We
worked with the Chamber of Commerce, Planning Department, and City Council on
the design of streetscape improvements to the historic business district. The
project involved participatory planning and design workshops with a task force
composed of Chamber, City Council, and downtown property owners and merchants.
The historic downtown district has
begun to revitalize with the development of major residential and mixed use
developments within the city's urban growth area. The Chamber of Commerce and
City Council commissioned us to develop a preliminary design and engineering
program for parking, downtown park, sidewalk, and streetscape design
improvements.
Our
concepts established a series of design improvement zones centered on the
historic downtown district and a central axis along 4th Street extending from
the proposed hillclimb from the Nooksack River to the proposed new site for City
Hall at 4th and Main Street. A common vocabulary of street trees, lighting
standards, entry signage, and street furnishings unified the districts. Sidewalk
and street crosswalk paving materials, street furnishings, and the spacing of
lighting standards, increased in intensity to provide the most accents at the
center points of the axis at Centennial Plaza.
We
developed separate financing formulas to correspond with the level of
furnishings and improvements provided within each zone.