City proceeds with plans for east downtown

For Hanford city leaders who believe downtown is the heart of the city, downtown redevelopment has long been an obsession. As they shift their focus from the maturing west side commercial area, City Council members are zeroing in on east Seventh Street, where they envision a movie theater, and its surroundings.

But they are doing more than just looking.

On Tuesday, the Hanford City Council hired a consultant to shepherd the city through defining the next steps toward a redevelopment of the less vibrant part of the historic downtown business district: the east side. The council voted 3-1 to hire M.W. Steele Group, a San Diego architectural and design firm, for $75,000, with Councilman Dave Thomas opposing.

Thomas cited the possibility that the state might take away $250,000 from the city's redevelopment money.

Deputy City Manager Hilary Straus reassured that the city would have enough fund balance to invest in downtown and the money is separate from the city general fund that pays for public safety, but Thomas was still unconvinced it's a good investment.

"No matter what pot of money it's coming from, it's all tax dollars," Thomas said. "This is my belief that we have enough business people right here in the city that can get together and come up with these answers. And I think we can save $75,000."

Fellow council members disagreed with Thomas.

Councilwoman Sue Sorensen welcomed a fresh perspective that Steele Group is expected to bring to the planning process.

"We need to keep doing business. We have a responsibility to keep the city running and keep moving forward," Sorensen said. "We can't just be spinning circles on the water ... The advantage that we have in being able to go out and contract for this type of work is so that we don't have to hire everybody to be on staff to have the skills that we need. I'm looking forward to seeing what (they) can bring in from out there that I don't know about."

With the hiring now official, M.W. Steele Group is moving fast to fulfill its tasks.

Over the next four months, the company will be organizing an intensive community outreach, including stakeholder interviews and establishing a steering committee to enable the community to direct the process.

A developer panel will also be formed as part of a market analysis, said Mark Steele, principal of the firm. Steele said the process is also intended to attract potential developers into the area.

But the main culmination of the process is expected to be the "design sharette" workshop that would be open to the public, a hands-on process driven by collaboration for improving and redeveloping east downtown that would be assembled by business owners, city officials, city promoters, designers and residents.

Steele Group has previously worked with similar processes for South Mill Creek in Bakersfield, Yokohl Ranch project in east Tulare County, and most prominently the neighborhood revitalization project near Fresno State and the Tower District Revitalization Streetscape Master Plan.

Straus said the market-based planning process involving a consultant is something that would draw developers.

"By doing a plan like this, I think we'd send a message to the development community that we're open to business, we've done a lot of planning and we have consensus among businesses and property owners regarding land uses they'd like to see," Straus said. "That's the kind of environment developers are looking for, and that's what this plan helps to communicate."

The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

(July 9, 2009)