Council, LRI plan downtown meeting

By BRENT SHRUM Western News Reporter

A proposed downtown renovation project estimated at $7.65 million will be the subject of a special meeting planned by the Libby City Council and Libby Revitalization Inc. at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, April 24, in the First National Bank community room.

At a meeting last month, the city council agreed to advertise for an engineer to develop plans for the project based on streetscape designs commissioned by LRI.

Hiring an engineer to define the scope of the project will allow the city to move toward establishing a special improvement district to serve as an initial source of local funding, one of the consultants who worked on the streetscape plan told the council last month.

An SID would be used to finance improvements within an area defined by the city. Property inside the district would assessed at a rate based on frontage, and that assessment would be used to repay bonds sold by the city. The bonds could be used as matching funds for various grant programs.

"Those funding sources want to see that community buy-in," said LRI director Betty Jo Wood.

While the streetscape project is a significant part of LRI's downtown plans, it is "just a piece of that pie," Wood said. The plan also covers economic development issues such as business recruitment and retention and promoting downtown events like Logger Days and Nordicfest, she said.

It's about bringing the business, social and aesthetic aspects together, Wood said.

"You still need to have these other components, or else it's just a pretty street and there's nothing there," she said.

The streetscape plan calls for a more attractive, pedestrian-friendly environment with elements such as sidewalk dining opportunities, art displays, installation of hanging flower baskets, relocating and restoring the railroad depot at the end of Mineral Avenue and improving business and wayfinding signs. A later phase of the project would include entry monuments, landscaping along the streets and narrowing crosswalks by extending corner curbs out into the street. A sculpture would be placed at the end of Mineral Avenue near the relocated depot, which would serve as a center for

historic displays.

"We'd like it just to be a more friendly environment for people to want to get out and wander around and shop, and that comes with the streetscape," Wood said.

A study has shown that peoples' perceived value of products increases when stores are located in an attractive, landscaped environment, Wood said.

The upcoming meeting is aimed partly at dispelling misconceptions about the streetscape plan and the SID, said Mayor Tony Berget.

"There's a lot of misinformation out there and a lot of disinformation," he said.

The city has endorsed the plan but is not locked into anything, Berget said.

"We haven't committed to anything," he said. "We like the plan, and we're going to move forward on financing the plan, but at any time we can back out," he said.

Creation of an SID would require approval of a majority of property owners within the district, Berget pointed out. Creation of the district could be stopped if protests are filed by owners assessed 50 percent of the cost or controlling 50 percent of the land area.

"This has to be a partnership with the downtown property owners," Berget said.