Published: August 29, 2008 12:07 am         

Downtown plan getting updated

TERRE HAUTE — It has been six years since the Hyett-Palma study outlined an action plan for downtown Terre Haute.

Much has been accomplished, and now, city and Downtown Terre Haute Inc. officials are working with a planning consultant to update the vision for downtown.

On Thursday, representatives of the city and DTH Inc. took a walking tour of downtown with representatives of Storrow Kinsella, an Indianapolis-based consulting firm.

“We’ve gotten a lot of things done on that [Hyett-Palma] roadmap,” said Andrew Conner, executive director of Downtown Terre Haute Inc. “Now it’s time to update that.”

In September, the consultant will conduct a day-long workshop in which it will meet with downtown stakeholders to listen to their ideas and comments.

Areas likely to be addressed include transportation (getting around downtown); rebuilding the downtown (for example, downtown housing); environmentally-friendly initiatives; and economy and culture.

No date has been set for the workshop.

Storrow Kinsella will have a report by the end of the year, said Meg Storrow, a member of the consulting firm.

“We’re not doing a plan per se, but a visioning process to help coalesce ideas and help people decide some priorities for the next steps for downtown,” she said.

According to Conner, “This will be a common, agreed-upon vision by stakeholders so that we’re all moving in the same direction … We’ll know what everybody’s hopes and plans are.”

During a break in the tour, Storrow said, “a lot of good things are happening [downtown] … There is a lot of good momentum.”

Andrew Gast-Bray, another member of the consulting firm, said the downtown has “beautiful structures and wonderful opportunities.”

Others on the walking tour included Pat Martin, chief planner for the city of Terre Haute, as well as some members of the DTH Inc. design committee: Chairman Todd Nation, Ben Orman and Charlie Williams.

Once a shared vision for downtown is established, the next step would be a master plan, Martin said.

The latest effort is not necessarily intended to replace the Hyett-Palma plan, “but to update and modernize the downtown vision for Terre Haute, given the dramatic changes we’ve seen over the course of the past four years,” Martin said.

The city has a contract with Storrow Kinsella that was approved by the Board of Public Works and Safety. The consultant is on retainer and would be paid a maximum of $50,000, Martin said.

Martin said that from a personal standpoint, he would like to see the downtown “remain the heart and soul of Terre Haute and Vigo County. Personally, I want to see downtown Terre Haute come back to the grandeur that it once was.”

Conner said some of the goals in general are to bring more people and businesses downtown.

“We want to preserve the historical fabric we have … but to encourage new development as well,” he said.

Another goal is to have more residential space downtown. “There is a tremendous demand for high quality apartments downtown, and we’d like to see more of that,” Conner said.

One of the great opportunities, he said, “is to increase our engagement with the university and find ways to bring students downtown — to keep them in town on the weekends and at night,” he said.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.