Opinions for downtown plan welcomed online

Earlier this month, an open house for the City of Cape Girardeau's Downtown Strategic Plan was held, with a presentation by consulting firm Arcturis.

As was done after the first open house, there is an online survey for you to provide your input. We encourage you to take advantage of this and let the City of Cape Girardeau and Old Town Cape know what you'd like the future of our downtown to look like.

"(Visitors) want to go to some place with a sense of place and a sense of character," Arcturis director Russ Volmert said at the open house. "Downtown has that."

The plan covers eight sections of downtown, including multiple sections of Main Street; Broadway; Fountain Street near the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus; and a corridor south of downtown that includes Good Hope, Sprigg, Frederick and Morgan Oak streets.

The plan is an extension of a downtown plan from 2009, which fostered the Marquette Tech District investment and helped build up more commercial activity on Broadway, Volmert said.

The online survey is available at surveymonkey.com/r/8FXQ5QS. The purpose of the plan is listed as a "Review of Public & Stakeholder Comments" and includes housing types, public restrooms, need/perception of parking, more attractions, activities for families, dining and entertainment options, better connectivity to and through downtown, development/growth opportunities and the embracing of historic character.

There's plenty of ideas and conceptual images to take a look at. Now's your chance to make your voice heard.

The next steps, according to the survey are to "consolidate alternative plans, develop DRAFT Master plan, meet with key stakeholders, revise DRAFT Master plan, finalize Master plan and plan adoption."