Downtown Advisory Committee

MINUTES Downtown Master Plan Advisory Committee Wednesday, April 29, 2015, 6:00 p.m. Carbondale Civic Center 200 South Illinois Avenue Mr. Langowski called the meeting to order at 6:07 p.m. Members Present: Bukowski, Clow, Cole, Colombo, Gorton, Gregory, Langowski, Ramseyer, Schachel, Sheffer, Stevens, Terry Members Absent: Bleyer, Boeckman, Carter, Miller, Dr. Pink-Harper, Dr. Reddy, Sigler Staff Present: Baity, Price, Taylor ______________________________________________________________________________________________ __ Approximately 8 persons in attendance. 1) Bring to order: J. Langowski brought the meeting to order. M. Bukowski began the roll call and each member introduced themselves and gave their background and reason for being on the committee. J. Langowski introduced Megan Cole. M. Cole discussed the “America’s Best Communities” award the Carbondale Main Street had just received. J. Langowski stated there were 138 applicants and only 50 award winners. Only 3 of those were in Illinois. Mr. Langowski went on to explain the Committee’s activities since the last meeting. He then turned the meeting over to Devin J. Lavigne, principal and cofounder of Houseal Lavigne Associates, the consultant hired by the City to develop the Downtown Master Plan. 2) Presentation from Houseal Lavigne, Master Planning Consultants: D. Lavigne presented his background and his firm’s background. He also introduced the two other firms they will be working with during this process and gave their expertise as part of the team. 1  D. Lavigne presented the project’s scope of work and the projected time frame for each step and for the project as a whole. 3) Public Comments: J. Langowski opened the meeting for public comment. Lee Fronabarger (audience member) stated the primary concern at the beginning of this process must be the closure of South Illinois Avenue as part of U.S. Highway 51 and making it a local street so the City can have direct control over the street. J. Langowski stated Mr. Fronabarger hit the nail on the head and it must be addressed to determine the path of the plan. Jane Adams (audience member) stated it is important to define the downtown area. It must include the blighted, neighboring residential areas and insure linkages are addressed between the neighborhoods and downtown. D. Lavigne stated when he teaches students at the University of Illinois, he has them define what they consider downtown. They also work on defining different areas in the downtown and this helps define function centers. Mr. Lavigne stated he would like to use a similar process here with the citizens of Carbondale. J. Langowski thanked Jane Adams and Lee Fronabarger for their input. 4) Downtown Advisory Committee members comments and reactions, from the point of view of their original focus groups. T. Stevens had no additional comments. K. Schachel had no additional comments. J. Langowski stated he looked forward to the process of looking at all aspects of downtown and that intensive student involvement in the plan would be good. D. Gorton stated he was unhappy with the small number in attendance but he was happy with the quality of comments they did receive that evening. M. Cole stated she was happy this process was occurring. D. Terry stated we must keep the neighborhoods in mind and asked how long the planning process would take. D. Lavigne stated it should take into mid February 2016. K. Gregory stated the “SMap” program was a great idea and she wants to see a downtown for all people. 2  G. Sheffer stated we must define who will own South Illinois Avenue in the future. We must have invested businesses in the downtown. We must work with SIU and SIH to help them invest in downtown. We must be a draw for the students and the locals both. M. Bukowski stated the artist community is really excited for this process and many are willing to help. J. Clow stated we must figure out how to keep people downtown in the summer. Most businesses see a 50% decline in business during the summer. D. Lavigne stated in order for the plan to have student involvement we must perform certain tasks during the fall semester. We should make Carbondale a regional draw. J. Langowski stated the committee does not want to interfere with the consultants work however they do want to make sure the consultant does understand the report that the committee generated. He also wanted to make sure the right questions were being asked at the right workshop. G. Sheffer stated the downtown must be viable according to SIU. It must be safe for all to come to downtown. 5) Adjourn J. Langowski asked for further comments. Seeing none, J. Langowski asked for a motion to adjourn. D. Gorton made the motion to adjourn. N. Colombo seconded the motion. All were in favor Meeting adjourned at 7:13 p.m. 3