{"id":307,"date":"2015-01-09T18:49:27","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T18:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meltropolis.com\/blog\/?p=307"},"modified":"2015-01-10T20:30:20","modified_gmt":"2015-01-10T20:30:20","slug":"twenty-years-revitalizing-downtown-ferndale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.meltropolis.com\/blog\/twenty-years-revitalizing-downtown-ferndale\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty Years: Revitalizing Downtown Ferndale"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the December 2014 Ferndale Friends issue, I responded to questions about the 3-60 development project<\/a>. My intent was to expand on that\u00a0response here, but that intent evolved into answering my personal question \u201cwhen DID Ferndale determine to build higher-density, mixed use office and residential in\u00a0the downtown<\/em>?\u201d \u00a0Essentially, I \u201cscoped creeped\u201d my original post idea, instead thought a historical summary of Ferndale’s long-term planning might be useful.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
West Troy Parking Lot: recommended for mixed-use, residential and\/or office space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the city staff and city council continues to review the parking and financial studies to determine the city\u2019s cost to build a parking deck for the 3-60 project, it was important for me to take a step back to summarize the Ferndale Downtown Development Authority’s and city’s master planning efforts to develop a long-term plan\u00a0designed to\u00a0spur\u00a0economic growth and downtown revitalization.<\/p>\n

What\u00a0I do know\u00a0is that developers are interested in Ferndale. If the city decides to forgo the 3-60 proposal,\u00a0the city and DDA will need to continue to manage developer interest.<\/p>\n

This post is more about the \u201cwhy\u201d and \u201chow\u201d Ferndale articulated the need to revitalize and redevelop the\u00a0downtown district.<\/p>\n

Downtown Ferndale\u2019s Revitalization Vision<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ferndale has been a community leader in planning for its future. \u00a0As a result of a forward-thinking and consistently following recommendations in various plans,\u00a0Downtown Ferndale has transformed into a special, unique and inviting district.<\/p>\n

As an older inner-ring suburb, Ferndale citizens and businesses recognized the need to change how the city revitalizes its downtown. \u00a0Together citizens, business and city government applied our city\u2019s creative, entrepreneurial spirit to plan the future of downtown differently. In the 1990\u2019s, led by city leaders and the Ferndale DDA, the downtown strategy was to reinvigorate a desolate central business district\u00a0into a thriving downtown that provided new opportunities to live and open a business, offer unique experiences for visitors and nurture a strong sense of community identity.<\/p>\n

As a community, we chose walkability over wider streets and more cars.
\nAs a community, we chose making our streets more safe and welcoming.
\nAs a community, we value entrepreneurship and making it easy to open a business in the city.
\nAs a community, we value diversity, inclusiveness and making opportunity for everyone.<\/p>\n

With these values and focus, the City and DDA invested in making improvements to Ferndale\u2019s physical design and environment by widening sidewalks, adding bike lanes, building safer pedestrian crosswalks, investing in bike parking, adding downtown furniture like benches and made the Downtown look more appealing with pretty landscaping of flowers, plants and trees. Combined, the results of these investments compounded over time, which cultivated Ferndale\u2019s strong sense of place where people want to start a family, start a business and live in or nearby a great small downtown. And visit our stores, restaurants and work here.<\/p>\n

Ferndale\u2019s transformation strategies that help the City and DDA achieve its revitalization vision for the community and Downtown include:<\/p>\n