Evan Vitale Consulting: Editorial: Is another step needed before hiring consulting firm on North Main …

Friday, September 18, 2015

Editorial: Is another step needed before hiring consulting firm on North Main … – The Elkhart Truth

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Posted at 4:15 a.m.

Elkhart city officials want to spend $39,600 with a South Bend consulting firm to study whether to change North Main Street.

Change is inevitable and planning for change makes sense. Sometimes you even have to spend money to find the best way forward.

But wouldn’t it be less expensive to survey area residents, even have a public meeting, about what’s wanted or needed in that area before moving ahead with hiring the firm?

City officials were smart to tell residents in September that a new parking lot could come in the spring and that traffic changes are being considered. And public input won’t get you design possibilities for a new parking lot that’s being proposed. A firm such as CHA Consulting that the city wants to hire for this project would need to do that.

Limiting traffic to two lanes, one each way, on the North Main Street bridge doesn’t make much sense on the face of it. Those who drive through there regularly won’t have trouble imagining a bottleneck as traffic comes from Main and two directions on Beardsley into downtown. Having bike lanes or managing how traffic moves so you don’t have to drag race to get into a turn lane would be welcome, but it’ll take a lot of convincing to get people to believe that restricting lanes further than they are is good for downtown.

If the city were to convert Washington and Jefferson streets from one-way to two-way streets, it would change traffic patterns around downtown. Many motorists use both streets to Second or Third streets to get around Main Street when the destination is on the other side of downtown. With Main Street being one lane in each direction thanks to angle parking, that’s not a bad thing.

Making lighting, sidewalk and landscaping improvements along North Main Street is smart too. The arrival of Iechyd Da Brewing on that side of downtown has brought more people, including many from out of town, to that part of Elkhart. Making it more hospitable and attractive is a wise investment, and nearby businesses would also benefit.

A new parking lot would benefit Iechyd Da, though there isn’t much parking for large public events at Island Park and having a city lot would have more benefit than just to one business.

Perhaps city officials need a design firm to propose specifics before they show the public or before they themselves can weigh the options, but the proposed $39,600 on a plan that the city may not adopt is nearly the amount of the average annual household income of $45,563 in this community.

The $6.7 million from the bond the city passed will fund a variety of improvements. Spending it wisely is important. Communicating potential changes and planning well are too. Perhaps spending this much with a design firm is needed, but if there were other, less expensive alternatives we’d welcome them.

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