STARKVILLE — The Kimley-Horn firm’s Main Street master plan presentation drew mixed reactions from a crowd of citizens and business owners Wednesday evening at Starkville Community Theater. The presentation was meant to communicate to Main Street Association members what direction the redesign is heading and get feedback.
Kimley-Horn, a North Carolina-based planning and design firm, was tapped to draw plans for a redesign of Main Street. The board of aldermen approved a contract with the firm in November. Since then, the firm has been performing studies and considering community input to finetune its master plan for the project.
Work is expected to cost $10 million, Mayor Lynn Spruill said. The city has a commitment of $1 million from the Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority, as well as $3.25 million in state and federal appropriations. To cover the remainder, Spruill said options such as issuing bonds, pursuing grants or using American Rescue Plan Act money are all on the table.
Architects on Wednesday emphasized the potential return on investment for the city — pointing to other cities where completed projects had yielded significant returns — and making downtown a pedestrian-focused destination.
“The impact and return on investments is just huge. But the main thing is, you need all those elements to create that ‘destination.’ There’s so many good things that are here — it’s so close to being there,” said Henry Minor, landscape architect with Kimley-Horn. “We simply want to be able to come in and help provide this transformational design for Main Street, with your input, and be able to create that destination where people will come spend time and spend money and linger on and on without feeling like they need to go anywhere else.”
Key points of the presentation included narrowing the driving lanes to encourage slower driving and widening the sidewalks to create space for things like outdoor restaurant seating, as well as aesthetic redesigns to make Main Street more visually appealing.
The portion of Main Street immediately in front of City Hall would be curbless and bricked, making it the centerpiece of the new downtown.
The architects proposed eliminating the left turning lanes to quicken the flow of traffic through downtown and adding unloading zones for trucks on Washington, Jackson and Lafayette streets. This was met with appreciation from the crowd who have noticed that truck drivers currently have to unsafely load and unload, blind to traffic, in the middle of Main Street.
The initial plan unveiled to the board of aldermen eliminated as many as 45 parking spots downtown, something that concerned business owners. On Wednesday, architects showed a revision that would convert Lafayette Street to a one-way southbound roadway from Highway 182 to Lampkin Street, adding streetside parking spots along the route and reducing the net loss of spots downtown to seven. Despite this, the availability of parking remains a concern for business owners.
“Do we have adequate parking, or do we need to consider some sort of parking facility?” asked one attendee.
Architects could not provide a certain answer having not performed a parking analysis.
Lafayette Street was a point of contention during the meeting, as attendees also pointed out that it is virtually impossible for an 18-wheeler to make a left or right turn at the intersection of Lafayette Street and Lampkin Street. This means having a loading zone and making Lafayette Street one way would be problematic without correcting that issue first.
Alaina Prentice Phillips, owner of Merle Norman and Luna Bella, told The Dispatch after the meeting the redesign will be good for Starkville long term.
“There will be some growing pains, but anything in life you have to work hard for and I think it’ll be really pretty,” she said.
Some business owners see the vision but worry the growing pains may be too much.
“For the broad scope of it, I thought it was very helpful. But I think there’s still a lot of communication that needs to be done. I think there’s a lot of concern moving forward,” said Whit Stuckey, owner of Moe’s Original Barbecue.
Stuckey pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic and the looming economic recession as some of the things that were driving his concerns.
“As a business, you know, we just came out of a pandemic. Obviously, we’re entering an economic recession. We’re talking about doing this project but I think there’s a lot of concern there for the next three years,” he said. “Economically where we are, and then moving into this (the redesign). I think overall the project is going to be good. But there’s just some certain things I’m still concerned about.”
Utility improvements downtown will begin late this year and take from six to 12 months. The Main Street redesign, which could begin as soon as spring 2023, would take 16 to 18 months to complete.
As they haven’t contracted with a construction company yet, architects could not provide businesses with a detailed breakdown of how construction will happen. However, they assured businesses that access to their businesses would not be disrupted throughout the course of the redesign, though parking would be limited as the streets are improved.
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