Five Steps towards Downtown as an Indispensible Place

What makes your downtown an indispensable place?

This is the essential question that should drive local economic development planning and project implementation in downtown areas:

Potential residents ask this question when looking for “just the right home.”
Potential business owners ask this question when looking for the perfect location for their new retail store, service business, office, or research and development center.
Potential visitors ask this question while deciding where to go on Friday night.

Years ago, “downtown” served as the indispensable community and commercial hub for surrounding agricultural areas - the place to be for all ages.

Many small town centers provided a market for farm products, a source of products and services for farmers, and railroad access to other markets.

“County seats” and the downtown areas of larger cities served as the central gathering place for the surrounding region, complete with government offices, schools, and a variety of entertainment venues and “watering holes.”

Today, technology, transportation improvements, and market changes have vastly increased the available choices for people to spend their time and money. Residents now commute to work and shopping across the metropolitan region. Business is conducted on the Internet, and most historic downtowns have been relegated to a niche market.

We know what once made downtown indispensable, but that old model will not work today. What we need to know is…

What will make “downtown” an indispensable place in the 21st Century?

To retain existing businesses and create new investment and growth opportunities, communities must do more than just respond and react. Implementation of an effective and coordinated economic development strategy is an essential part of making your downtown an indispensible place to work, shop, live, visit, and own a successful business.

The following are five steps for success in making (or re-making) your downtown into an indispensible place:

1. Building a strong framework for success first involves organization.

This can be accomplished through a local Chamber of Commerce, business association, or Downtown Development Authority (DDA) if one has been established.

2. A successful downtown should make effective use of available economic development tools, including:

Economic development planning – listening and looking for new opportunities
Implementation of a focused business retention and attraction program.
Physical improvement projects, such as parking, lighting, signage, barrier-free access, and facade improvements.
Coordinated hours of operation and special events.
Promotional website/blog and other coordinated advertising/promotions.
Ongoing communication and coordination between City officials and the business community.

3. A successful downtown needs local leadership and management.

The most successful downtowns are those that have someone who is responsible for managing projects, maintaining desired services (like a website), and coordinating communication. This could be a city planner or other city official, a DDA director, a contract employee, or a manager hired by a private business association or chamber of commerce.

4. To be successful, downtown businesses, developers, and potential investors should not have to fight City Hall.

For a downtown to be successful, all aspects of the community’s economic development program (zoning, master plan, development review, housing, recreation, CDBG, DDA, etc.) must effectively work together toward the same goals.

Too often, a community’s antiquated zoning ordinance places unnecessary roadblocks and overly-complicated approval processes in the way of creative redevelopment opportunities. A comprehensive ordinance update by a competent planning consultant with economic development experience may be a good first step to a brighter future for your downtown.

5. Long-term success requires ongoing evaluation and adjustment.

As circumstances change and your economic development strategy begins to bear fruit, it is important to evaluate what works best and what needs to be adjusted. Downtown stakeholders (elected and appointed local officials, business owners, etc.) must be prepared to adjust quickly to changing conditions and new opportunities.

Click here for more information on this topic, or to learn how Building Place Consultants can help your downtown become an indispensible place.

© 2009 Building Place - Rodney C. Nanney, AICP (www.buildingplace.net) - All rights reserved. Contact us here for information regarding reprinting, redistribution, or other use of this material. Excerpts may be quoted with proper attribution and a link to this website.

About the Author

As the principal planner and Zoning Guru for Building Place Consultants, Rodney C. Nanney, AICP is an innovative provider of solutions to community planning, zoning, and local economic development challenges. Mr. Nanney is a recognized zoning expert and the creator of the Place Zoning model for mixed-use neighborhoods and walkable communities.

An accomplished writer and public speaker, he also has the all-to-rare gift among planners of being able to effectively communicate planning and zoning concepts in plain language. He has spoken before audiences large and small, and as diverse as church groups, college students, elected officials, and elementary-age children.