Debra Patzer has a question for the business owners and residents of the Redbud City — "Do you see what I see?" She's not just reciting a line from a carol on Christmas morning, either. Patzer is the Executive Director of the Downtown Development Authority for the City of Buchanan — the Redbud City. She's working hard to create the future for the community, in keeping with her organization's tag line — "Preserving the past — Creating the Future."
Last year Patzer's Downtown Development Authority updated its Tax Increment Financing Plan (TIF) as well as its Downtown Development Plan to include a wide range of activities designed to fulfill the statutory mandates of economic development and historic preservation, among other things, in the downtown district.
The redesign of Mill Alley was a project that was recognized as a priority and is underway – that’s part of the preserving the past.
This year, the DDA has really focused on what is needed now to create the future for downtown. What has repeatedly come to the surface of the discussion is how to strengthen the retail base and variety of businesses in the downtown.
The 2003 Downtown Blueprint Plan done by consultants Hyett Palma suggests allowing retail uses as "permitted uses" in the downtown on the first or ground floor of downtown buildings, but prohibiting non-retail uses on the first floor of those same buildings, essentially allowing them on the first floor only as a special use and relegating them to second and third floor uses.
A Special Use would require a prospective business to obtain approval from the Planning Commission before they could locate on the first floor in the central business district. That idea was presented to the Planning Commission and they felt they needed to hear from the downtown businesses, themselves, about how they felt about the idea.
The 2003 Blueprint offers the idea that non-retail uses create “dead zones” in the downtown because there is nothing to motivate shoppers to walk in the door and make a purchase. The DDA also discussed the idea of “dead zones” in the downtown and felt that dead zones were created by vacant and underused buildings and by businesses that were not open most days of the week, or did not have or post regular hours. Basically, If the door is closed and the lights are out, it doesn’t matter what kind of business it is, it doesn’t help the downtown community.
The DDA also felt that more input was needed from downtown business and property owners about how they vision the future there. To that end, the DDA is hosting a work session, with the Planning Commission, on Monday, March 21, 2016 at City Hall, at 6:30 pm. The purpose of the work session is to discuss the future of the downtown – do you see what I see?
Patzer says the DDA needs to hear from any and all business and/or property owners in the downtown. They need to know four things:
- Who is your target market?
- How do you get your target market through the door?
- Do you have a business plan?
- How do you see the future downtown?
If you care about downtown Buchanan the DDA needs to hear from you. The public is invited to attend and all comments are welcome. What do you see? Patzer says the community needs to build the future on a solid foundation of pertinent, relevant information. She says "the central business district is a downtown community of independent business owners, and that’s not an oxymoron. While we celebrate our independent businesses, we are first and foremost a community. We’re all in this together. See you Monday, March 21st."
