HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC Sept 23 1993 minutesIo
Historic Preservation Commission
621 CLEVELAND BLVD,
CALDWELL, IDAHO 83605
TEL.: (208)4s5-3006
FAX 455-3003
Caldwell Depor Facing S€venth Ave. (1906)
MINUTES
Meefing of September 23, 1993
Present: Chair Madeline Buckendorf, Carol Burbanlq Elaine Carpenter, Bill Gigray Itr, Vivian
McKay, Steve Maughan. Absent: Tom Ensley, Elaine Irppert; Staff: Dennis Crooks, Liz
Yeary
Guests: l,arry Bledsoe, Kathy Clayton-Wonderlich, Norm Holm, Stan Olson, J.R. Schiller, Carol
West
The September 23, 1993 meeting of the Historic Preservation Corrunission was called to order
in the City Council Chambers at 7:20 pm. following a mrall reception.
Madeline Buckendorf opened the meeting, explaining that this was another in a series of town
hall meetings, and subsequently handed the coordination of the meeting to Bill Gigray III, who
is serving as moderator of all the sessions.
Mr. Gigray welcomed everyone to the meeting particularly those representatives from the City
of Nampa, who had graciously agreed to share their experiences of downtown revitalization with
Caldwell. Bill explained that the Commission had aheady met with Boise and Pocatello. After
the meeting with Pocatello it was agreed to set up a meeting with Nampa, since that city is our
neighbor, and review their experience.
L,arry Bledsoe, City Engineer, began by explaining that revitalization did not follow a logical path
but somehow ended up a $,rccess. In 1982, buildings were closed, weeds were present, and it
was obvious that something had to be done. The City Engineering office initiated the process
by compiling an iaventory of downtown businesses and properties. A sketch map and
illustrations of the downtown area were prepared and reviewed to see what could be done to
improve the appearance. The business people then met with the City and there was an
overwheLning response of support.
Norm HoLn explained that the method used to finance this was a Business [nprovement Dislrict
@ID) which is a means by which cities or certain people within a city can tax themselves for
improvements. The City was involved in the process from the begfurring but it was the
merchants and business owners who had the enthusiasm to get it going. There was a one time
assessme[t of tlte business owners to provide funds for the development of a Plan for the
downtown. Since they were also seeking Community Block Development Grants from the
Departrnent of Commerce they had to have a Plan. People went out and petitioned other
businesses to sigr for the assessnent rate. This generated enough money to prepare the Plan.
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Goering and others went to a meeting of a Development Association Meeting in Oregon
when the Main Street Program was discussed. They brought the information back and
with that the downtown businessmen got enough support to get things off the ground.
J.R. Schiller said that in order to demonstrate the need for a program, photos were taken
of a significant block and people realized how bad things were. One building was tom
down and became more parking for the downtown. They designed a medium that people
could visualize and see and get other people excited about.
larry went on to explain that once a plan was developed tlte next step was to develop a
model block. People have difficulty envisioning a plan and seeing what it will look like on
the ground. There was one block of which rhe City owned a third, so the Ciry offered a
lot of the fu"diog and the owners offered the rest and so a protoq?e was bom which
generated a lot of enthusiasm. The rest of the Downtown was a combination of City
money, local money, and grants. Streets were reconstructed. In the design and
construction an effort was made to try and create a physical identity to the downtown.
The same theme was carried on in every sphere, including landscaping and colors so that
it made a physical identity.
J.R. Schiller was Chairman of the Committee that helped get the second BID organized.
He is still the President of the corporation that runs BID #2.
J.R. explained that the theory behind #2 was that you can make physical improvements
but if you still have empty buildings and businesses leaving, you have not accomp[shed
anything. The improvements will deteriorate and no-one will come down anyway. So the
idea was to get an organization downtown that helps promote business downtown. This
is allowed by state taw where there is an organization of the business owners downtown,
not the property owners. Petitions were signed asking the City Council to promote this.
The total assessable area was calculated and there had to be business representing 500/o or
more of the total area. The City Council will create business improvement district and
create an assessment against the business owners. The initial budget was $4O,O0O per
year and it is still the same. Once that is created the City has an option of crediting
themselves or they can give it to a corporation for the purposes of operating, which is what
happened in Nampa. A non-profit corporation was formed. Members of the corporation
were the business owners who were pafng the assessment. They elected a Board of
Directors and Officers. They hired a manager and, now, co-directors for the day to day
operation of Downtown. They follow a Main Street program:
a) to put on promotions to draw customers downtown;b) economic development which is to attract new businesses and keep the ones already
there;
c) concentrate on beautification which is a continuing process - streets, sidewalks,
facades, banners.
d) organization
This is the way it has been operating for the past nine years. The first floor vacancy at the
beginning was 25010. It is now 3.78010.
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Kathy Wonderlich and Carol West, Co-Directors of Downtown Nampa Merchants'
Association, then showed some slides of downtown Nampa, some before, some after
revitalization.
Some of the ideas for improvement:
sidewalk cafes, murals, replacing dilapidated buildings with parking space, dates and names
on buildings, light poles, banners.
If two projected sales go through, the vacancy rate will be 1.6010. The strongest avenue
that the ofEce has approached is economic development. They contacted all of the owners
of the buildings and got tlreir names. The central ofEce Downtown is designed for people
to come to and find out information about downtown vacancies. Forry people were placed
in 32 months without any commission. They paid for signs to be painted that can be put
in the vacant buildings. Realtors are encouraged to go through Downtown. They have a
lot of professional uses downtown and are trying to recruit some good retail. That is the
direction in which they are moving now.
BID #2, assessment was $220, $1,650 per year, 6.66 per square foot, which was based on
lot area not buildings. A majority of businesses fit in the $2Oo/year range. This generates
$45,000 per year. Businesses are allowed there the first year without :rn assessment by
State [aw. Lend services to people. The main intent of Downtown is to get people
downtown. More people increases retail business. Downtown will not attract major chain
stores but will attract smaller quality stores tllat offer special services. Events are put on
to draw people downtown. Four major events a yezu were scheduled to bring people
downtown. Th"y try to stay with those four each year. If one does not work out they
replace it with another.
e.g.Snake fuver Stampede
Craft show
entertainment, food booths, sidewalk sales
Christmas
A Promotions Committee does all the work.
The biggest success is Halloween. Five thousand children come downtown. They bring
5,000 parents...
In response to a question from the floor, Larry Bledsoe responded that planning took about
six months to get a plan together. Thirty people served on the original planning
committee. The vital thing was that the businesses were involved at the very beginning
and got this going. They were part of the planning process. Participation helped to
maintain enthusiasm and deter negative comment and criticism.
There were waning years, when the whole economy was in a bad way. It would be a lot
easier now with the economy going so well. But the work went on even during those bad
times. So when the economy improved they were ready to go with it.
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The general consensus was that Caldwell has a nice historic downtown, which Nampa did
not have so there would be less to fix. with prices in Meridian and Boise so high and a
strong economy, now is the perfect time for Caldwell to do something.
Everything which will not be used by a vehicle is converted to pedestrian use so there is
not a lot of dead land. With downtown traffic pattems it is not necessary to maintain a
standard gnd type street system. Some streets function as parking lots. There has to be
some way to treat the sidewalks so it has some physical identiry. A plan could be
developed in phases. As an alternative to brick, the sidewalks could be painted (colored
concrete). Decorative, uniform lighting is also an important feature. Nampa went to a
much higher level of light. Originally downtown was lit for the automobile. Now the area
is lit for pedestrian use. Landscaping is also necessary to soften and bring a warmth to the
downtown area. It was recommended to hire a qualified landscape architect, and to plant
rees that do not get too big. Larry said that he crawled in every basement to check for
old coal chutes. Everyone felt good about what was in their business. The City could not
run the show, just a mechanism to help the people get what they want.
The Nampa visitors offered to share materials with Caldwell on what steps were taken.
There has been a restoration done involving the architecture and upgrading the facades of
the buildings. They worked with the owners. The City came up with an idea and
matching funds were made available to restore frontages. Photographs were taken to !ry
to pick up the historic character of the buildings. one or two people were willing to work
on their buildings and it snowballed. Awnings added a lot to the building without too
much effort or cost. There is an advantage to doing things as a group. The focus was not
exclusively historic since Nampa does not have the wealth of historic buildings that
Caldwell does.
Key problems were parking. But parking can be a perceived problem rather than a real
problem. They did a comparative study involving the downtown and Karcher Mall. The
square footage of a quarter of a mile square and the parking spaces for the downtown was
compared to that for the shopping center and the figures were almost the same.
The panel members were very encouraging to Caldwell and emphasized the importance of
the business owners getting involved.
Bill Gigray thanked them for extending their time and effort.
He felt the nefi step was an interim report to the new City Council administration.
Discussion of draft of the report could take place at the october meeting.
With no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m. The next regularly
scheduled meeting of the Commission will be October 28, 1993.
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n;snec\ttv submitted,
L V< -._^_,._ -Ui
Liz Yeary, Secrelary