The changes would have three main impacts, said City Manager Joshua Smith, who plans to meet with property owners April 28 to discuss the plans.
First, the broader sidewalks would pinch Main to a narrower two lanes that leaders hope will create a “traffic-calming” effect, meaning drivers psychologically would be less inclined to drive as quickly as they now do.
Shop owners hope they will take more notice of the storefronts, although there now are significant vacancies in the stretch.
Second, “It’s also going to allow us to have outdoor seating that otherwise we could not have,” Smith said.
He envisions having simple corrals built by the city in front of buildings whose owners want them. Dining would be allowed inside those areas, which would be constructed so the dining areas don’t extend far into the sidewalks where people are walking and those in wheelchairs or with strollers need space to roll.
Third, the broader walkways would allow Main Street to be lined with trees.
Gone would be the parking meters that now line both sides of the street, but Smith said the area actually would gain parking spaces through nearby lots that would be built. Officials have not yet decided whether or how those spaces would be metered.
“It’s definitely going to change things,” said Emily Schatz, a manager at J. Austin’s Riverbank Cafe at Main and B Streets, who likes the idea of sidewalk dining for customers. “I am just excited about them redoing Hamilton, period.”
“I’m all for the sidewalks being bigger,” said Cassie Kellum, owner of the new Ivy salon and gallery on Main, which opened March 1.
Rebecca Asher, who has owned Blades Salon in the area for nine years, sees advantages and drawbacks. She mainly worries lost street parking will make it difficult for her older customers during wet or snowy weather, but: “If they kept the sidewalks clean from the snow, I would definitely be for it.”
“We like the direction Main Street’s going,” said Frank Beuter, co-owner with Marcia Day of the newly opened Treasures on Main antiques and crafts store at 235 Main St. “We thought with what’s been going on along here, this would be a good fit. And so far it has been.”
Envisioning a special place
Smith has great hopes for the area.
“I want to make it feel like when you hit that area, that’s a special area,” he said. “It’s going to look different from any other area we have, because that’s probably going to be sort-of our entertainment district.”
“We’re trying to do to Main Street what we did to downtown in the last five years,” said CORE Fund Executive Director Mike Dingeldein, whose non-profit organization owns about a dozen buildings between E Street and the Great Miami River.
“There’s some challenges, and one of them is the narrowness of the sidewalks. The other is the perception of safe parking,” he said.
“We’re trying to deal with both of those issues, and then obviously use the buildings, not just the first floors but all the upper levels for housing as well,” Dingeldein said. “We’re hoping to put a lot of new residential properties on Main Street.”
“Feet on the street — that’s what we’re saying,” he said. “The right kind of feet on the street, too, with great housing.”
Smith envisions the area not only serving diners and shoppers already in Hamilton, but also the tens of thousands of visitors who will be drawn to an immense sports complex envisioned for the former Champion Paper mill not far to the north.
“It’s very important to me that we create a walkable environment,” Smith said, imagining a day when more than 2,000 vehicles are parked at the sports complex, and their drivers don’t want to get back into their cars and deal with traffic.
Instead, Smith pictures them riding in open-air buses that look like trolleys, sponsored by Hamilton and the complex’s developers, and running on 15-minute schedules during busy weekends.
The city, Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and CORE Fund are working with Northwest Consultants of Centerville on plans for the broadened sidewalks, streetlights, drainage systems, street trees, bike racks and other amenities.
Design work will start within 30 days, with construction next year, said city Public Works Director Rich Engel.
Some progress will start any day, when the CORE Fund will break ground on a parking area behind buildings northeast of the intersection of Main and D streets.
The CORE Fund plans to turn over most of those parking spots to the city, with some remaining to serve people who rent nearby apartments.
Separating the parking area from Main Street — in the same way nearby Armstead Park does — will be an outdoor plaza and greenspace area with seating that the CORE Fund is building next to the parking area. The plaza eventually may serve as a dining area for one or both buildings CORE now owns, but hopes to sell.
“The idea is to build those in every block of Main Street, as far as we can go,” Dingeldein said. “The early plan is to build one in the empty lot next to (the former) Tom’s Cigar Store, and then to look further down Main Street in the future, and do some more of them.”
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