The city is hosting a drop-in meeting to review the conceptual design for East Main Street from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Siloam Springs Public Library, located at 205 E. Jefferson St.
This meeting comes as a follow-up to several meetings that were held at the end of March, where the City and representatives of Crafton Tull, the design firm selected for the project, met with the public and business owners to get feedback about the redesign of East Main Street. According to Don Clark, director of community development, this meeting will combine what the public wants with what's feasible via design.
"We want the public to know this is their project," Clark said. "This is an opportunity to see the work they put in those four days. They can see their fingerprints on this project."
Clark said the project budget will formulate itself after both this ideation meeting and a workshop with the City's Board of Directors when the redesign moves out of its beginning stages.
The focus for the redesign is East Main from South Lincoln Street to South Maxwell Street, Clark said. Pedestrian safety, business access and aesthetics have been pinpointed as focuses, largely because this street acts as a sort of connection between downtown and Highway 412, Clark said.
"We have a diverse downtown. We want to put that on display."
Sidewalks, increased lighting and vegetation have been included in preliminary design plans. This redesign also gives the community opportunities to preserve the historicity present and lay the foundation for future development, Clark said.
Nearly 300 people participated in walking tours, drop-in meetings and public input meetings at the end of March, according to a release from the city.
The East Main redesign project is a facet of the 2014 Downtown and Connectivity Master Plan, a 5-7 year phased-implementation plan for improvements to downtown Siloam Springs and its connection points to other parts of the city. It was launched by the city in conjunction with several members of the Siloam Springs community, such as Main Street Siloam Springs.
"The Downtown and Connectivity Master Plan seeks to define a common vision for the future of downtown Siloam Springs, and provide a road map of specific improvement projects and implementation steps to achieve that vision," according to the plan. "The purpose of this plan is to continue preservation and improvements in downtown's built environment through infrastructure and facility planning, to realize a more vibrant urban core."
General News on 05/08/2019