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Show t. r ' - - - f : I ' . i l ' ' i I 1 ' ; - i . ! ; : i. ... : ; . 1 ............ i f t - . .... i t ' . ..'vi . r .. . . . "' ! i - : . i i r: ; ; . ' 'J - i ' J I i ... i -. " '' M ! ; , i Terral Budge, Claflin Associates, Salt Lake City takes a portion of the public hearing on me Panguitch Main Street Project to familiarize PANGUITCH The Panguitch Pan-guitch City Council arrived early Tuesday evening, Jan. 11 for a workshop in which planners for the Streetscape Project on Center and Main streets presented their conceptual concep-tual designs for Panguitch. The group made the same presentation pre-sentation several hours later to some 50 business owners and residents. resi-dents. Presenters included Project Manager Man-ager for Sunrise Engineering Kim Wilson, hired to oversee the consultants on the project, make certain the application was completed comple-ted and in order, and that the conceptual con-ceptual master plan was assembled. Terral Budge, Claflin Associates, Associ-ates, Salt Lake City, was in charge of the landscape architecture for the project. Skip Hudson, Impact Con- residents in attendance with the finer points on the funding proposal. The project will enhance Panguitch Center and Main streets . Panguitch Residents Hear New Main Street Design Concepts suiting, Park City, supervised engineering engi-neering and traffic analysis criteria for the project. Wilson said all were hired in September 1999, at a projected cost of $23,000, to prepare a concept report and submit an enhancement appli-cation for grant funds. Wilson said a December 1999 open house was held followed by the second public hearing to formalize the concept and move the city along with funding. Local residents had been somewhat some-what skeptical of the entire project with rumors circulating for weeks that trees were going to line Center and Main streets in Panguitch, blocking views and access to businesses and narrowing the lanes on Highway 89 into Panguitch. Wilson sought to dispel the rumors by provi-ding details of the project. He explained that the funding application is for ISTEA moneys funded through the Federal Department Depart-ment of Transportation. This year the Utah Department of Transportation Transpor-tation (UDOT) received $3 million for these enhancement applications. "It's an 8020 match," said Wilson, "so the city gets a 5 to 1 ratio if they are successful in making application." appli-cation." The application is due in February Feb-ruary and a selection committee decides in June which applications to fund. Panguitch City must commit com-mit to $50,000 a year for two years, Wilson said. Cities apply under one of eight categories and the proposed project qualifies under landscaping. "The importance of that," said Wilson, "is that this year landscaping is a priority." Priorities must cycle through all eight categories, so if Panguitch doesn't go after it this year, it may be 5-6 years down the road before this type of project comes up on the priority list. Wilson said that UDOT is proposing pro-posing a street overlay in Panguitch and it would be good to go in and do any asphalt cutting for street lights and plumbing for sprinklers, prior to UDOT's doing its overlay. "The key items that were looked at in this concept," Wilson said, "was pedestrian safety, the number one issue and access to businesses all through town." Wilson said, "All the accesses will be maintained to each of the businesses and residences resi-dences along Main and Center streets. '"The lanes of traffic that now exist are not going to change, they will remain the same width and retain striping. We are not narrowing nar-rowing the lanes at all." We are giving a "visual impact" of narrowing nar-rowing because of the trees proposed pro-posed for planting on the sides of the streets. Vehicles and truck drivers dri-vers are expected to slow down when they see the visual narrowing. Present parking will be maintained main-tained except one corner space which is probably illegal, Wilson said. The design process, which will not start until the grant is successful suc-cessful will meet all the criteria for sight distance and turning radiuses. He said they will meet with each of the owners along Center and Main to assist in determining placement of trees. Terral Budge explained a miniature mini-ature mockup of the design proposal. pro-posal. "The concept," he said, "is really quite simple." The illusion of gate-ways or thresholds at the northern end of town on Highway 89 and at the eastern end of town on Highway 89 will be created with a special textured paving pattern on the street announcing arrival into the city 'Trees will line the highway giving only the illusion of the highway narrowing upon reaching the downtown area. Special street lighting will have a flavor of the past and will coordinate with the historical design of buildings. On the eastern end of town planners envision a median strip planted with trees. There may be a welcome sign, and possibly flags of some sort to show some color. Once inside the city of Panguitch, Pan-guitch, the intersections are treated with special paving. There are "bulb outs" which allow the planting of trees so that the road is visually but not physically narrowed. nar-rowed. At the intersection of Center and Main, two medians have been proposed. "It is important to realize," real-ize," Budge said, "that this is conceptual con-ceptual and that these can change." The proposal for the medians is to give a visual signal that this is the center of town where the highway turns. It is expected to give a visual understanding of the turn instead of relying only on signs and will'be planted to accomplish accom-plish the same goal. It also has special paving for a crosswalk. The medians are for safety, allowing pedestrians to stop midway and wait for traffic. The main purpose of the concept is not simply esthetic, Budge explained. "It's not really to 'pretty up' the community, although al-though that is a very significant side benefit of the project. (See MAIN STREET on Page 2A) MAIN STREET From Front Page , .; "The main objective is to create a 'pedestrian-scaled environment' downtown and along Hiehwav 69 so that people feel comfortable walking," Budge said. "They are encouraged to stop when they are driving through. It's an inviting . place, so it's for economic development devel-opment more than it is for esthetic purposes. That's the concept," he said. Mayor Jon Torgerson said, "I want to emphasize that a little bit too. You know this is supposed to be an economic development tool. And we want it to be that. We feel there are some really good things in this plan. We know there are some things that there are some concerns about. And if there's anything that has negative impact, then we'll remove it, because we don't want to have a negative impact as we try to develop the economy of the town. "We recognize we are competing with every town up and down the highway. We've got to do something some-thing that's a little different and unique to get people to stop here. We're anxious to have your input and your comments," the mayor said. The hearing was then opened for questions and answers. Panguitch resident Terry Andrews An-drews asked if the project included enhancing the parking behind the downtown business district and along the side streets. Kim Wilson responded that the $500,000 grant limits what funds can be spent for and such improvements do not qualify. "I've talked with the city about utilizing city forces to enhance en-hance parking on the side streets," he said. "Some of that just needs striping, some of it we have to do some chipseal and maybe some grading. "That will qualify the city for what is called the "soft match" on the enhancement application. So part of this concept is that it's a master plan of the community as a whole. The contract was not just sidewalk, curb to curb, it was a master plan concept down through there. So that's where this parking down behind the businesses comes in," Wilson said. He said that because the parking is on private property, each property prop-erty owner would have to be approached to cooperate. Andrews suggested that the vacant lot on the west side of the highway, created when a building burned down, might be purchased and used as a thoroughfare for off-street off-street parking. Mayor Torgerson said that one or two concepts had been looked at and further discussion needed to take place. Sarah Englestead asked about the possibility of crosswalks midway mid-way along the higway. Wilson responded that it had been proposed but that UDOT had a very negative response for safety reasons, since drivers expect pedestrians to cross at intersections. Leland Pollock, owner of the Chevron station at the southeast corner of Center and Main streets expressed concern that the proposed plan for the intersection would block off the access into my business. Wilson assured Pollock that the proposal is "merely a concept at this point and all those questions of access and sight distance" would be worked out, with medians left out, trees moved. Wilson said much (See MAIN STREET on Page 5A) MAIN STREET From Page 2A could be done by adjusting those accesses that would actually help the flow of vehicles at the Chevron. Pollock, still unconvinced, said, "This is a little scary to me. I mean, you're here in a public meeting and you're showing me pictures that are going to block the access to my business off. So, I trust what your saying, I hope." Wilson restated that "all of these businesses along here will be consulted before any work is done at all. Also, there will be additional addi-tional public meetings throughout the design process as well." In response to Pollock's concern about children riding bikes from behind trees, etc., Budge said that Center and Main would be a "true four-way stop." Pollock said that in 16 years on the corner, he had seen only one accident' involving a child, due he said to the lack of obstructions on the corner. Jim Yardley said Panguitch has "the prettiest Main street in the state of Utah ... and we don't need to clutter it up." Sharon Schlund, Panguitch resident and former business owner, said she loves the community and is "so happy here ... But you go through out Main street at night and it looks like it says 'go away from here' there is nothing that wants to bring people to stay here." She said that the local businesses and tourism support the community and something is needed to make people want to stay longer. Charlotte Clark, owner-manager of the Bryce Way Motel, said that when they first opened a motel, the most frequent comment she heard from tour agents and others coming through was, "why doesn't Panguitch Pan-guitch do something with their Main street?" She saaid that after curbs and gutters were added, most now think the street has been widened. "There's going to be a lot of concern about trees and decorating but you have to landscape" said Clark. "I don't care if it's your home or Main street, you have to landscape. There's no landscaping in Panguitch. ...I think it is a wonderful idea. Trees are not going to clutter the area," she said. "As a . business person this has been a long time coming and we need it." Wally Dodds, owner of Arby's, also located at the Chevron station, asked "since the purpose of this is economic development, have we done any research of places who have done something like this? 1 mean, this is going to cost us $100,000 are we going to recoup $100,000?" Brad Houston, former Panguitch Main Street project manager, was asked to respond to Dodds. He said he had spent seven years studying the issue was picked to answer this question having done his masters thesis on the subject. He said he studied what made communities viable, where and why people shopped, and also studied economically. "We studied communities all over the world and the one thing we could find that was consistent," said Houston, "was the width of streets, the width of sidewalks, whether or not there were trees on those sidewalks, and the height of buildings build-ings Getting pedestrians down on your sidewalks and people walking up and down will be the single biggest tie-in to economic development and economic growth. ... Everything that is proposed here has been very carefully planned." "I think it's important that you realize the history of pioneer communities ... pioneer communities commun-ities were laid out with trees in mind. These roads were supposed to be tree-lined. The first thing they did when they came to these communities was to begin to plant trees. And so the width of these roads work, from a psychological vantage point, if there are trees on them. "My research shows that when those trees are removed, streets go far beyond the width of comfort levels for pedestrians. And so, you're killing your business when you're not making it as "pedestrian-friendly" "pedestrian-friendly" an environment as it could be. ... I'd like to think of us as 'continuing the vision' that the original people had when they founded the area." Andrews asked about maintenance. mainte-nance. The discussion turned to the fact that Panguitch City employees would have to do the biggest portion of maintaining the upgrades and the city council seemed willing to write that into the actual master plan. Many other Panguitch residents expressed opinions throughout the evening, all of it in a very constructive, construc-tive, positive vein, giving elected ' city officials confidence that the concept as presented was favored by (See MAIN STREET on Page 7A) MAIN STREET From Page 5A residents and plenty of time would remain to work out more specifics if the grant application is funded in June. After the 90-minute public hearing ended with most people leaving, Mayor Torgerson said he felt most people present at the hearing were in support of the project. He said that resort tax revenues would have to go toward the approximate $45,000 each year and that that would still be insufficient insuf-ficient so the pay back would have to be in increments. It was noted that not one person had been absolutely against the Main Street Project and that the consultants made it very clear all potential problems . would be worked out with individual property owners. The council motioned to proceed with the application for funds for the Streetscape project with a proviso that property owners would have the final say in plans. It was stated further that a commitment of $20,000 would come annually from the resort tax moneys and also some funds from class C road revenues. Panguitch City was willing will-ing to make the commitment of the full $90,000 and the motion included in-cluded a statement that the city also would take on the maintenance and operation necessary to support this plan. |