What do you love about downtown?

From the City of Bellingham
The City asks:  What do you love about downtown Bellingham?  What do you wish for downtown? These questions are key to an ambitious downtown planning effort designed to identify actions our community can take to support a vibrant, thriving downtown.

An online survey, activities and prizes at the Bellingham Farmers Market and social media conversations are just a few of the ways people are invited to weigh in on the City’s Downtown Plan, a two-year planning effort led by the City of Bellingham and supported by various community partners.

Outreach is the first phase
Information gathered this fall about what is and is not working well downtown will feed into the next phase of the Downtown Plan process, when Bellingham residents, business owners and others will be invited in early 2012 to come together in a variety of ways to absorb feedback offered by the community, share more ideas and create solutions.

By mid-2012, City officials expect to be formulating a draft Downtown Plan for review by community members, stakeholder groups and City advisory committees. A final plan is expected to be presented to the Bellingham Planning Commission and Bellingham City Council for consideration during the first half of 2013.

Why downtown planning matters
The Downtown Plan, when completed in 2013, will be a blueprint for success to support business investment, building renovations, and new commercial and residential development. The plan will create an ambitious framework for future investments, amenities and improvements to be made by the City and others.

For more information about the Downtown Plan, visit www.cob.org/mydowntown.