort of innovation our businesses have as well as what vibrancy and life you can expect out of our community members.
She continued, The age of our buildings most of them are getting close to 100 years or over 100 years and what this downtown plan does is it sets out a path to make it the next 100 years and what sort of life can we grow out of our downtown in that next 100 years.
While the plan drew whole-hearted support from councilors, there were some smidges of concern as well.
It is a great collection of ideas for what downtown can be, and I think thats really exciting, but I think some people are concerned that its sort of The way its going to be, Councilor Bonny Specker said. I think its clear that this is an idea, a sort of handbook of ideas, that the community can come together on. Im just saying that because of concerns.
You hit the nail on the head, Gjesdal said. This is a plan it is a list of ideas, its a list of opportunities that we can use to help guide where we go from here. Nothing in the plan is anything thats set in stone, This is absolutely going to happen. Everything is up to us to decide what gets implemented, what gets funded, how do we find that funding.
Funding mechanisms, naturally, came up, including discussion on how a business improvement district would work, if one were implemented. That was something Councilor Wayne Avery said was on the mind of more than a few people who contacted him.
Gjesdal said if theres movement on a BID, public input would be quite extensive in the process. The City Council would also be involved to a degree, she noted, including a vote on setting the BIDs borders.
She further added that a BID board would be established, made up of business and property owners in the downtown area, to decide what to do with any funding, along with determining policies within the district. It would also have access to help from Downtown Brookings, she said.
All that said, its not the first time the idea of a BID has been raised. Gjesdal said the topic also came up in 2003-04, but went nowhere since there wasnt enough interest from downtown property owners at that time.
As the discussion wound down, the months of effort put in by the plans backers was noted.
Its the most authentic place that a town has, is its downtown, its Main Street. Its whats going on there, its where the people are at, Gjesdal said.
In other business at Tuesday nights meeting, councilors:
- Approved, on 7-0 votes, an on-off sale malt license and an on-off sale wine alcoholic beverage license for Kwik Trip, doing business as Kwik Star #1718 at 2016 20th St. S.
- Allocated, on a 7-0 vote, an additional $21,670.09 to the northern bridge replacement project on Western Avenue, increasing the overall cost to $188,160.03. The project, completed by Austreim Excavating of Brookings, unexpectedly encountered concrete during the work, and also needed additional asphalt. The adjusted cost remains under budget.
- Provided, again on a 7-0 vote, an additional $30,000 to help Brookings Regional Landfill deal with an influx of tires. Its permit allows the tire pile to be only so big; the funding will allow the excess tires to be moved off site and recycled as soon as possible.
Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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