Second public session draws a crowd

Dec 19, 2017 at 11:58 pm by Observer-Review


Second public session draws a crowd ADVERTISEMENT

Second public session draws a crowd

WATKINS GLEN--The second of three public workshops for the Watkins Glen $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative was held Wednesday, Dec. 13 at the Clute Park Community Center.
Project coordinators had a brief welcome for the some 150 people gathered and then broke the participants into five different groups to brainstorm and discuss ideas for improvement for the Watkins downtown project. The five areas included Clute Park, downtown living, culture and entertainment, economic development and quality of life.
The break-out groups spent about 60 minutes discussing their specific downtown topic.
The preliminary strategies that have been identified for Watkins Glen includes the following:
1. Create employment in the downtown area by promoting co-working spaces or shared office space.
2. Support renovation of upper floor apartments, development of townhouses and condos, and new single-family housing.
3. Create pop-up shops and allow temporary uses to activate vacant retail space downtown.
4. Invest in winter recreational year-round living and tourism.
5. Establish a facade improvement program to visually improve building exteriors.
6. Develop additional downtown programming to increase community activities downtown.
7. Invest in streetscape improvements.
8. Create a sustainable downtown by promoting energy efficiency, green infrastructure and other green building practices.
The third workshop will be conducted in early 2018. The project coordinators will then coordinate the information and produce a draft document that will be shared at additional public meetings. A final project plan will be developed by spring, 2018 and then submitted to the state for their review.

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