The Chehalis City Council on Tuesday allocated $175,000 to a consulting firm for a far-reaching, year-long study of how Chehalis can be improved. The scope of the study includes such things as topography, land use, household demographics, employment, traffic accident statistics, parking, and a complete inventory of businesses and property in the Old Town and Twin City Town Center areas.
The goal of the study is to map out a cohesive future for the city, which city officials say is on the verge of massive change.
As weve seen the city growing and changing, weve all felt we need to get a hold of this, said Joanne Schwartz, economic development director and the leader of the project now being hailed as the Chehalis Renaissance. We felt we needed to get our arms around it and we needed a direction. We wanted it to come together in a single plan of action with streetscapes, tourism, economic development, everything together in one master plan.
In a strange way, even the idea of this master plan itself came together in an odd way. Numerous entities had been hatching ideas for longer than a year, none aware that other committees and city staff had been cooking up similar ideas.
The city council in July 2006 came out of its annual retreat with the resolve to improve the look of the citys downtown, to expand sidewalks and parking, and create pedestrian-friendly areas. Then in January, when Schwartz moved into her position as economic development director, she formed a steering committee that, independent of the council, expressed an interest in developing the same kinds of things.
There was a lot of discussion out of that group about the library and the vision for the whole community, Schwartz said. The council was also having those discussions, though I wasnt privy to that at the time. We were all looking at the whole city, feeling we needed to have a plan and consistency.
But, far beyond spiffing up the downtown areas, the Chehalis Renaissance aims at bringing consistency between historic downtown and the fast growing areas outside that immediate core.
These outskirts are indeed growing, both residentially and commercially.
For example, through Nov. 6, the city had issued 85 building permits for single-family homes. In all of last year, there were just 48 of those permits issued.
There are also numerous commercial developments, including new businesses opening in the Twin City Town Center and the extension of Louisiana Avenue to accommodate even more growth.
Even existing services are expanding to accommodate that growth. An example is the Valley View Health Center, which is moving into the former Grocery Outlet, allowing room for an additional medical and dental provider to meet increasing demand for those services.
And, the inspiration piece for the entire Chehalis Renaissance, the new Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library, is itself expanding to an impressive 9,000 square feet, roughly three times the size of the original library building. New foot traffic is expected to fill that additional space. Whereas the old library hosted between 400 and 600 visitors a day, Librarian Corine Aiken expects the new library to see about 900 visitors per day.
It is coordinating these elements of residential and commercial growth and moving beyond a strictly downtown focus that differentiates the Chehalis Renaissance concept from other revitalization plans.
This is based on a community vision for the future. Its a major step that improves transportation, economic development, how the community looks, how people flow through the community, explained City Manager Merlin MacReynold. Obviously this is a very comprehensive approach to charting our future.
The last time the city embarked on a revitalization study was in 1999 and focused on the downtown area. That project cost $20,000 and led to a number of recommendations the city later implemented. Those included bringing back the farmers market, cleaning up the entrances to town, and installing decorative wooden signs and kiosks featuring community events listings. The plan also led to the hiring of a full-time person in the facilities department to focus only on the tidying up of downtown and to the citys Facade Improvement Program, which provides loans and grants to downtown businesses for exterior renovations and improvements.
It is expected the Chehalis Renaissance plan, when its completed, will carry these kinds of improvements out to the rest of the city.
The first project will be the landscaping of the new library, which has yet to be planned. The new library is expected to open next fall. The landscaping will be done throughout the construction and set a theme that will be carried through much of the rest of the yet to be proposed city improvements, Schwartz said.
Ive lived in this community a very long time and I think this is one of the most significant opportunities Ive seen, she said at Tuesdays council meeting.
Added Councilman Terry Harris, This isnt just a plan. Its implementation. Were not putting money into a book thats going to sit on a shelf.
Amanda Haines covers municipal government and health for The Chronicle. She may be reached at 807-8245, or by e-mail at ahaines@chronline.com.
