2.0. HRSR 03-10-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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tion and the vision the city has for the project. Those developers who are interested at that point and those that remain good prospects, should be asked to meet with the EDA, HRA and/or City Council in a semi-formal interview. The developer that is seen as the best fit should then be selected to be a part of a "team," of which the city is a very active partner. This process will more quickly identify those that can perform according to the city's desires, and is a more active approach to finding a development partner. This process (in fact, any development process) should be expected to take a minimum of 18 months. The advantage is that the city and the developer end up working together to make the right things happen. Care must be exercised in this process —developers do not typically hold the same regard for a community's values and vision. Even as they advocate for a "market-tested" product (a building they have built somewhere other than Monticello), their projects must "fit" the community's vision. Larger projects (such as the redevelopment of the mall, a hotel or other large projects) would likely involve developers from outside of Monticello. They will be interested because there is a market here, but the community will still need to "market" its local assets to get the best product. In these types of projects the city will undoubtedly be asked to play a role; when the City becomes involved (assem- bling land or providing other financial assistance), they trade those assets for a movement by the developer toward the community's vision. Economic viabil- ity can still be achieved even though it is not a standard developer product, but the city will have to play a very active role to make the equation balance. . Private sector development usually cannot achieve the intentions of a revital- ization effort. In this plan, centers of activity would be created to promote economic viability and to spur local and outside interests to commit to private sector investment. Some of the centers of activity will be private sector initia- tives that are funded, in part, by the community; some will be public sector activities that are funded entirely by the community. The concept of the "new bridge" focuses on the creation of centers of activity Centers of Activity within a clearly defined downtown boundary. This allows for the attractions to be created that draw people to downtown, but does not permit for the uses of downtown to sprawl across lines that are oriented to neighborhood uses. The centers of activity idea is important because the downtown needs people — customers — to survive; without more people, downtown will languish. Services like a post office or a bank encourage people to come to downtown on a regular basis; grocery stores also generate frequent visits by its customers. The goal of the plan is to keep those uses in downtown and create new uses that will continue to draw people. New functions and uses serve the activity center goal in this plan. A civic and institutional core will become the "new bridge," linking the riverfront and existing downtown to the Monticello mall with uses serving the civic and social functions of the Monticello community: a City Hall, library, family cen- ter, facility for county services, and history, arts and culture center -- like the - A New Bridge L Revitalizing Monticello's Downtown and RIVerfront` ^ Page 3:5