By Jason Stuart
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
A couple of dozen local residents gathered in the city ambulance building June 28 for a preliminary public discussion of the Downtown Master Plan under development for the city.
Laura Waterton, a land planner with Sanderson Stewart, the engineering firm hired by the city to develop the master plan, told the gathered crowd that investing time and money into reinvigorating, restoring and redeveloping the downtown area is one of the best investments a community can make, noting that the community return on investment in development of a downtown can be “eight to 10 fold greater” than investing in development on the fringes of the community.
“Downtown is a good investment in your community,” Waterton said.
She also noted that when a community puts significant time and money into redevelopment of its downtown area it generally follows that private developers begin to move in and new businesses open up, as “it sends a signal to the private developers that this community cares.”
Waterton added that “an important factor for communities like Glendive” to consider when thinking about downtown redevelopment is that “people are shifting how they are spending.”
“Instead of spending on things, they’re spending on experiences,” she said.
That puts small towns, especially ones like Glendive which have something very unique to offer, in a very good position to benefit economically from redevelopment of their downtowns, Waterton argued.
“Throughout the country, people are looking for unique experiences,” she said. “People are looking to live in unique places and visit unique places, and small towns offer those things.”
That being said, Waterton noted that Glendive has some major work to do to breathe new life into its historic commercial heart. First and foremost, she said the city needs to start acting fast if it hopes to salvage several of downtown’s most historic buildings.
“The declining condition of those buildings is making it difficult to maintain their historic character,” she said.
Without mentioning any by name, Waterton noted however that some downtown buildings have sadly deteriorated to the point where the only real option is demolition and replacement.
“Some buildings are simply lost,” Waterton said.
Nevertheless, Waterton said downtown Glendive has some very good features to work with and build around. She said in her mind, “the great opportunity” Glendive has in its downtown is the Bell Street Bridge, as it very much fits the kind of unique experience consumers are seeking out these days.
“That’s a great opportunity where you say, ‘What can we do with this/?’” Waterton said. “It’s one of only three pedestrian bridges across the Yellowstone, that’s pretty unique. And this is one that’s quite unique, because it brings you right into downtown.”
To show downtown redevelopment is possible, Waterton offered up a few examples from other Montana communities.
She noted that Laurel has “similar issues” as Glendive, specifically with how the railroad tracks run right through the downtown area.
Laurel, she said, has both somewhat succeeded in engaging with BNSF Railway for some beautification projects along the tracks downtown and in further redeveloping their downtown through funds raised through a Tax Increment Financing District (TIFF). TIFFs are a complex, often controversial urban renewal tool, but Waterton noted that Laurel’s TIFF “provides a pretty healthy stream of money” the city can use for downtown development projects.
Anaconda, Waterton noted, was left reeling after the last of the ore processing facilities closed down in the 1970s, which left most of its downtown buildings empty and abandoned. A tactic that community used was “pop-up shops.” These are small, start-up businesses which are started in vacant building spaces, usually with a small footprint of 600 square feet or so. A grant program exists to fund these “pop-up shops,” which Anaconda used aggressively. Waterton noted that of the six “pop-up shops” first started in Anaconda, three are still in business, while others have popped up in place of those that didn’t make it long term.
In Dillon, community leaders did something very simple that made a big difference in increasing the appeal of their downtown area, Waterton said. They got grants and leveraged other city funds to build pedestrian “bulbouts” at the street crossings downtown, after which they added flowers, benches and trash cans at the new bulbouts. Waterton said that one very simple change made a big difference in enhancing the aesthetics and appeal of Dillon’s downtown.
Besides looking at what other communities have done, Waterton strongly suggested Glendive move towards becoming a fully-fledged member of the Montana Main Street Program. Glendive is currently an ‘affiliate community’ in the program, but there are two higher levels to reach which open up more grants and other tools for downtown redevelopment, those being a ‘designated community,’ and finally, at the highest level, a ‘certified community.’
“(The Main Street Program) have an approach that I think is a great approach, and I think it would work really well in Glendive,” Waterton said.
Waterton twice had the audience split up into small groups to discuss amongst themselves a questionnaire Sanderson Stewart brought to the meeting to get a sense of what locals see as the biggest issues and needs in the downtown area. At the end of the meeting, she collected the questionnaires, which the company will use to help guide development of the master plan.
The plan itself will hopefully be ready for public review and consideration for adoption by August or September, she noted.
Of course, getting a master plan is just the first step. What follows won’t be easy or quick, Waterton said, but the reward will be well worth it.
“It can be really exciting for communities to embark on a process like this,” she said. “It’s not going to be an easy process, it’s not going to happen overnight, but it is something you’ll be happy about once it’s completed.”
Reach Jason Stuart at rrreporter@rangerreview.com.