Quincy council approves downtown revitalization plan
A framework for revitalization projects in downtown Quincy (pictured) was approved by the Quincy City Council this week. Parking was a concern for at least one council member and city officials said parking planning included in the document is not finalized.
R. HANS MILLER/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
QUINCY — A plan that provides a framework for possible improvements to downtown Quincy was approved by the Quincy City Council on July 19. The downtown revitalization plan was approved on a 5-1 vote, with Councilmember Dave Dormaier voting no.
“Each of the projects will still have to be vetted again to go out for design and construction,” Municipal Services Director Carl Worley said. “We would look at things again, and if there was something that just wasn’t going to work, if it was identified in the plan, that doesn’t mean we have to do it. It’s not anything in concrete.”
Worley said the plan doesn’t have any timeline for projects nor for obtaining funding. Any project proposed would have to be evaluated on its own merits, whether it was in the plan or not, he said.
Dormaier said he was concerned about the way the report addressed parking.
“A lot of the parking that is planned is planned on private property that the city has no control over,” Dormaier said.
Worley said via email to the Columbia Basin Herald that how parking will be handled is still to be determined.
“In the plan, those areas identified on private property are just potential areas for parking,” Worley wrote.
The problem has historical roots, he said.
“Downtown parking has always been an issue,” he wrote. “Each business is required to provide off-street parking based on the use or activity. These standards were not likely in place at the time the original downtown was developed, which brings us to the situation we are in today.”
There is parking within walking distance of downtown, he said, and one of the recommendations in the plan is to improve signage directing people to the areas where parking is available, such as city and Quincy School District property.
During the meeting, Dormaier suggested one possible solution would be one-way streets in the downtown area.
Worley said one-way streets had been considered, but the conclusion was they weren’t the best option.
“We tried to keep it from becoming a maze of one-way streets,” Worley said. “Or (one-way streets) were an option, but it was not necessarily what people would desire.”