A location for an evening movie in the park and retail kiosks lining Washington Street were just a few of the ideas brought to the table at last week’s city council special meeting.
The civic triangle portion of Downtown 2010 — which includes the library, City Hall and Caterpillar Inc. Heritage Museum — was the focus of the meeting Feb. 16.
Rick Jeremiah, who works at Cullinan Properties Ltd., the lead developer in the downtown project, talked to council members about the function of the outdoor space.
“It’s really what generates the day-to-day foot traffic on the site,” Jeremiah said.
Also at the meeting was Will Helmick, architect with PCM + D. Helmick has led the way in defining the civic triangle, Jeremiah said.
“That triangle component is sort of your front porch,” Helmick said. “That’s going to be the foreground to the City Hall and to the library. It’s going to be a very important green space. ... Maybe it even becomes a Saturday morning farmer’s market location, where people can park there and walk around.”
The plaza area of the triangle includes a 110-foot grassy area that allows for many types of activities.
“The site lends itself really well to have an evening movie matinee or a movie in the park,” Jeremiah said.
Jeremiah asked the council for feedback about the project — which he said was the goal of the special meeting.
“I like how people will be able to take their kids there and do a lot of things outdoors,” said Dan Decker, the council’s commissioner of streets and public improvements. “It looks great.”
Multiple councilmen asked about the cost of the streetscape plan. Jeremiah said they plan to include it in the funded portion of the project. Streetscape ideas, such as lighting, use of stone and sidewalk organization, were discussed.
The project will be partially funded through Tax Increment Financing revenues and bond issues.
“I’m really happy to hear that you’re planning to put (the streetscape design) in the funded part, and, hopefully, that is possible,” Decker said.
Ty Livingston, director of planning and community development, said they sent out requests for the streetscape design proposals to 21 regional and local landscape architectural firms, which are due March 19.
So far, the response has been overwhelming, he said.
In other action and discussion during the regular city council meeting, the board:
• approved spending $463,677 of the $1 million allocated to street improvements for 2010-11.
The contract went to R.A. Cullinan & Sons Inc. to start soliciting bids for roadwork throughout the city.
