Giving Main Street a makeover

Williamsburg officials say they hope to know by early summer whether the city will be receiving a $1.4 million grant to spruce up Main Street, which some local business leaders say would be greatly appreciated.
Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison said the money will be used to replace sidewalks along Main Street and put brick borders around them, in addition to replacing existing street lights with old fashioned ones, and moving utility lines underground.
“It will just completely change the way Williamsburg looks now,” Harrison noted. “We are going from the bridge all the way up to the railroad tracks that is what we are doing first, and the block around the courthouse.”
After the utility lines are replaced, and the sidewalks redone, Harrison said he also plans to put benches along Main Street, and little vignettes for people to sit.
“There have been some people interested in possibly putting some little cafes, and things like that downtown. I just think it would tie everything in together,” Harrison said.
Harrison said the city is applying for a $1.4 million transportation enhancement grant, and that the city has already made it through the first of two phases of the grant application process.
“There are two phases of it. During the first phase, we had to submit an application applying for the grant, and we got accepted,” Harrison said. “Now we have 45 days to get in the full application. There is a list of things that we have to do on the full application.”
“The people, who own businesses and buildings downtown, I think they would jump on the bandwagon. We might be able to get some grant monies through the renaissance program where they can renovate their storefronts and all that. If we can all tie it together, I think it will just be something to tickle everybody to death,” Harrison said.
Several downtown business people say the effort is badly needed.
Paul Croley, who is a head of the city’s Renaissance on Main program, said he feels the business owners in not just downtown, but the surrounding area would benefit from a revitalized downtown.
“Renaissance on Main’s goal and function is to collectively work together to provide for growth downtown. It is just a collective effort of business people and friends of the community, who would like to see a better downtown. We work closely with the city,” Croley said adding he feels the grant effort fits in well with this goal. “There is a lot of support for the downtown revitalization.”
Jonathan Powers, a pharmacist at Maiden Drug Store since 1990, noted that the grant could be a big “shot in the arm” for downtown.
“Downtown is the heart of any community,” Powers said. “Right now there is really not much to draw people downtown. There aren’t many businesses. If it would enable downtown to be revitalized, then it would be a big plus.”
Powers said things like redoing the streetlights and putting in benches would be a plus by providing some uniformity to the town to tie it together.
“This would also go along with what the college has up there with the similar facades,” Powers said. “The old lights that a lot of the towns have as part of the renaissance program just add a lot of charm downtown.”
Kay Hill, who owns and operates Merry’s Flowers, said anything that would get the public to come down and visit businesses along Main Street would be huge.
“This would beautify downtown to get the wires and everything out. It would be nicer just to look out and around with all the wires gone. It would help downtown,” Hill said. “Our businesses are few and far between right now, so we need more people to come to Williamsburg. We would like for them to shop with their local people.”
If funding for the initiative is approved, Harrison said the city will also try to obtain grant money to replace some existing water and sewer lines downtown. The ideal would be to replace the waterlines at the same time as the utility lines are being placed underground, and then to replace the sidewalks, which would have to be replaced twice if the projects were done separately.
Harrison said he got the idea for placing the utility lines underground during a trip to Richmond, which had also placed their lines underground.
“I had heard about it before I got elected that a couple of places had done that. My wife, Maria, and I talked about that, and thought it would be nice if we could ever do that. When I heard about this grant, I thought this might be the way to go about doing this. As it turns out, there is a particular place in here where we would qualify to do utility relocation.
“The timing is going to be really, really critical so that if we get accepted in June for the $1.4 million, then we need to turn around, and try to quickly get a grant for the water and sewer. I am real excited. This is the one key issue when I got elected that I wanted to do. I wanted to beautify the community.”
Harrison said various efforts have gone into beautifying the community such as tearing down an old motel. He said city officials have a list of about 10 other dilapidated buildings that it hopes to tear down as well.
“I know we are asking for a lot of money. It is more money than what is usually asked for, but I would like to get it, and get it done right,” Harrison said. “Most places do it in blocks and phases. What I am asking is that our phase be Main Street up to the railroad tracks.
“I would love at some point to come back down Cumberland Avenue, and go further up the railroad tracks along Main Street. This is going to be just wonderful for our town. I think what the college has done with the colonial theme, and this just goes hand in hand. I think it would just tie this whole town together.
“We are already on the map with the things we have here, but with an old fashioned looking downtown with a beautiful college, and a waterpark, I think it might even bring in some businesses downtown, or even on the outskirts of town. I’m not just wanting to take care of downtown. This is the first step, and then we can build outward from there.”
Hill said she is hopeful that city’s effort would prompt more people to come downtown, and possibly more businesses to locate here or in the surrounding area.
“What we really need are more jobs in Whitley County,” Hill added. “We need small businesses and more opportunities for them to help young people get started. A small factory would be great if it hired 100 or 200 people, it would make a difference in our town.”