Warden aims for a better looking downtown

WARDEN - Business owners and other community members met with Warden's City Council to discuss how to improve the downtown area.

The city recently received a $100,000 grant from the state's Transportation Improvement Board to fix sidewalks in the city's business area on Main Street.

Mayor Tony Massa invited business owners to a recent council meeting to discuss what they wanted from the project.

"Some of the ideas that have been brought up is getting some water into the sidewalks for a drip system for the (planters,) or whether we do some landscaping, lighting," he said. "We don't want to do something that they didn't want in the first place, so as good representative government we wanted to get some input from the businesses."

Mel Williams, the owner of the liquor store and second hand store, asked if people would be able to cross the concrete once it's poured.

"Are they going to pour during business hours? There are several of us who have businesses here in town, and that can be a real problem. I don't want to close my store if I can help it," he said. "If you say you can't walk on it for 12 hours, I'm out of business for a whole day."

Massa said city officials will ask the engineers if it was possible to solve the issue.

Chris Campbell, Main Street Hardware and Supply's owner, suggested lighting and a drip system for planters as well.

"You can't have enough lighting," Williams said, agreeing with Campbell and Massa.

Another business owner Massa spoke to suggested the mayor go to Connell and look at how they brought landscaping closer to the street. He compared it to similar landscaping in Moses Lake along Third Avenue.

Susie Barr, the Warden Development Council president, supported adding an irrigation system for the planters, and suggested taller light poles. She agreed with adding landscaping to the streets.

The mayor responded he asked public works to find out the cost of poles similar to the ones Moses Lake has along Third Avenue. The poles are rented from the Grant County PUD and cost $41 a month.

"That could end up being a fairly big expense for the city if we put a bunch of them in, but there is nothing saying we can't buy the poles and do it," Massa said. "The poles themselves are about $3,000 a piece ... and I don't know if the PUD would let us put them in. I would suppose if we put our own power box in and fed them power they would be our lights, and maybe we could find something cheaper."

Barr suggested finding a way to add flags for some national holidays, such as the Fourth of July and Memorial Day.

"If we have things that are near and dear to a group's heart, then flags might be taken by Boy Scouts, and some group may raise money for flags and the Boy Scouts put them out or something," she said.

Another idea Massa heard was adding benches to the downtown area, he said.

"I've heard some comments from some of the older folks, they really like to walk, but they need a place to sit down once in a while," he said.

Another resident suggested the city set up a committee to examine the changes, so they could do the research.

Attendees brought up other concerns unrelated to the project as well. Williams also suggested adding speed limit signs in the area, saying people seem to be driving up the street at about 35 to 40 mph. The speed limit in the area is 25 mph.

"Granted, they're mostly teenagers. Maybe you can get with the school administrators and see if they can't put something out ... They can certainly get a bulletin out," he said.

Another resident questioned if the city could do anything about a store front in the city, which is being used for storage.

"If there are code violations, we'll have to deal with those violations," Massa said. "Hopefully somewhere down the road, we can make property in the downtown area valuable enough that it will be worth more than a storage building."

The building's owner has a business license, which is renewed every year, Massa said; adding the city invited the owner to the meeting.

"The weed pile is cleaned up in the back," Massa said. "We're just going to have to take it one block and one place at a time, and try as we can and hopefully people will come along, and I hate to say it, but that's the best answer I have for you right now."

Barr said the storage isn't an issue, but the paper on the windows is slipping down.

"It's crumpled. It's rain dripped and that part looks terrible," she said.