Meeting gives Cape residents first look at plan for downtown sidewalks

Residents of Cape Girardeau had their first opportunity to hear about a plan to replace downtown sidewalks at a Thursday meeting held at the former federal building on Broadway.

A 30-minute presentation was given by city staff and project consultants from Horner & Shifrin and SWT Design.

"We're here for a downtown sidewalk project, but as you can see from the screen, we're also here to talk about the business district sidewalk and placemaking plan," city engineer Casey Brunke said.

The city has an interest in replacing the downtown lights maintained by the special business district. The infrastructure is beneath the sidewalks, which the city also has recognized needs attention, so staff determined it was most efficient to combine both projects.

The overall downtown sidewalk project will happen in phases, starting with Water, Main, Spanish and Themis streets. The first phase is the only one with funding at this time. About $150,000 in casino revenue set aside for downtown and riverfront area projects and about $800,000 allocated from Transportation Trust Fund 4 will go toward the project. Brunke said construction could begin next spring.

Jim Wolterman led the presentations for SWT. He reminded the audience of about 40 people the roughly drawn plans and suggestions from the design team were not set in stone.

"These are only thoughts and ideas to spur conversation," he said.

He explained the planning process, which consisted of four steps: developing a vision, establishing an approach, conducting analysis and drawing up conceptual design ideas.

To create a vision, Wolterman said points to keep in mind are ways to connect the community, strengthen economic development, attract visitors and "create a sense of place."

The final point leads to the second step in the planning process, establishing an approach. It addresses placemaking, which SWT Design members described as "design for the human experience" by providing "affordances" that encourage action.

Benches, green space, walkways and shady areas encourage visitors to engage in some type of action, from resting to playing.

Some of the affordances suggested by SWT included adding more trees in the Main Street area near the Red House Interpretive Center, specialty paving with no curbs and special road crossings for pedestrians.

"[We imagine] having crossings every so often for more safety for pedestrians and to slow down traffic at the same time," said Klaus-Dieter Rausch, who also was involved in the Broadway streetscape project.

The crossings were included on Main and Spanish streets in the presented plans.

The team envisioned the parking lot at the corner of Main and Independence streets with more trees around the perimeter and an outdoor plaza built in the corner closest to the intersection. It could include water amenities, host a market or be a gathering place for an event, Wolterman said.

Plan B for the parking-lot area design included a smaller plaza and a walkway beyond the Melvin Gateley Rose Garden and Red House connecting to a river overlook.

With an overlook, "you could actually look over the wall to have that connectivity to the river," Wolterman said.

With all the planning, Wolterman said the team kept parking needs in mind.

"Parking counts will actually be higher than what they are today because we know that's important," he said.

He also said it's important to keep in mind spaces can have more than one use. A parking area still could be used for certain events.

After the presentation, those in the audience were asked to fill out a comment card and leave it with city staff.

Input from the public will be used to shape more specific plans, which will be presented at a public meeting in October or November.

srinehart@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.