Downtown expert will create Slidell proposal
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – Longtime Olde Towne business leaders like Brenda Case have sat through many a meeting that was designed to create a big plan to revitalize the historic downtown center of Slidell.
On Thursday night at the Slidell Auditorium a crowd of approximately 80 people were there for another one, and as Case said, “you can’t give up.”
For more than 20 years there have been various efforts to improve Olde Towne, bring new businesses and find a way to create the spark for tremendous economic development. And while Olde Towne is currently thriving far better today than it ever has, with an abundance of restaurants, bars and places to go, the business community there is still hoping for more.
Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer began the process for a new Master Plan again last Thursday night, spearheading an appearance by community planner Phil Walker, who brings over 30 years of experience to the table from a multitude of other cities where he has led the way to create plans for historic downtown districts.
Walker had a brisk and concise 30-minute visual presentation, showing many other cities around the country where he created plans that brought, in most cases, an infusion of economic growth, as well as new aspects to downtown regions that were previously living in the past.
The meeting at the Auditorium was the first step in the process for Slidell’s Olde Towne, initially to even see if a plan from Walker is accepted. The consultant from Nashville, TN, spent Thursday and Friday in Slidell interviewing business owners and Olde Towne residents, while touring the area extensively.
At the local meeting there were many suggestions and comments from the public about what were concerns and ideas about Olde Towne. Walker started the presentation off by answering one question he hears a lot.
“Many people wonder why you should be concerned about the historic center of town, and why it needs to be a place full of activity,” he said. “It’s because it is the historic and cultural center of the city, and it is a place that is normally very unique to any community.
“If you drive around the outskirts of cities the size of Slidell they all look very much the same. But it’s the downtown district that is special, kind of the post card location for Slidell or any other city,” he said.
Walker will take all the information he gathered in two days, as well as the remarks from locals, and create a Master Plan for Olde Towne that will be brought to Cromer and the City Council. Cromer said the cost to hire Walker to implement the plan could be anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000, depending on how extensive it is.
Walker said many communities want to see development in their historic center, but without a definitive plan there is no blueprint for everyone to follow and remain on the same page.
“People judge a community by their downtown,” he said. “Think of cities you have visited, and how many times you found their downtown area and loved it.”
Walker said that in his tour of Olde Towne he was impressed “with how many restaurants and bars you have in a small area. And the fact the area is full of cars on a Thursday night, as well as the weekend, says something good. The truth is that if a downtown does not have a parking problem, then they really have a problem.”
Walker showed numerous pictures of areas he rehabilitated and renovated in other downtown areas, frequently taking abandoned buildings and turning them into great businesses, or bringing an entirely new use to a park. He also suggested that any new city buildings or offices that are needed for Slidell should be put in Olde Towne since they draw so much traffic, which is usually followed by other businesses.
Funding all this potential work can come partially from the city, but Walker said that historic districts rank higher on the list when it comes to seeking federal grants. He detailed many other projects he had overseen and showed a high percentage of federal dollars that were obtained.
When the Q&A session began, there was not surprisingly a lot of comments about how Olde Towne can be more easily connected to Heritage Park. Walker acknowledged it is a challenge due to the railroad tracks, as well as busy Front Street, but he said there are positively ways to make that happen.
“But the success of a Master Plan for Olde Towne doesn’t rely totally on how we connect to Heritage Park,” he said.
Cromer said that previously approved funding from the state for a crosswalk at the Front Street-Fremaux Avenue interchange is now aiming at 2023 for construction.
Several attendees also mentioned Slidell doing more with Griffith Park, next to the Auditorium, since it is closer to the main Olde Towne business area. There was also a question about how to draw the visitors to the Fremaux Town Center down to Olde Towne.
Walker did acknowledge that “planning is the easy part, implementation is the not so easy part,” but considering the track record he displayed from many other similar sized downtown areas of other cities, it is clear he will present a plan that has the potential to dramatically improve and change Olde Towne.
Then it will be in the hands of the City Council to decide if they are prepared to spend the money to hire Walker, and make a real attempt at doing something special with Olde Towne.
Cromer reminded the meeting guests, “you are the visionaries of what we will do there, and we are the facilitators. I know the city has had a number of plans in the past and they ended up on the shelf. I am promising you that if we agree on a Master Plan for Olde Towne I will help find ways to get it funded. We are not going to go half-way with this and then put it on the shelf.”