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"We have a farm, but no land to grow on."

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The local food movement is big here in Asheville. Buying locally grown food each week is a great way to invest in the community, and a positive routine for your family’s health. As a small farm that directly supplies food almost exclusively to our locals, we can attest to all of the wonderful love and support we get back from the community each week at our markets. We’ve been farming in Asheville for eight years now and have developed quite the customer base. We have made lots of amazing connections along the way.

But this year, we are ending the season at a crossroads. The leases on both parcels that we’ve been farming are up at the end of this year and we’ve got nowhere to farm next season.

My husband Kevin and I started Ten Mile Farm in 2005. We’d both been in Asheville for several years – he did landscaping, I did healing arts, and we both worked in restaurants. Kevin’s passion for growing food began when he interned on Keith’s Farm in New York back in 1999. Ever since that fateful season, he’s known that he wants to farm vegetables. My passion for plants stemmed from studying medicinal plants with Peggy Ellis at the local school that is now called Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism.

Kevin and I got together in 2003 and our path led to the desire to start our own farm together. We started out small, on one leased acre in Candler, and slowly grew the business from there. Ten Mile Farm is now three and a half acres of production. We supply Asheville families and restaurants with farm fresh veggies from May through November each week at two farmers markets.

Our first challenge starting out as a small farm is stated directly in our name: Ten Mile Farm. We are commuter farmers, driving out each day to two separate pieces of leased land in Candler, ten miles from our home in Montford. It’s been a great experience for us, allowing us to learn from our mistakes at our own pace without the pressure of a large land payment. Aside from the obvious environmental challenges of not living there, we are limited in what items we can offer as a small farm. We can’t invest into any perennial crops like an orchard or berry bushes, because we don’t own the land. Having animals is out of the question, and the possibility of offering season extension with a winter CSA isn’t manageable if you don’t live on the farm. These are just some of the circumstances that mean that Ten Mile Farm is not yet what we hope to create.

We’ve learned so much about farming, and what works and doesn’t work for us, from this experience. From our friends and neighbors to the many chefs we see every week at market, we’ve cultivated a strong customer base whom we provide with over forty varieties of vegetables throughout the growing season. Our understanding of soil, water and seed grows stronger each year. We’ve reached a place where we are ready to expand our offerings, and we feel excited about the prospects.

So here we are: we have an entire working farm in our pockets, but no land to call our own. It’s an interesting feeling, knowing that we have a farm and nowhere to grow.

The real challenge for us in simply buying our own farm is the cost per acre. Land in the Asheville area is priced to develop, not to farm. There are no benefits to encourage owners to sell agricultural land at a lower price. A vital link is missing here in the mountains. We need to be able to connect farmland with farmers – it’s an essential part of our human ecosystem. We also need to preserve farmland for future generations. Other states (Maine, for example) have programs in place that are keeping farmland affordable and keeping farms farming.

There’s some good news -Asheville is starting a similar program, WNC Farmlink. It’s still in the incubation stage, but it’s a great first step to getting a dialogue started and making connections between old-time farmers and the next generation. We’ve also talked with Maggie Ullman, Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Asheville. The City has a few prime farmland parcels in the area that could possibly be made available to beginner farmers, as a way to encourage food safety, small business and agriculture in the community.

This is new to the table, and has huge potential as an asset to farmers in the area. The Asheville City Council’s Gordon Smith is passionate about the city’s Food Action Plan, and we’ve planted the seed with Gordon – it’s imperative for all of us to be mindful of why we love it here in Western North Carolina, and to take action in preserving our diminishing farmland.

It’s exciting to see the community and the City of Asheville bringing these ideas to the table, with the goal of real changes in the way farmland is preserved. Ten Mile Farm is what it is today because two separate landowners gave us an opportunity to be beginning farmers. But Ten Mile doesn’t fall into the beginning farmer category anymore. We aren’t starting a farm – we’re succeeding at farming, and we want to do more! What we are looking for right now is a creative solution for our farm, and we are open to ideas.

We are certain of two things: we want to stay in the Asheville area, and we want to own our land – or at least have access to it for our lifetime, so that we are able to really invest all the love and attention a diversified farm needs. There are a lot of options: lifetime leases, someone to buy land with, owner financing, breaking new ground – we are ready and receptive!

And we know we are not alone. We can name three other small direct-market farmers in the area, growing local food for Asheville, who are also on leased land and experiencing similar uncertainty in their futures. We want to give you the best, nutritious, beautiful vegetables, to keep our community healthy and to contribute to the thriving culinary arts scene in Asheville.

We want to stay here and farm here, and to do that we need some soil to call our own. We are calling out to you, Asheville. We need a solution!

To stay updated on Ten Mile Farm’s progress, visit their Facebook page. Owners Christina Carter and Kevin Toomey can be reached at tenmilefarm@gmail.com or 236-1822.

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Improvements to Easthampton’s Union Street topic of Monday meeting

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EASTHAMPTON – Consultants with the Boston-based Cecil Group will present ideas for Union Street improvements Monday night, and planners hope resident will comment on the proposed designs.

The city received a $10,000 state grant in April to help planners look at the problems and issues on Union Street.

A meeting was held with residents in July and now the consultants are returning to present conceptual designs.

The focus is on pedestrian and bicycle safety, parking, landscaping, and vehicular traffic flow on Union Street.

Union Street is home to myriad businesses, including restaurants, a Rite-Aid Pharmacy, two gas stations and the Chamber of Commerce among its businesses. The city wants to create a more attractive and safer environment.

The city received the funding from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development from its Massachusetts Downtown Initiative program. The city received money from the same source years ago to look at similar issues on Cottage Street. â¨

The Massachusetts Cultural Council named that street a cultural district earlier this year, in part for its walkability. The city initially included Union Street in its plans for that district but then omitted it in part because it was deemed not walkable.

This will be the last meeting and workshop for the city, according to the flier promoting the event.

“With your perspective and inspirations, we will create a vision plan for the street and its edges. The meeting will build upon the key areas and topics discussed in the previous kickoff meeting, and review concepts, design suggestions, and enhancements proposed by The Cecil Group.”

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in Municipal Building.

Backyard Landscaping Ideas – A Guide To Evergreen Trees And Shrubs – PR

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Evergreen trees and
shrubs are generally more expensive than their counterparts, although many feel
that they are well worth the extra expense not only for their year-round
beauty, but also their reliability and longevity. Evergreens can range all the
way from broadleaved shrubs like rhododendron to the tall pines and spruces
that many people think of as simply “evergreens”.

Evergreen landscaping trees are the only choice you have to have an elegant looking
garden even when the winter comes and the snowflakes start to cover every
garden. These trees are of high worth because of the year-round plant life it
offers and because it has constant ornamental characteristics in which it
provides the garden with much fascination and style. Of course this is only
possible when the trees are placed properly. This will also result in keeping
high spirits during winter because as you witnessed other plants and trees lose
their leaves, the evergreen trees on your garden just standout dominantly
giving your garden a green appearance as compared with the brown twigs and
branches of the others.

When
selecting trees for your privacy hedge there are a few things to consider such
as how high you want your hedge to be, how wide of a space you have to fill and
the reason you are planting a hedge. Boxwood shrubs are one of the most popular
choices for privacy hedges since it is very versatile. They work good as a
hedge because of their dense foliage and unique growth pattern. They grow best in
sunlight with partial shade and need to be watered quite regularly. Boxwood
shrubs are easily to trim into the shape or design that you prefer. There are a
variety of shrubs to choose from depending on the size of your space and the
foliage colors of each variety.

It’s
a good idea to prune evergreens in the late spring just before the new buds
appear. And in the late fall give them a good deep watering to help prevent the
branches drying out and cracking under the weight of snow or the force of wind
during the winter. As you can see, there are a lot of varieties of evergreen
trees that accomplish many different tasks in a home landscaping design.
Hopefully this article will help you choose the one that will work best for
your home and help you care for it properly too.

Thad
Pickering writes on many consumer related topics including home improvement.
You can find evergreen landscaping,evergreen landscaping
ideas and evergreen landscaping design
by visiting our website http://www.bisnisku1.com

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News from around Wisconsin at 5:58 p.m. CDT

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Peaches and pears grow in an orchard across the street from Larry Adams’ home in one of Milwaukee’s poorest neighborhoods. A garden has been planted a few lots down, and another parcel serves as a nursery for a landscaping business his nonprofit is nurturing.

Adams, his wife and Walnut Way Conservation Corp., their community development organization, have been buying homes and other properties on surrounding streets, creating a local renaissance by renovating buildings, expanding urban agriculture and encouraging others to do the same.

The couple’s success has inspired Milwaukee leaders, overloaded with abandoned and foreclosed properties, to turn land over to residents who want to grow gardens, create parks and establish food-related businesses. The goal is to revitalize neighborhoods and cut costs while improving residents’ access to healthy food.

Many cities have looked to urban agriculture as a way to use open space and improve residents’ diets. Milwaukee borrowed some of those ideas, such as New York’s licensing of food carts that sell fruits and vegetables. The city also is updating zoning and other regulations for urban agriculture.

But the most attention-grabbing part of Milwaukee’s plan is selling tax-foreclosed properties, perhaps for as little as $100, to people who promise to produce food. The goal is to create radical change by focusing resources — at least initially — on one neighborhood, and to have residents lead the way. In other words, they want to make it “Home GR/Own.”

The seeds have been planted in Lindsey Heights, a neighborhood just northwest of downtown. Adams’ home is less than three miles from City Hall, but economically, the areas are worlds apart. The median household income here is $22,838, half that of downtown, and the unemployment rate is six times higher at nearly 24 percent, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Venice Williams runs a community garden that serves as an incubator for food-related businesses on the Lindsey Heights border. She sees Home GR/Own as an opportunity for many gardeners to get land and strike out on their own.

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Concerned residents sent a flurry of emails to Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna last month after two men showed up armed with assault rifles near the city’s farmers market, according to a new analysis.

A few emails supported the men’s Second Amendment rights, but most were from residents who threatened to stay away from future public events if firearms could be present, the Post Crescent Media reported (http://post.cr/1gQB9JOhttp://post.cr/1gQB9JO ).

“As long as there are people with guns walking around this city, my family will not be,” wrote Adam Fredrick, of Appleton.

The men were carrying AR-15 assault rifles legally near the market on Sept. 7. Police detained them at gunpoint and handcuffed them before eventually releasing them without tickets.

“If these idiots are this paranoid perhaps they should stay home and protect their fortress and not wander around on the streets,” Mary Rutten, of Appleton, wrote of the men. “I do not want to live like this where people feel they have to carry guns to protect themselves at a public and/or family event.”

Other writers were worried about how the incident might affect the city’s reputation. Some asked Hanna to figure out creative ways to keep the city safe for families without violating state law.

Hanna noted that open-carry laws are governed by state statute and can’t be altered by city ordinance. He added that he’d like to see the state law changed, but acknowledged that the chances of that happening are remote.

___

The health care overhaul law has made insurance available to 500,000 Wisconsin residents who don’t already have it, but many are not aware of their standing.

Groups working to teach the uninsured about their options say they are having trouble finding and reaching those in need, the Post-Crescent Media reported (http://mnhne.ws/1hiLc8ihttp://mnhne.ws/1hiLc8i ).

Some experts blame a lack of money and coordination.

“We just don’t have the resources to get out and really do the job we need to,” said Bobby Peterson, executive director of ABC for Health, a public-interest law firm in Madison that helps connect families around the state with health care.

Wisconsin’s community health centers received a $1.7 million federal grant to help enroll residents, and six other organizations got about $1 million more to target specific groups. But coordinators say that’s not enough to cover the cost of finding the half-million affected people and explaining complicated issues such as deductibles and premiums.

U.S. Rep Tom Petri, a Fond du Lac Republican who opposed the law, said the measure was inherently confusing, regardless of how much money was set aside to help explain it.

“I think there is bound to be a lot of confusion with the implementation of the law no matter how much money you spend advertising it,” he said in an email.

___

Rob Zerban (zer-BAHN’), the Democrat who lost to U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan in last year’s election, is mounting a new challenge next year.

Zerban told The Associated Press this week he was getting back in the race. He made his announcement official Saturday at a rally in Kenosha.

He lost last year by 12 percentage points, 55 percent to 43 percent. But that was Ryan’s smallest margin of victory in eight races.

The 45-year-old Zerban is a former Kenosha County Board supervisor who used to run two small businesses. He blames Ryan for voting against ending the government shutdown, and for advancing a budget that cuts money from social-service programs.

Zerban says he supports green technology, immigration reform and same-sex marriage.

Tom Eblen: How can lessons from Disney World help improve Lexington’s urban …

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Beautiful landscapes enrich a city — well-tended flowers, trees, gardens and lawns. But when money is tight, it is easy to see them as frills, as costs to be cut.

What is the value of beauty? What is the cost of ugly?

The answer to both questions, says Katy Moss Warner, former president of the American Horticulture Society, is a lot.

Warner spent last week touring Lexington, speaking and meeting with people as an unpaid guest of Friends of the Arboretum and the Fayette County Master Gardeners.

Warner has a degree in landscape architecture and was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. But she said she learned the economic value of beautiful landscapes during the 24 years she spent supervising a staff of 700 as director of horticulture and environmental initiatives at Walt Disney World in Florida.

Disney spends millions each year on advertising and new attractions to lure new visitors. Warner said she struggled to prove the economic return on investing in landscape until visitor surveys revealed some interesting facts: 75 percent of Disney World’s visitors were repeat customers. Why did they keep returning?

“Atmosphere,” she said. “The beauty of the landscape. This is helpful information not just for Walt Disney World but for cities. If cities are beautiful, people will come back. Horticulture can drive revenue.”

At a lecture Wednesday, Warner said many people have “plant blindness” — they often don’t notice the plants around them or realize their value. We move so fast in our daily lives that we fail to notice “the subtle music that truly is the beauty of nature.”

Many cities think plants are nice, but not necessary. Study after study shows they are wrong, she said.

When a city’s public and private spaces are clean and well-landscaped, people tend to be happier, healthier and care more about their neighbors and community. Urban tree canopies reduce energy costs and calm traffic. Indoor plants filter pollution and make people feel better. Good landscaping increases property values.

In places that are ugly, barren or junky, where there is a lot of noise and artificial light pollution, crime goes up and private investment goes down. People understand, consciously or subconsciously, that they don’t want to be there.

“Schools are probably the most derelict landscapes we have,” Warner said. “We design them like prisons.”

But schools are a perfect place to teach children the importance of natural beauty with school vegetable and flower gardens, and planting trees as legacies.

Studies have shown that gardens make good learning environments, especially for students who struggle in structured classrooms. Warner said the most popular attraction at Disney’s Epcot is the vegetable and hydroponic gardens at the Land Pavilion.

Warner is a board member and volunteer for the non-profit organization America in Bloom, which helps cities learn beautification strategies from one another. At a Thursday workshop, she made a pitch for Lexington to participate.

The workshop at the University of Kentucky was attended by Vice Mayor Linda Gorton; three more Urban County Council members; Sally Hamilton, the city’s chief administrative officer; and more than 40 leaders in Lexington’s landscape, horticulture and sustainable agriculture movements. Earlier in the week, Warner met with Mayor Jim Gray.

This was Warner’s first visit to Lexington. She remarked on what a clean city it is for its size, in both affluent and not-so-affluent neighborhoods. She also was impressed by local food and recycling programs, and by good examples of historic preservation and adaptive reuse of old buildings.

In an interview afterward, I asked Warner what she would do to improve Lexington. Her observations were perceptive, especially considering she had spent only three days looking around.

“I think it’s a shame that so much of the historic fabric has been lost downtown, but those spaces offer an opportunity to bring back character through horticulture,” she said, adding that she thinks the Town Branch Commons plan is brilliant. “That could really be a signature for the city.”

Warner thinks Lexington also has a lot of opportunity for beautification by planting native plants, community gardens, installing rooftop greenhouses and by protecting existing assets such as the majestic, centuries-old trees that dot the landscape.

Lexington seems to have fewer walking paths and biking trails than other cities its size, Warner said, so there is an opportunity to create more of them to get people outside and closer to the landscape.

“As a community you also seem to have amazing talent, an amazing spirit, an amazing history,” she said. “I do believe that it takes the whole community to make the community beautiful.”

Tom Eblen: (859) 231-1415. Email: teblen@herald-leader.com. Twitter: @tomeblen. Blog: tomeblen.bloginky.com

Tips: Garden art, Fourth Friday, Red Rose City Chorus

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Garden Art … Saturday
Before time spent in the garden becomes just a wistful, warm-weather memory, salvage artist Diane Levenson is opening up hers for a final seasonal hurrah.

An Art in the Garden Open House takes place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Levenson’s four-acre property called Hydrangea Hill Farm, 5944 River Road, Conestoga.

The gardens will be peppered with the artist’s sculptural metal creations. “Garden art gives structure to a garden and adds elements of whimsy and surprise,” Levenson says on her website, salvageartist.com.

She should know. Levenson spent 20 years designing landscapes. In fact, it was her frustration with not being able to find the perfect piece of art to set off a garden that spurred her to start creating her own.

She took a welding class and went to work.

Levenson creates everything from whimsical sculptures to practical — but beautiful — benches and planters.

“When I make something that touches someone, my time as an artist is well spent,” she says.

Fourth Friday
The Rivertowns Fourth Friday celebration promises visitors a hauntingly artistic evening.

Art is on the agenda, as always, and new exhibits include Jonal Gallery’s showcase of emerging artist Eric Lease Morgan, who will also be performing music at the reception happening from 5 to 9 p.m.

Jonal, 653 Locust St., Columbia, will also be holding a silent auction to benefit the Columbia Food Bank. Up for grabs is a body of work that came out of last month’s interactive exhibit titled “U.B. the ARTIST.”

The silent auction will continue on Saturday.

Across the river in Wrightsville, Weavings, INK invites visitors to come in costume and enjoy their Halloween themed (but family-friendly) exhibit titled “The Devil’s in the Details.”

The gallery, 208 Hellam St., Wrightsville, will be open from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 340 Locust St., Columbia, will display the talents of its congregation in an exhibit they titled “Every Day Saints,” Friday beginning at 5 p.m.

The visual arts theme will give way to artistic movement at 7:30 when Dance Mosaic presents “Dances from Around the World.”

If you’re looking for a little scare, venture over to the historic Mount Bethel Cemetery on Locust Street between dusk and midnight for some “Graveyard Ghost Stories.” (Admission by donation.)

Normally the celebration ends around 9, but if you finish at Garth Gallery, 22 S. Second St., Columbia, you can stay for a Halloween celebration that continues to the witching hour. Come in costume!

For details on these and other Fourth Friday events, visit PaRivertowns.com or call 684-5249.

Happy Harmony … Sunday
The wonderful thing about the women in the Red Rose City Chorus is they sing like angels, but they have a devil of a good time doing it.

They take their singing seriously, mind you, but they serve it with a smile.

Case in point is their upcoming fall production, “Show Business,” being staged at the Ware Center Sunday at 2 p.m.

The show revolves around a group of singers who can’t come up with a theme for their annual performance.

The result for audience members is a diverse array of musical selections from American anthems and Christmas classics to rock ‘n’ roll and modern country.

The two-act show, spiced with lavish and at times outrageous costumes and lots of laughs, also features chapter quartets and special guest quartet American Idle.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and students.

Visit artsmu.com.

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Fallen leaves don’t need to be in pieces to use as mulch

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Do I have to cut up fallen leaves with a mower before I use them as mulch? I don’t have a mulching mower.

No, you don’t. In fact, many beneficial insects overwinter in leaf litter. You’ll notice that no one chops up the fallen leaves in a woods, yet the layer of leaves decomposes before the next autumn. You can also chop with a regular lawn mower.

How late can I put down fertilizer?

The latest is Nov. 15, according to the new Maryland law. Generally, fertilizer is applied twice in the fall, 0.9 poundsb of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet each time in September and October. (The maximum amount of nitrogen allowed per year is 2.7 pounds.) For a simple explanation of how to fertilize, see How to Fertilize Your Lawn Responsibly in the Lawn section of our website’s publications.

Something dug a hole the size and shape of a baseball in my flower bed. What digs such a hole, and do I need to discourage it?

Sounds like the burrow of a hibernating toad. The American toad is a good garden companion, eating pest insects for you. Because it is cold-blooded, its body temperature reflects the environments surrounding it. So in winter, it must burrow down into soil where temperatures don’t get as cold as air temperatures. Fortunately, American toads are good diggers.

When I brought my amaryllis in for the winter, it had a few red blotches on the leaves and now I see a reddish area on the bulb. Is this anything I need to worry about?

Red blotch is a fungal disease that can infect leaves, stems and the bulb itself with reddish lesions. It will weaken the plant, rotting portions, and can infect the bulb. Also, it easily spreads to other amaryllis, so keep this amaryllis separate. You can replace the soil with sterile soil and maintain good normal culture, removing infected portions. If the infection persists, you can treat with a systemic fungicide.

University of Maryland Extension’s Home and Garden Information Center offers free gardening and pest information. Call 800-342-2507 or send a question to the website at extension.umd.edu/hgic.

Plant of the Week

American Beautyberry

Callicarpa americana

“Purple pingpong balls” describes the flashy fruiting of this native shrub. Violet to magenta berry clusters totally encircle the stem, making bigger balls each year as the plant matures. Reaching 3 to 8 feet, the deciduous American beautyberry makes a loose, graceful shrub that works well in a shrub border or backed up with evergreens or a structure that shows off the purple berries. A good conversation piece, American beautyberry grows best and produces the most berries in sun. It likes soil that doesn’t go dry. A white-berried variety is also available, if you prefer your pingpong balls in their traditional color. —Ellen Nibali

Garden Tips For Fall

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Now that fall has arrived and cooler temperatures are becoming the norm, it’s time for Nebraska gardeners to determine what to harvest and when.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Office says some crops will need to be harvested before a frost, while others can withstand colder temperatures.

Warm weather crops that do not tolerate frost and low temperatures include tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, cucumbers and summer squash. Watermelon, pumpkin and corn also are sensitive to cool temperatures and can result in plant damage or death.

Crops that withstand a light frost between down to 30 degrees include beets, mustard, Chinese cabbage, radishes, collards, spinach, potatoes, Swiss chard, Bibb lettuce, green onions and leaf lettuce.

Crops that can withstand several freezes include cabbage, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, rutabagas, Brussels sprouts, and kale.

Spring Street beer garden plans hit a design snag

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The Charleston peninsula will soon be awash in beer gardens, but one of the planned new drinking establishments, at 63 Spring St., might take a little bit longer than the others to open. At Wednesday night’s Board of Architectural Review meeting, the board voted to allow the demolition of a vacant building on the site but unanimously shot down the owner’s plans for a new building there.

The property is owned by Frederick Fields, but architect Dan Sweeney says the business owners are a group led by local business broker Marc Williams. Williams could not be reached for comment.

The proposed design included two buildings with a glass walkway connecting them and an open courtyard in the back, away from the street. The two buildings are one-story but include tall gabled roofs to meet the area’s 25- to 50-foot height restrictions.

Opposition to the design began during the public comment period. “We feel it’s much too suburban, sort of barnlike,” said Robert Gurley, director of advocacy for the Preservation Society of Charleston. “We don’t believe that it fits in the context of the neighborhood.” City architect Dennis Dowd piled on, critiquing the building’s “rural character” and saying that a two-story building “would better serve the area and would be more in spirit with the zoning code.”

The board previously had rejected another design for the beer garden, so the owners switched to Sweeney of Stumphouse LLC to create the second draft that was submitted and rejected Wednesday. Stumphouse’s other design credits include Oak Steakhouse and renovations at The Alley, and he says the design he presented Wednesday was “not emblematic of our work.”

Sweeney said the important thing Wednesday night was that the BAR approved demolition of the old building, which previously contained a shop called Books, Herbs, and Spices and had fallen into disrepair while vacant. “We were locked into a corner from budgetary constraints and trying to utilize the old building,” Sweeney says. Moving forward, Sweeney says he will look for inspiration from the historic auto-mile buildings along the Spring and Cannon corridor. He says the design will likely remain one-story, though.

“I look at that as a minor setback in what has been a long road, but it’s going to be a very cool little addition to Charleston’s FB scene,” Sweeney says.

Cedar Rapids’ MedQuarter plan moves closer to reality

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The plan to create a regional medical district in Cedar Rapids is starting to take on a more solid shape.

MedQuarter stakeholders introduced ideas for potential land use, streetscape designs, pedestrian amenities and branding opportunities for the 55-block district to the community on Thursday night at UnityPoint Health- St. Luke’s Hospital.

The MedQuarter was designed to promote economic development, improve the quality of health care and contribute to the growth of Cedar Rapids, said Scott Freres, a principal with the Lakota Group, a Chicago-based urban planning and design company, during a 15-minute presentation outlining the project’s goals.

“How do we get young doctors here?” Freres said. “What do we have that people want?”

Possible ideas for the MedQuarter include building a new hotel for patients and their families, adding bike lanes, employee housing and a large park.

Branding is another important component, Freres said. Adding banners, signs, kiosks and mile makers will help direct people as well as create a strong image for the district.

Paving a large “pedestrian oriented street” through the district and calling it “Wellness Way,” “MedQuarter Mile,” or “Health Walk,” also could help in this regard, he said.

Freres recalled a recent trip to Houston where he visited the medical district and saw light rail, superior landscaping and signs.

“(The medical district) put Houston on the map on an international basis — it’s brand was so strong,” Freres said.

Ted Townsend, president and CEO of St. Luke’s Hospital, said it’s important to have discussions about the district early on, when parties involved can be flexible.

“We need to have the debate ahead of the (master) plan so we can make the necessary changes,” Townsend said.

Those interested in submitting ideas and critiques about the MedQuarter plan can do so through its website, www.crmedicaldistrict.com.

The Lakota Group is aiming to release the master plan, which will include a five-year strategic plan, goals and a vision for the MedQuarter, by early 2014. The cost of the plan will be about $225,000.