It's decision time for Moses Lake

With chunk of research done, Covey says 'time to start our own concept'

This is the first of a five-part series on the annual Moses Lake city council and staff retreat. Tomorrow, we will look at the possibility of new parks in Moses Lake.

MOSES LAKE — First, at the start of this decade, it was the developers and architects from Portland, Ore. and marketing expert Bill Burke from Spokane, who gave the first big push to revitalize downtown.

Then, last year, came trips to downtown Walla Walla and the visit of urban development guru Dan Burden. And then, last month, came the trip to Florida to see firsthand what Burden had done in other downtowns.

Now, Mayor Ron Covey and City Manager Joe Gavinski say it's time to make some decisions and start turning downtown Moses Lake and all the ideas gleaned during all the trips and visits, into a reality.

"The first decision the city council has to make is whether Third Avenue will be a destination or a thoroughfare," Gavinski told councilmembers and city staff during this weekend's annual retreat at Larson Recreation Center.

Gavinski, Covey and Community Development director Gilbert Alvarado traveled to Florida towns such as Orlando and Fort Pierce last month and had waited until the retreat to talk about the trip.

In Florida, the trio from up north saw several things they would like to implement in downtown Moses Lake, such as plenty of downtown multi-family housing, ("You gotta have bodies around," Alvarado said,) lower speed limits downtown and plenty of the type of businesses that drives people to stay there.

"(Downtown development) is not going to happen with just clothing stores, shoe stores and appliance stores," Alvarado said. "It's going to happen with coffee shops, bookstores and restaurants."

Alvarado added that the concepts were rather similar in Florida, with a few differences. Only once, during the 12-hour-a-day tours of the state, did they see back-in parking like that on Moses Lake's Dogwood Street.

The trip was an opportunity to learn what not to do, as well. Certain downtown housing units had their bedrooms facing the street, instead of their living rooms.

All of these cities had made a destination out of their downtown areas, they concurred, as opposed to Moses Lake, where downtown is a way for people to get to the larger shopping centers.

The trip was a chance to learn the history of these cities' downtown revitalization projects and how they compare with Moses Lake. Most of the towns they visited are older, and therefore have already gone through the process of reviving their downtowns.

"They are ahead of us," Covey said.

Most of these cities did seem to be more affluent than Moses Lake, Gavinski said, but that should not be a primary concern.

"You do it with what you have," he said.

Altogether, the city now has in its hands enough information to start developing its own concept.

"It was imperative to see these things firsthand," Covey said. "Now we have to have the fortitude to make decisions that benefit most."

Covey added that the city council and staff would never reach a total consensus among the citizens, pointing out the opposition the Dogwood Street back-in parking has encountered. Gavinski agreed.

"There is always going to be resistance to change," he said. "What I learned in the trip is that (the concepts) do work. It's easy to look at pictures, but seeing it gave us a (greater) understanding."