Monroe has a beautiful old downtown, extending along Main Street from Fremont Street to the railroad tracks, and along Lewis Street from Fremont to the railroad tracks, and that downtown can be enhanced, said the consultants.

One of the first steps would be to plant a double row of trees along both sides of the railroad tracks to reduce the sight and sound of passing trains. Another would be to plant trees throughout the downtown to create a tree canopy along Fremont, Blakely, Lewis, Ferry, Woods, Charles, Ann and W. Hill streets.

Al Borlin Park Neighborhood

Large and beautiful Al Borlin Park is nearly primitive, and the entrances to it are hard to find and located in less-than-attractive industrial areas, but the city could change that, the company said. The park should be enhanced with paved trails, plazas and lighting.

The entire neighborhood should be redeveloped to include a mix of businesses and homes that would compliment the retail and restaurants downtown. And the school administration building, which the district is likely to leave in favor of a larger building elsewhere, should be redeveloped as a public plaza and parking area surrounded by new and renovated buildings and landscaping.

Two other neighborhoods

The plan defines two other cohesive neighborhoods, each with a role to play in the strengthening of the downtown.
To the west of the downtown, the plan identifies the Downtown Neighborhood, including the residential blocks east of Madison and on both sides of Blakely Street, from Main to the tracks.

And the long sliver of land sandwiched between the tracks and U.S. 2 including Stretch Street is dubbed the Rails and Road Neighborhood, and it includes mostly businesses, including gas stations, fast food, and the Whitfield building. Both should be enhanced with landscaping, and the Rails and Road Neighborhood should include pocket parks and small plazas, including an enhanced Traveler's Park, the consultants said.

Gateways

The entrances to the downtown should be clearly identified with signs and landscaping, especially at Lewis Street on U.S. 2 and on both entrances along Main Street.
The downtown should also include a number of nice-looking signs directing visitors to parking, restrooms, and other amenities such as parks.

Foot and auto traffic

Pedestrian and bicycle travel will be very important to a downtown rich in retail and parks, and so the city should enhance sidewalks, create crosswalks with special pavement and make it safe and easy to walk and bike from place to place. And signs should make it clear to drivers the most convenient routes to their destinations.

Also, there needs to be more parking opportunites, but not necessarily all in one large lot, the consultants said. Rather, parking could be scattered throughout the area in as many as 10 small lots, perhaps enhanced with a parking garage either underneath Hill Street Cleaners or near the school administration building.

Homes and businesses

The downtown eventually should focus on having only retail and restaurants on the ground level on Main Street, with residential and office use on the second story.
And current industrial uses of the land near Al Borlin Park will need to be phased out, to be replaced with a mix of homes, offices and more commercial uses, the consultants concluded.

City action

Getting those objectives accomplished will require some action from the city, according to the document. The area around Al Borlin Park will need to be rezoned to exclude industrial uses. Those businesses currently there could remain, but could not expand or be resold as such.
And street-facing businesses in the downtown would be limited to retail and restaurants, also requiring a city ordinance.

New design standards would need to be put into effect.
The design standards are so important, in fact, that they are presented in a separate 68-page document augmenting the downtown sub area plan. Under the design standards, downtown historic buildings would be preserved and all new buildings would have to conform to the existing theme. And the city should focus on developing parks and plazas throughout the area, the plan recommends.

The city will consider adopting the recommendations of the consultants, but will undertake several interim steps.
The planning commission is currently reviewing the document, as is the council. In the meantime, the city will likely do a temporary rezone of the Al Borlin neighborhood to allow commercial uses but prevent new or expanded industrial uses, in order to lift a moratorium on industrial uses that has been in place for nearly a year.

There will be a public hearing on that matter scheduled for June 3. Another public hearing July 14 will address the amendment of the city's Comprehensive Plan to include the new recommendations.

The final step, tentatively set for September, will be the amendments of the zoning code and municiple code to include the firm's recommendations.

"The next step after that is actual implementation," said Galloway. "That's going to require a mix of the city, DREAM, Chamber of Commerce, business and property owners."

Already underway

The step may actually not be the last step. It is actually already underway, said Kleinert. A group of downtown business owners called Destination Alley, of which she is a member, is already "greening" two alleys behind downtown businesses, creating off-street landscaping and seating.

"One thing that's really cool, Pastor Michael Hanford of Christ Church offered their 20 to 30-space parking lot for be used for the downtown," she said. "That's an awesome, awesome offer." The church is in the downtown area on Lewis Street.

There are also about six spaces in the Destination Alley area that could be a micro-lot, Kleinert added. The owner of the shopping center including the Grocery Outlet, on the northern end of the downtown area, is already planning to redevelop that property, and has hired an architect who is an expert in historic buildings, Kleinert said. "It's the same architect that did Sam's Cats and Dogs," she said. "The plans look great."

Although the plan is definitely far reaching, looking out almost 20 years, Kleinert hopes to see a lot of visible activity taking place within the next four or five years.
"I hope in the next few years we see some catalyst projects," she said.

The company identified four projects that could jumpstart the redevelopment of Monroe's downtown, including the redevelopment of the administration building and the beautification of the U.S. 2 and Main Street intersection.
Kleinert hopes that another of the recommendations, to create a beautiful plaza in the gravel lot currently occupied by Tacos Pihuamo, a lunch truck, could be realized soon.
"It won't all happen at once," she said. "But I think the subarea plan looks great."

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