City partners with WSU for downtown revitalization project
WSU’s Rural Communities Design Initiative collaborates with rural stakeholders to revitalize communities
Last updated 10/10/2019 at 10:07am
The city of Ritzville is partnering with Washington State University for a project aimed toward revitalizing downtown Ritzville as part of WSU’s Rural Communities Design Initiative.
The RCDI is a collaborative effort between several WSU departments and rural community partners. The RCDI seeks to find new ways to revitalize communities, attract investors and promote economic prosperity in rural communities by engaging with the community and pairing the creative resources of WSU design students with the goals of said community.
At the Sept. 17 Ritzville City Council meeting, the council authorized Mayor Gary Cook to sign an agreement with WSU. The agreement includes the city paying $5,800 for services, including covering the cost of student labor, travel to and from Ritzville, printing costs for presentations and more.
The money for the RCDI services will be pulled from the city’s Hennings Fund. The Hennings Fund is an endowment fund created by Willard and Patricia Hennings that is used to provide ongoing support for the city’s efforts to improve the public appearance of buildings, streets, sidewalks, schools, parks and more in the city. When it was first established several years ago, the fund was expected to generate roughly $40,000 per year.
Members of the RCDI—two instructors and four graduate students—were in Ritzville on Sept. 25 for the first phase of the project, which was to hold an invitation-only brainstorming meeting with community members and businesses in downtown Ritzville. The RCDI group stayed overnight in Ritzville and toured downtown.
The city expects to hear back from the RCDI members in January or February of 2020 with possible renditions, plans and options for the next phase of the project.
Initially, the project was focused on just the revitalization of the Pioneer Plaza, but has since been amended to include the revitalization of all of downtown Ritzville.
“What started out as looking at revitalizing the plaza and being able to use it for additional things for community stuff ended up being huge, because it’s [factoring in] transportation, partly the quiet zone, the Amtrak issue and a lot of things in town,” said Cook.
Councilmember Dennis Chamberlain attended the meeting, and said that there were businesses and organizations in attendance “that normally we don’t see in these meetings.” From his perspective, the comments and discussion were productive and the attendees were happy that they were invited.
“New perspectives were brought up, and it was really nice to here,” added councilmember Debbie Chapman. “There was a new energy with the business owners and the stakeholders that hasn’t been there before … and I’m really excited because of this new energy and funding possibilities to actually make this a reality.”
Cook agreed with Chapman. “With the people [at this meeting], I think we had a more comprehensive approach, because there were new ideas that came in,” said Cook, such as green spaces and parking-related issues. “They were very optimistic about it, or at least I am, anyway.”
Councilmember Dede Boyer asked why it was only limited to businesses on Main Avenue. Cook clarified that the original plan was for the revitalization of just Pioneer Plaza, and only businesses or organizations with building on or adjacent to the plaza were invited. Clerk-Treasurer Julie Flyckt added that the RCDI members asked for only 20 people to attend because of the meeting’s brainstorming session.
“The downtown really is the community’s center,” said Cook. “It wasn’t about leaving [other businesses and organizations] out, it was just like [Flyckt] said, it was restricted in numbers because of the brainstorming. It was just out of necessity.”
When the RCDI members return at the beginning of 2020, a community meeting will be held that is open for the public to attend. At this future meeting, Cook said, there will be a need to involve the entire community, and not just downtown businesses and organizations.
“The downtown really is the community’s center,” said Cook. “It wasn’t about leaving [other businesses and organizations] out, it was just like [Flyckt] said, it was restricted in numbers because of the brainstorming. It was just out of necessity.”
Previously, the RCDI has worked on design projects with cities and towns such as Rosalia, Hartline, Omak, Pateros and Tekoa. Past projects can be viewed at ruraldesign.wsu.edu/past-projects/.
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