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Mitchell Main Street Beyond unveiled a $5.8 million plan Monday to transform Mitchell’s historic downtown area.
After years of research and planning, MMSB presented its vision for a new downtown streetscape the group says will add vibrancy and enhance the quality of life in the downtown district. MMSB presented the plan first at an 8 a.m. members-only meeting in the lobby of the Midtown Plaza building and later at a 2 p.m. press conference at The Depot. No funding has been acquired yet for the plan.
“It’s a smart, economic design that can only increase our viability as the community hub while giving others another great reason to visit Mitchell,” said MMSB Board President Carrie English in a news release.
MMSB worked with the Brookings architectural firm designArc to develop the streetscape plan. The group also worked with AcV2, a Rapid City firm, that studied funding opportunities for historic properties, and James Valley Nursery, a Mitchell company, for the landscape design.
The plan, which encompasses 32 acres in downtown Mitchell, would add curb extensions, with trees and native landscaping, on Main Street from First Avenue to Sixth Avenue. Other proposed additions on Main Street include benches, sitting walls, bike racks, information kiosks and public art displays.
Traffic lights at Second, Third, Fourth and Sixth avenues would be replaced with stop signs, and extra parking spaces would be gained by adding diagonal parking to one side of Main Street. According to Les Rowland, of designArc, Mitchell’s Main Street isn’t wide enough to allow for diagonal parking on both sides. No Main Street parking spots would be lost in the switch to diagonal parking, Rowland added.
Wider mid-street and end-of-street pedestrian crossings would also be added to increase foot traffic and make the area safer for pedestrians.
A downtown plaza, which would be at the south end of Main Street where a public parking lot is currently located at Railroad and Main, would include an outdoor amphitheater and natural playground, plus water features, public art displays and seating areas. The area could be used for outdoor concerts, festivals and other events, in addition to day-to-day use by residents and tourists, the group said.
“It’s the perfect bookend to an already famous landmark like the Corn Palace,” Matt Culhane, owner of the Thunderbird Lodge and a streetscape committee member, said in the news release. “It’s something that will draw tourists and residents alike farther south, all while improving traffic flow to our downtown merchants.”
The plan also includes an option to close Main Street between First and Railroad to traffic and create a pedestrians-only area, according to MMSB Director Molly Goldsmith.
John Foster, owner of The Depot, which is located directly south of the plaza’s proposed location, said the plans will make downtown more inviting.
“It will be more pleasant and green,” Foster said in the release. “That will make a huge difference not only for us, but for other merchants and those living, or who want to live, in downtown Mitchell.”
Rowland and Lynda Pierce, both of designArc, said they based the streetscape design on community input — public meetings on the project were held last year — and by assessing downtown Mitchell’s needs.
“The health of a community is really represented by what their downtown is like,” Pierce said.
The entire design — both the plaza and street improvements — is meant to complement the Corn Palace by promoting tourism, but is also meant to bring locals back downtown, Pierce said.
“To really encourage people to park downtown, bike downtown, and just walk and explore,” she said.
A number of funding options are being considered for the $5.8 million project, including municipal, state and federal funds, as well as donations and grants, Goldsmith said at Monday’s press conference. At this point, no money has been secured for the project.
“We’re definitely looking for it,” Goldsmith said.
The project could be completed in phases, Pierce said, starting with the plaza at a cost of $2.1 million. After that, individual blocks on Main Street from First Avenue to Sixth Avenue could be completed for $425,000 each, she said. In that same five-block area of Main Street, the east-west blocks between Lawler Street and Rowley Street could be renovated for $270,000 per block, Pierce said.
“That allows Mitchell Main Street Beyond to go out and get those funds,” she said.
MMSB is planning to ask the city of Mitchell to contribute money for the project, Goldsmith said.
“We consider this project a community project,” she said.
The group intends to present its plan at the next Mitchell City Council meeting Monday.
Funding the project will likely take a cooperative effort between the city and downtown businesses, Mitchell Mayor Ken Tracy said in an interview Monday.
“I think that, overall, it would certainly improve our Main Street,” Tracy said. “I’m excited about it.”
Tracy mentioned Rapid City’s business improvement district, which was created in 2010 to help pay for downtown projects including a public plaza, as an example of how downtown projects like this can be funded. A business improvement district is a self-taxation arrangement in which businesses agree to pay a fee, with the money going toward specific developments.
Tracy said the city’s bonding capacity is limited because of the $13.9 million in bonds it sold in December and January to fund four major projects — a renovation of the Corn Palace and conversion of the attached City Hall to tourism space, the construction of a new city hall, the addition of a second sheet of ice at the Mitchell Activities Center, and an expansion and renovation of the Mitchell Public Library.
“We’ll just have to take a look at it and see what types of funding we can come up with,” Tracy said.
MMSB is not planning to ask for funding from downtown businesses for the project itself, but may seek a business improvement district (BID) to pay for maintenance once the streetscape is completed, said English, the group’s board president, at the press conference.
A public parking lot would be removed and used as space for the plaza, but two nearby parking lots — one to the north at Navin Apartments and one to the south at The Depot — would remain. Despite one less lot, there should still be more than enough parking available in the area, Culhane said at Monday’s press conference.
“There are places for them to go,” Culhane said. “So you’re not actually eliminating the space you might think.”
No specific timeline for the project was offered at Monday’s press conference. In an interview after the press conference, Goldsmith said progress will largely depend on when funding is secured.
“We wanted to create an area that would benefit every citizen of this city,” Culhane said in the release. “In doing so, we think this project has the potential to spawn new ideas and possibilities that many of us might have thought not possible here.”
Reaction to MMSB’s plan was positive following the members-only meeting Monday morning.
“I think it will bring a sense of community,” said Paula Platz, of Mitchell. “It will be a place that people want to be.”
By changing the streetscape, Mitchell’s historic downtown area will be more inviting, Platz said.
Bobbie Clark, also of Mitchell, said the changes could add a cultural vibe to the downtown area.
“It’s going to make all ages feel welcome there,” she said. “I look forward to the things it will make possible for us.”
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