Revitalization Commission Agenda and Packet 2024 10 30

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Revitalization Commission Minutes September 18, 2024 Page 4 of 8 clear it is in the Plan, but if it isn't clear, we could add a statement or make clear in the recommendation to City Council that if there is limited funds, Front Street is a priority. If there are more details you would like to relay, we can include it in the recommendation to City Council. The EV Manager commented that she believes City Council understands that the LRC can't fund the entire plan. She doesn't think we would want a recommendation that says the LRC will adopt the plan, but only component "A". What staff would prefer is an adoption of the full plan with the expectation of City Council that the LRC will not be able to fund all the phases and potentially not all of the first phase. Commissioner Lipton commented that the LRC can say which things they are willing to fund. He wants to make sure the LRC is deliberate about what the commission wants to fund with the funds available to them. Commissioner Tofte commented that a few paragraphs emphasizing the budget and prioritization of Front Street. He appreciated Mike's comments about the RTD and asked if anyone has contacted RTD yet. The City Engineer responded that city staff did a ride along with RTD and rode along the proposed routes with a bus and a driver. There are some issues with turning radiuses which would need to be addressed in order for these routes to become possible. The Director of Community Development commented that we will coordinate with RTD and have them review the construction documents as part of the design process. Commissioner Harald commented that the LRC is unanimously supportive of this plan and funding this work to the extent possible. He also clarified how significant the back and forth will be when we get to that discussion. He noted that there will be some difficult decisions to get close to the available budget. He added that in spending many years in urban design and planning, he is really leery of beautiful plans because they can be misleading in setting unrealistic expectations. He has a concern that the plan is so beautiful that it could dramatically change the feel of downtown if it were fully implemented and commented that we need to be careful about that. He suggested caution about what we think will work today, something that is very accessible and doesn't look too expensive. We want to make sure we don't ruin what makes downtown special for so many people. He said he would defer to others as to what is too different, etc. for their business to be successful. He doesn't want the plan to take away from what works really well in downtown right now. Commissioner Lipton commented that, to him, about 2/3 of this is really remedying deferred infrastructure maintenance and maybe the last 1/3 is trying to add elements to make it more attractive for people to come downtown. He does have concerns about proposed Main Street and would like to discuss the plan for Main Street further. He hopes what we do puts in the infrastructure for enhanced private investment in downtown. Chair Adler commented that she thinks this plan is very thorough than expected. In thinking about process moving forward, she is supportive of moving this forward to Council. She asked what the next steps are. She also asked what the back and forth looks like; when does it come back to the LRC. The EV Manager asked the commission to recommend approval of the plan so staff can take it to City Council, making it clear that the LRC is in support of the plan, knowing only $9M or less will be available to fund portions of the project with Front Street as the priority. Council would then adopt the plan, and staff would put out an RFP for the next stage of design