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What does quality of life mean to you? And how might Main Street enhance your quality of life? What would Main Street need to look like in order to give you great pride in your community and the desire to show it off to visitors and friends? These are all things our community discussed in preparation for design:SD and were at the forefront when the design team was here back in March.
This is our second post in the design:SD ‘Spotlight’ Series, and today we will look at Main Street Concepts presented by the design team. Each one of their suggestions was based on the fact that design and architecture can influence quality of life in Deuel County. Quality of life is arguably the most important aspect of Deuel Area Development’s (DADi’s) work because it is a crucial element in retaining current residents, attracting new residents, and sustaining our community for years into the future.
The design team made many recommendations for our Deuel County main streets, and all of the recommendations embodied the 10 Principles of Livable Communities established by the American Institute of Architects. By utilizing these principles, the team suggested ways that we can take our communities to the next level. Although some of the ideas are specific to Clear Lake and Gary, the concepts are universal and can be applied to any community.
Gary Main Street Opportunities
In addition to the public attraction and historic presence of the former School for the Blind, the team suggested that Gary utilize existing historic buildings as corner attractions with mixed-uses – such as loft apartments on the second floor with business offices below. This creates variety and contributes to a vibrant and diverse community. Along Main Street they also suggested improved signage, street trees, landscaping, and outdoor seating in available open lots. The team encouraged the continued development of Gary as a compact, pedestrian-friendly community so that residents can walk to shops, services, jobs, and other resources.
Clear Lake Main Street Opportunities
Along the east side of Main Street, the team suggested outdoor public seating (some of which, by the way, has already happened with the new gazebo on Main Street!), and a line of street trees. Along the west side of the street, they identified areas that could be utilized as public spaces and park areas. Signage, awnings, mixed-use development (downtown residential housing business offices), and public venues were other recommendations.
Clear Lake Concepts
The next design board demonstrates concepts for four particular areas along Clear Lake’s Main Street. Two concepts highlight building restoration and window replacement. Although more expensive, building restoration is extremely important in order for us to retain the historic presence and unique character of Main Street and to increase vibrancy of the downtown area. Improved signage was also stressed as important.
The final two concepts presented on this board highlight Main Street landscape. Plantscapes can give life and vibrancy to an area and make Main Street more pedestrian friendly. Our landscape design should be done on a pedestrian scale with lower light poles, short fences, and green buffers.
Streetscape Nodes
In the final Main Street aspect, the design team looked specifically at how to use landscape to create a safe and livable downtown area. Here they addressed traffic and pedestrian safety by designing bump-out areas landscaped with trees in order to slow traffic (which is particularly relevant for Highway 15 in Clear Lake). They also suggested a common theme of benches and street lights to be used at bump-out locations as well as a series of trees and planters. Trees, paving patterns, and seating areas along Main Street will all contribute to the sense of place and well-being in our community.
These Main Street opportunities and concepts introduced by the design team range from large to small. Little by little as these important projects are tackled, they will help build a stronger downtown neighborhood, and make Main Street an attractive place for businesses and people.
Design matters. Good design gives a community a magical feel; it attracts people, it draws people in, it gives residents pride, it keeps people here. Good design lends itself to ‘quality of life,’ which is something that DADi seeks to advance, preserve, and improve so that we can attract new residents, jobs, and investment. We are well on our way here in Deuel County, our residents have worked together with the design:SD team to create a relevant, useful, and exciting plan for our future. In the coming weeks, we will spotlight each of the design boards and explain what they mean for our community, and why they are important for our future.
One important aspect of good design is clear and strong gateways. Gateways help us understand how people enter our county and communities. Our goal is to create gateways that reinforce a sense of place – that give the community unique character, enhance the walking environment, and create pride. We want visitors to know when they’ve arrived, and to be enticed stop and take a look around. On all of the design boards, the red dashed lines represent car traffic, and yellow dots represent pedestrian trails.
Deuel County
Our primary Deuel County gateways are Hwy. 22, I-29, Hwy 15, and Hwy 212. These gateways present an opportunity to showcase what’s available in Deuel County to those passing through.
Clear Lake
In Clear Lake, there are three natural gateways. First is intersection of Hwy 15 and 22. Another gateway is the pivot toward the courthouse off of Main Street. The last is the entrance to Clear Lake from the North (near the park and 4-H buildings). A ‘gateway to the lake’ doesn’t currently exist, but the design team suggested that this would be an important part of the city’s future development.
Gary
The design team found that wayfinding in Gary is difficult as the entrance to downtown is complex and multiple turns are required. Because of this, visitors see much more of the community, and each portion of the route to downtown is an important part of a visitor’s first impression. Signage is critical in Gary to direct people to the downtown area and to the newly renovated blind school property.
Signage
Wayfinding signage is an opportunity for us to create county-wide cohesiveness and connection through a common look and feel. The design team provided examples of ways to create a county identity and to connect individual communities through large and small scale signs that can be used for all community gateways and events and attractions in the area.
Groups have already formed to begin implementation, and it’s never too late to jump on board, we’d love for you to get involved! Please contact Briana Hoffman at 874-8038 or Briana.hoffman@rurallearningcenter.org for more information.
It’s time for the rubber to hit the road, and wow! our people have really stepped up! ‘The Big Meeting,’ our first step in the implementation of Deuel’s Design:SD design concepts, was a great success. At least 50 were in attendance at the Deuel County 4H Center last night, and many attendees were fresh faces to this effort, energized and excited about improving their community. Meeting participants chose their main area of interest among the 5 major design board categories including: branding/connecting the communities, main street beautification, housing, Clear Lake redevelopment, and Gary redevelopment. Each group then chose at least one short-term project and one long-term project to start work on immediately. Clear Lake’s 125th and Gary 4th of July celebrations this summer served as a great deadline to get some of the initial short-term work kicked into high gear.
Below is a listing for each current short-term and long-term projects within the 5 major design categories. This is an open invitation as always, so if any of these projects sound interesting to you, you are encouraged to contact the group leader and get involved! You can also contact Briana Hoffman on Briana.hoffman@rurallearningcenter.org or 605-881-2036 with any questions.
1. Clear Lake Redevelopment
Short-term project: Lake Ulven Clean-up date set for Sunday, May 17th at 1pm, potluck dinner to follow.
Long-term project: Walking path, Phase 1: Athletic fields loop, Phase 2: Path to Ulven Park / around Clear Lake.
Contact: Scottie Hagen at sjhagen@itctel.com and/or Pam Schmahl at pschmahl@tekord.com.
2. Main Street Beautification
Short-term project: A meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 6 at 5:15pm for Main Street property owners to discuss the kick-off of short-term beautification projects (i.e. fresh paint, window repairs, clean up, and affordable landscaping) of main street buildings and properties in preparation for Clear Lake’s 125th Celebration.
Long-term project: Permanent rehabilitation of main street historic & other buildings.
Contact: Sue Dejong at gsdejong@itctel.com home 874-2201 or work 874-2440.
3. Housing
Short-term project: Create a map of open lots for sale and development areas in Clear Lake. This map will assist anyone looking for a location to build a home in Clear Lake, and will be linked to the Clear Lake and Gary websites.
Long-term project: New 20-acre housing development in Clear Lake near the watertower, land is currently owned by East Central Development Corporation.
Contact: Anna Baumiller at prealty@itctel.com or 605-690-3907.
4. Gary Redevelopment
Short-term project: Landscaping (a line of trees on both sides of the street) to guide visitors to main attractions and business areas in town. Outdoor seating and landscaping along main street.
Long-term project: Development of downtown living options.
Contact: Heidi Nelson at heidi.nelson@dakwind.com or 272-2021.
5. Branding & Connecting the Communities
Short-term project: Development of a county-wide calendar to coordinate and inform citizens and visitors all area events and activities.
Long-term project: Unified signage at gateways into Deuel County and all major community entrance points.
Contact: Kathy Nevins at knevins@itctel.com or 874-5216.
Thanks to everyone involved, you’re doing great!
Deuel Area Development, Inc (DADi) would like to invite the you all to attend ‘The Big Meeting’ on Thursday, April 30th at 5:15pm at the Deuel County 4H Service Center. The purpose of this meeting is review the design board results of Design:SD, Project Deuel County, and to prioritize, organize, and begin implementation of the recommendations suggested by Design:SD, Project Deuel County. We will form project teams based around your personal interest, and will each team will identify which projects they would like to work on (i.e. outdoor seating on main street, signage, disc golf course at Clear Lake, walking path, etc). Our goal is also to utilize existing area volunteer & civic organizations to participate in and contribute to the projects, and each group will discuss how they might involve the group(s) they are involved in.
The 25 design boards fall into five major categories:
· Connecting the communities
(unified wayfinding signage, county-wide communication strategies)
· Beautify Main Street
(outdoor seating, landscaping, street lighting, bump-outs along Hwy 15, unified signage)
· Clear Lake redevelopment
(disc golf course, walking path / bike trails to athletic fields and lake, rejuvenate and develop parks)
· Gary redevelopment
(develop downtown living options, stronger connection from downtown to Blind School, landmark at Hwy 101 entrance to town, housing redevelopment in certain areas)
· Housing development
(locate areas for redevelopment, rehab properties for affordable starter homes, new developments)
· Branding
(identify and develop a unique identity, brand attributes, and brand target for county and communities)
Join us on Thursday and bring a friend (or two!). Let’s oin together to make a lasting difference in our community. The more people we have working together, the more momentum we will have, the quicker these visions will become reality. See you Thursday!
Whirlwind… the last few days… need I say more?!? After months of preparation, design:SD, Project Deuel County has come and gone, and totally rocked Deuel County in the time in between. The Design Team trickled in on last Wednesday night (March 25) and after some serious Foosball tournaments in Gary, turned up on Thursday morning with their game faces on for three intense days of community design and visioning. The team consisted of 18 architects, community planners and development professionals, and the lone civil engineer, Deuel School student, and local artist. The team’s tasks were twofold: 1) to help Deuel County see our reality and 2) to present some new possibilities for our future.
To put it bluntly… they worked their butts off, working into the wee hours of the night, and on Saturday morning the team presented a record number of ‘design boards’ to all of us in Deuel County.
My colleague, Mike Knutson, design:SD team member & author of the ReImagine Rural blog, summed up the general themes and insights from the design charrette in Deuel County…
Plan: Whether it’s the physical appearance of the community or economic development, creating plans will help the community use its limited financial resources more efficiently.
Develop gateways: The community could benefit from improving design elements that direct visitors to key public places. For instance, local residents may know how to get to Main Street, to the school, or to the city park, but visitors probably don’t. There are numerous design elements that could help, including signage.
Work together: Most rural communities have a strong history of coming together in times of need, and we definitely saw evidence of this in Deuel County. But all communities benefit by collaborating with other towns in the county as well as those outside the county.
Beautify Main Street: Each of the communities has an opportunity to improve the aesthetics of their main street areas. Doing so will send the message to visitors that something good is happening in the community and it can help spur retail development.
So… what’s next??
‘The BIG Meeting.’ On Thursday, April 30th at 5:15pm in the Deuel County 4H Center, DADi will host this ‘Big Meeting’ and invite all local organizations, entities, and citizens to participate and begin to identify which “piece of the puzzle” (i.e. housing, recreation, etc) they are interested in contributing to. From there we will begin to prioritize which projects are the most important for us at this point in time for us focus on for the future of our community.
The team’s expertise and dedication to the effort was truly remarkable. They were faced with long days, information overload, and the considerable challenge of looking at sustainable community design through a county-wide lens. But they rocked, they rolled, and they did it with style. They left Deuel County with visions for our future that make sense to us; visions that we can use to guide our development for years into the future. Thank you design:SD!!
Here is the entire slideshow of all 25 design boards.
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