Bayfield Town Manager Chris La May wants to bring in a downtown revitalization group to look at Mill Street, Bayfield's historic town center.
Downtown Colorado Inc. (DCI) is a non-profit group that visits communities and provides technical assistance. Ignacio went through the process in 2009.
La May told town trustees this month that DCI would come do a "charette," sort of a community brainstorming session, meet with stakeholders, and come up with a work plan for the downtown. This would include things that could be done easily and things that would be long-term.
Grants are available to help pay to go through the DCI process, but La May said on Jan. 6, "We don't know if we qualify because we (the community) exceed the income limits. But we are working with DCI. It's about an $18,000 project. We've asked about a DOLA (State Department of Local Affairs) grant that would be 50:50. We have $5,000 budgeted... We're looking at moving forward with a technical assistance visit, contingent on the grant from DOLA."
The board will have to decide whether to do all the work this year or continue it into 2016, he said, and whether to take money from other budget lines such as economic development. Trustees generally favored doing everything this year.
Trustee Michelle Nelson didn't want to take all the economic development money for the downtown "when the majority of your sales tax is from elsewhere."
Trustee Ed Morlan, who is executive director of Region 9 Economic Development District, commented, "I've been involved in this with Ignacio and Silverton. It's a valuable process, but if the town doesn't have staff to carry on with it, it's difficult."
La May said he talked to area DOLA representative Ken Charles. "They may be looking at a grant to help communities implement their plans. I have experience with DCI from where I was before (coming to Bayfield). There was staff time and also volunteers for a downtown advisory committee." He clarified, "People other than those in this room."
Town board meetings rarely have anyone in the audience except a news reporter.
Morlan wanted to get the Bayfield Chamber of Commerce involved. Other trustees agreed.
"We can't do it without the chamber," Smith said. "We want them sitting at the table."
Town representatives made a pitch at the chamber's monthly meeting a couple days later. Chamber board members have indicated that they would like to work on the process. Trustees voted to apply to do the DCI process, contingent on getting the DOLA grant for 50:50 funding and on chamber participation.
The town did a visioning process in 2014 to identify how people want the town to be in the future. La May said revitalizing the downtown was one of the things identified.
Mayor Rick Smith commented, "I think the downtown is always the showcase. Towns that are successful in helping their downtown, it does spark development."
He added that he sees the downtown as a larger area than Mill Street.
On Jan. 20, La May presented options for the DCI visit, which will take two days. Trustees agreed with his recommendation to do this on March 16 and 17, moving the regular town board meeting to March 18.
