Hayden’s downtown revelopment focus of public meeting

The Hayden Urban Renewal Agency and Advisory Committee will announce the launch of Hayden’s Strategic Implementation Plan through an open house and public meeting Monday at City Hall. The evening will begin with an open house, with light appetizers, at 5 p.m.

At 6 p.m., the project team will formally present the principal elements of Hayden’s Strategic Implementation Plan, including: business development, development and design standards, public improvements (including proposed improvements for City Hall Park, gateways, and parking), and Next Steps. This event is the culmination of eleven months of planning to create a multifaceted “road map”for the redevelopment of downtown Hayden along Government Way into a pedestrian-friendly village. The process to develop the plan depended heavily on community participation and included nine public meetings, workshops and trainings, one-on-one interviews with business owners, focus groups, meetings with the Advisory Committee and e-surveys.

This first phase of the project involves introducing the project to the community and presenting concepts for transitioning suburban strip-style development to a downtown center; architectural standards and how they work; and market driven business development. Information and feedback will also be collected to give direction for next steps. The development of the Strategic Implementation Plan built off prior planning work by taking Vitalization Plan concepts and advancing them to prioritized projects and implementation-based strategies.

The consultant team for this project was the Downtown Solutions Team, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, based in Salem, Ore., whose mission is to assist communities achieve healthy, vital downtown commercial districts. The Downtown Solutions Team has successfully completed more than 100 downtown planning efforts in rural communities, many of them facing the same kinds of growth and development issues that Hayden faces. The project team includes: Vicki D. Dugger, executive director of the Downtown Solutions Team; Mary Bosch, Principal of Marketek, Inc., based in Portland; David Berniker, of SERA Architects, Portland; Richard Zita, Bramare Landscape Architecture; and artist Buster Simpson, of Seattle. Hayden City Council and the Hayden Urban Renewal Agency invite and encourage the community to come out on Monday and preview the launch of this important phase in the redevelopment of downtown Hayden.

If you have questions about getting involved in the downtown vitalization effort, or would like more information on the Strategic Plan, contact Lisa Key at the City of Hayden at 209-2021 or Vicki Dugger at the Downtown Solutions Team at (503) 587-0574.

Source: City of Hayden