City Seeks Public Input For South Walnut Streetscape

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2008

For more information, please contact:
Danny Lopez, Communications Director, City of Bloomington, 349-CITY, lopezd@bloomington.in.gov

Bloomington, IN - The City of Bloomington Office of the Mayor, in conjunction with the departments of Public Works, Planning and Housing and Neighborhood Development (HAND), have joined together with the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association (BUEA) to announce that the City is seeking public input for a new South Walnut Street design project. Specifically, the City hopes to gain a better sense of the priorities of the public regarding landscaping, amenities and parking changes.

"The look of this prominent gateway into our downtown should better reflect the vibrant and progressive character of our city," said Mayor Mark Kruzan. "We will broadly focus themes of the design on the area's relationship to the B-Line Trail and to BEAD (Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District), and we now look to stakeholders to help us hone in on the right features and designs."

A pair of project open houses will be held on Wednesday, June 18 at the City of Bloomington Community Adult Center during the hours of 11:30am-2:30pm and from 4pm-6pm, where interested citizens can visit and discuss their thoughts and ideas with Deb Schmucker, Landscape Architect with Cornerstone Planning and Design, Inc., the company contracted to carry out the design work.

The design area includes the corridor stretching from First Street to Third Street, including the intersections at Second Street and Smith Avenue. BEAD's southern edge extends to just north of Second Street.

In December, the Board of Public Works approved $37,000 to fund the design of the street between Second and Third Streets. In April, the BUEA approved funding in the amount of $10,000 to allow the City to expand the project further south to First Street. Over the past two months, a property and topographical survey has been completed to assist in the design.

Doris Sims, Assistant Director of HAND and staff administrator of the BUEA, said the association is eager to see a plan for improvements to this downtown area of the Enterprise Zone.

"This has long been an area identified as in need of improvements by the BUEA," Sims said. We're thrilled to be a funding partner with the City to bring specific plans forward."

The City is casting a wide net for input, utilizing an online survey to collect stakeholder opinions on priority amenities and other design features.

"Because South Walnut Street is a prominent gateway corridor to downtown Bloomington, the stakeholder list is broad," said Justin Wykoff, Manager of Engineering Services for the City of Bloomington Department of Public Works. "We want to hear concerns and ideas from property owners, businesses and their customers, but we also want to know what is important to the commuter, lunchtime visitor and event planner who directs guests to and from other Bloomington destinations."

The City is supplying hard copies of the surveys to businesses to be completed by employees and customers. Also, the survey will be available on the City's website, allowing any interested stakeholder to provide ideas and identify areas of importance. It can be accessed at [http://www.bloomington.in.gov/walnutsurvey] through June 27th.

For additional information, please contact Wykoff at 812-349-3417, or Danise Alano, the City's Economic Development Director, at 812-349-3406.

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