Pioneer Ford

Lately I’ve been hearing some grumblings from residents about the number of closed sessions and special meetings being held by the City Council, especially in conjunction with the Library Block project. I understand their frustration. Quite frankly, both the City Council and staff would prefer to handle City business at our regularly scheduled meetings. So what was different about the library block? I can identify a few things:

In early December, 45 residents participated in a visioning session for the Pioneer Ford site. Participants at the session worked in groups to brainstorm answers to the following questions:

What types of features would help establish this site as a gateway to downtown?
What types of uses should be considered for the site?
What don’t we want to see on this site?

Library Block

Two very exciting projects – the Library Block and Pioneer Ford sites – are poised to move forward in the next few weeks. Both of these projects were identified as part of the 2010 Downtown Revitalization Plan. (Yes, plans do matter!) The revitalization plan outlined four core objectives: