5.1. PCSR 08-24-2021 - Laserfiche WebLink

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E t i •�% 1 D D Y-0' S C A F Y' T V •. l I p, p Y Expand Downtown Develop a Downtown Master Plan The Downtown is sandwiched between the Mississippi Downtown Elk River is a beloved community asset that the River to the south and Highway 10 to the north,meaning City's stakeholders take pride in and are highly invested future growth will need to utilize strategic infill and in its growth and evolution.As a nearly built out district redevelopment and expand primarily east-west.In the with limited room for expansion,each opportunity for beginning phases of Downtown expansion,the City should new development and redevelopment has the potential to encourage the conversion of residential properties to influence the historic character of the area.Community commercial uses.(See the Downtown Waterfront graphic dialogue around recent development proposals under- on the following page for examples of these expansion score the need for a unified vision for the Downtown.While opportunity sites.)As the expanded Downtown becomes this Comprehensive Plan addresses economic develop- established and ripe for further investment,the City should ment in the Downtown,it does so at a high level. promote site assembly and comprehensive redevelopment of underutilized properties to more intense commercial The City should develop a Downtown Master Plan that and mixed-use developments.To support Downtown provides the clear policy direction needed to encourage expansion,the City should consider establishing a fee-in- and accommodate appropriate change and improvement lieu of parking fund or other funding mechanism in order while preserving the essential aspects of what makes to construct structured parking that would not only replace Downtown Elk River the heart of the community.A Down- surface parking lost to development but also provide addi- town Master Plan should provide the detailed analysis and tional spaces to support programming and events in the site-specific recommendations needed to promote Down- district. town expansion.Through a robust and Downtown specific public outreach process the Master Plan should: • Address design approaches to expanding pedestrian activity areas,access to the waterfront,pedestrian access over Highway 10,and connections to surrounding neigh- borhoods. • Include site-specific recommendations that address development capacity and the unique design consider- ation inherent to Downtown development. • Evaluate operations of the existing downtown street network and assess opportunities to"optimize"the network for operations improvements. • Assess the feasibility of one-way operations and eval- uate impacts of potential conversion from two-way to one-way operations. • Qualitatively evaluate pedestrian/multi-modal needs and opportunities in the downtown environment as part of the context for traffic operations goals. Elk River Comprehensive Plan Economic Development Plan 65 DRAFT FOR REVIEW ONLY