13 November. 2007 | Times Herald

ST. CLAIR’S NEW VISION COMES TO LIFE

Drawing offers colorful view of city's plan

By NICOLE GERRING

ST. CLAIR – After taking suggestions from city officials a few weeks ago and making revisions, planners and architects have completed a final draft of the Downtown Vision Plan.

REVITALIZATION: St. Clair's architects created this drawing of the city's new Downtown Vision Plan – Illustration courtesy of St. Clair Chamber of Commerce

Sketches from the plan will soon be available on the St. Clair Downtown Development Authority Web site. The DDA will present the proposal to the City Council in January, DDA chairman Dan Lockwood said.  

The plan was created from public input gathered during a series of "charrette" workshops this summer. The DDA hired urban planners McKenna Associates Inc. of Northville and Ron and Roman Architects of Birmingham to work with area residents and business owners in developing the proposal.

The project, which was paid for by a state grant, the DDA and the St. Clair Foundation, cost $100,000.

Ideas include a new formal park with flower gardens, pruned hedges, new trees and paved paths at the corner of Riverside Avenue (M-29) and Clinton Avenue.

A "pinetoon" pontoon ferry could take visitors between the picnic area near the Charles F. Moore harbor area north of the Pine River across the river to a new boardwalk along Clinton Avenue, eliminating the need to walk to the drawbridge on Riverside Avenue.

The architects suggest adding streetlamps to a "Gaslight District," along South Third Street. Fred Moore Highway would be transformed into Fred Moore Parkway and receive updates that include an extension of existing bike paths and a landscaped median.

Although the City Council has yet to approve the plans, various committees already are working on implementing some of the suggestions, Lockwood said.

The planning commission will have a session Nov. 19 that will educate the public about open forum zoning, which focuses more on the physical aspects of buildings than what they are used for, he said.

The DDA would like to see the downtown rezoned as mixed-use commercial and residential, Lockwood said. The area is zoned commercial.

"You want to give a lot of flexibility to the developer," he said.

One of the plan's suggestions is to create live-work units along Third Street, which would attract new residents the downtown area who presumably would use the goods and services offered by downtown businesses.

Some members of the St. Clair Downtown Development Authority would like to expand the borders of the DDA district to better fulfill the goals of the Downtown Vision Plan. Lockwood said he would like to expand the district borders to include an area between Jay Street and Clinton Avenue. That area includes the city hall, library and fire department.

"We would be using DDA funds and the DDA would be writing grants to beautify that area," Lockwood said.

Councilman Butch Kindsvater, council liaison on the DDA, said many of the proposals in the plan are not expensive changes.

"It's something that council really needs to look at," he said. "I think there are some really good ideas that came out of it. A lot of it isn't costly changes, it is just landscaping, changing the looks of some of the boulevards, the streets. ... It's pretty much taking what we have right now, cleaning it up and making it look pleasing to everybody. I'm all behind that."