We can’t afford to put this off: The time is now to get moving on the ‘High Side’ project

Nearly a year ago, in May of last year, I attend­ed a pub­lic meet­ing in which Palmer Engineering pre­sent­ed two plans for the reha­bil­i­ta­tion of the block of Main Street stretch­ing from Lexington Avenue to Broadway. Although the focus of most folks was on the “high side” of the street, the plans addressed both sides of Main Street.

I wrote about that meet­ing for WinCity Voices on May 31. Both of the pro­posed Palmer plans great­ly impressed me. Without going into many details, I espe­cial­ly liked that most of the steps were removed and replaced by street-lev­el curbs, land­scap­ing, walls, and oth­er attrac­tive fea­tures. We don’t need those steps along the entire block. They are unsight­ly, out of scale for pedes­tri­an use, and take up too much valu­able side­walk space.  When I dri­ve through Main Street or walk on the oth­er side of the street, the view of the beau­ti­ful Victorian facades lin­ing the high side is marred by this impos­ing and intim­i­dat­ing expanse of con­crete steps.

During that meet­ing and since, the pub­lic has been giv­en ample oppor­tu­ni­ty to ask ques­tions of city offi­cials and Palmer rep­re­sen­ta­tives. Comments were also solicit­ed. I think I remem­ber respond­ing to a sur­vey as well. My point is that we have had almost a year to reg­is­ter our likes and dis­likes regard­ing the plans. Now, it seems there is some push­back from folks who are not sat­is­fied with the pro­pos­als. That is their right and privilege.

However, I believe the com­mu­ni­ty has had more than rea­son­able oppor­tu­ni­ties to ask ques­tions and reg­is­ter their opin­ions on this project.

I have had the priv­i­lege of engag­ing with down­town busi­ness peo­ple and devel­op­ers who have shared their con­cerns. They have expressed that the cur­rent state of Main Street is detri­men­tal to their oper­a­tions, mak­ing it chal­leng­ing to attract new shop own­ers. I have also been told that new busi­ness­es are ready to move in and that delay­ing this project will neg­a­tive­ly impact them.

It’s clear to me that every Clark County res­i­dent shares the aspi­ra­tion of a thriv­ing down­town where every build­ing is occu­pied by suc­cess­ful small businesses.

For the entire­ty of my nine-year res­i­dence in the area, the issue of “fix­ing the high side” has been a con­stant top­ic of dis­cus­sion. Long-time res­i­dents have told me that it has been an issue for far longer than that. However, until recent­ly, there had been no vis­i­ble progress. Now, with the city mov­ing for­ward with the project, I am filled with hope and excite­ment for the future of our down­town, which I believe is on the cusp of a renaissance.

This is not the time to start over. We’ve wait­ed long enough. We need to pro­ceed with one of the two Palmer designs and get to work on it as soon as pos­si­ble. I urge Winchester’s lead­ers to make this a priority.

The future of our beau­ti­ful down­town is at stake.