Open house gives look at downtown project
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FAIRMONT-- In another effort to seek input from the public and share potential plans, the city of Fairmont held a community open house on Thursday regarding the downtown improvement project.
The open house was held in addition to a steering committee that was formed and has been meeting to discuss the project, a community survey that was put out a few weeks ago and an interactive comment map of the project area which is currently up through the end of next week.
At the open house, which was held from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Southern Minnesota Educational Campus (SMEC) building, city staff and representatives of Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH), the firm aiding the city in the project, were present, along with some members of the public including downtown business owners.
Four large poster boards showing various issues and opportunities within the project area were on display, as well as two large poster boards showing infrastructure precedents.
In a short presentation given to those gathered, Karl Weissenborn, a senior landscape architect with SEH, gave a general overview of the project, which includes eight blocks around the downtown area, Main Street to Park Street and Blue Earth Avenue to 4th Street.
"The goal of the project was identified early on when we were hired to do this work, to identify ideas and concepts that would revitalize downtown Fairmont, through infrastructure improvements, livability, economic vitality and community pride," Weissenborn said.
To start out, SEH looked at the city's comprehensive plan, which was done in 2021.
"One of the primary, the number one priority of six priorities, was called out in the comp plan, to revitalize downtown," Weissenborn said.
Members of SEH also physically toured the downtown area with city staff at the start of the project to access the roadway, parking, pedestrian flow, sidewalks, lighting, streetscape, furnishings, etc.
"The current streetscape, I understand, was constructed in 1999 so it's probably nearing the end of its life and that's been identified clearly in the survey that the pavers in the sidewalk are a definite issue," Weissenborn said.
As far as community engagement goes thus far, he said that the 12 member steering committee has been meeting twice a month and that just under 400 unique people have taken the online survey. So far, Weissenborn said 40 unique comments have been left on the interactive map.
Speaking to some of the high level work they're doing, Weissenborn said they're working on concept development by working through ideas for possible infrastructure elements.
"Talking about accessibility, sustainability, stormwater improvements, stormwater quality, open spaces, vegetation," he said.
Soon Weissenborn said they will do two schematic prototypical studies to lay out some of the best ideas.
"The intention is to look at these ideas and tease out what works, what fits the context of Fairmont, what doesn't work, what potentially is an easy thing that can be accomplished," he explained.
In doing that, he said they will be able to better estimate what the cost range of some of the concepts will be. Currently there is $1.2 million set aside, which was included in the 2025 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for the project. Weissenborn said they have already engaged a funding expert within their company who will be involved as well.
To close out his presentation, Weissenborn showed a timeline of the first steps of the project, which placed the community open house in the middle. Cost estimates should be available in the coming weeks so that the city can begin to budget for the project, which is tentatively set to begin next summer.
A link to the downtown Fairmont infrastructure improvements public comment map can be found on the city's website at fairmont.org.