Boyertown visioning project underway
Public invited to give input Friday; public meeting planned for July
The Borough of Boyertown is on its way to becoming a destination town. Community leaders and stakeholders are currently working together to shape the future of Boyertown, and are seeking the public’s input.
A Town Visioning Workshop was held May 25, with stakeholders to collaborate on the themes and strategies. The goal now, according to main street manager Adrianne Blank, is to narrow down the ideas.
During the workshop meeting, project partners presented their findings regarding Boyertown’s assets and strengths, market opportunities and community transformation.
“This is about working collaboratively for the future of Boyertown,” said Mark Evans, project manager, Barton Partners. “We want to make sure this plan embraces the borough and its vision for the future.”
Evans presented the timeline of project tasks: discovery and listing (Jan. and Feb.); best practices (March); market research and analysis (March and April); downtown plan alternatives (May, June, July); marketing and promotion (June and July); draft downtown plan (July and Aug.).
Among the assets listed are: The Colebrookdale Railroad, the State Theatre, the community park, the library, Building a Better Boyertown and the visual arts businesses such as Tayler Backes, Dancing Tree Creations and Studio B. Wayfinding signage placement was discussed as a way for visitors to find these local attrac-
tions.
Chris Lankenau of Urban Partners addressed the topic of market opportunities — rental, office and retail.
“We think rental housing has a lot of opportunity. Places like Boyertown are increasingly popular places to live,” said Lankenau. He added how apartments in downtown Boyertown are limited, however new or rehabbed rental housing appears to be an opportunity.
The study was based on a 1-mile, 3-mile, and 5-mile radius. Lankenau said the 3-mile radius is the “sweet spot” based on spending power. He was not as optimistic about the office market, but thinks there’s opportunity in retail. The study was able to show which markets aren’t already saturated. Food services, clothing, sporting goods, and furniture were listed as appropriate retail categories. Lankenau said Boyertown could support 18 new restaurants, sitdown and limited service.
The meeting then segued into community transformation strategies. Graham Copeland of Downtown Dynamics explained the community coalition approach, an agreement among partnered organizations around a common agenda. He encouraged those in attendance to think about the long-term and what they want to achieve.
Various plans were posted around the room, with an option to focus on restaurants or arts and entertainment; attendees were asked to vote on which ones they favored. The planners said that combining both would enhance Boyertown’s status as a regional destination. The vote rendered a mixed response.
What’s next?
“The purpose of that meeting was to get community buy-in so we could move forward and take one of those to the next step,” said Adrianne Blank on June 1.
She said right now the goal is to determine which strategy people are passionate about — restaurants, Historic district, art niche, or all three. The next step is to narrow down some of the ideas and strategies, find partners to make them viable, and hold a community public meeting where everybody is invited.
“There are so many good ideas, but the reality is — is the borough behind them? Is the stakeholder that owns the property going to be on board?”
A steering committee has been meeting since January on this project. There has also been nine listening sessions held with various groups such as nonprofits, clubs, and others invested in the community. These were held to see what they like see for Boyertown in next five years.
Blank describes the vision a “working, moving target.” And they’re on a very fast track.
“Usually town visioning projects are a year and a half, on average. We started in January and we’re going to be done by the fall,” she said. Part of that has to do with the fact that Boyertown already has buyin from businesses and community support, and they’ve been working on these ideas since 2002.
The goal is to find three or four strategies to move forward with.
“We’ll going to have a public meeting and try to narrow down some of these strategies and see which ones are going to rise to the top so that by August or September, we have a good understanding of which direction to go and who can help us do that.”
The public meeting will be held in July.
Blank said there’s a lot of opportunity within the borough, and it’s about identifying the opportunities and identifying the hurdles.
“Some of these ideas are pushing the envelope, I think there’s a little push back with it but it’s also part of the growth,” she explained. “We’re going to come out of this with some really tangible strategies that people are excited about.”
During the Fourth Friday Art Walk in Boyertown on June 23 from 5 to 8 p.m., the Building a Better Boyertown office will be open. All of the photos and visions will be posted on the wall for the public. All community members are invited to the office to share feedback about the ideas.
“It’s great to talk about, but to really make it happen — that’s the challenge, that’s the fun part.”