City officials, community leaders and representatives from RDG Planning and Design met this (Monday) afternoon to begin development of an action plan for the Highway 30 corridor in Carroll to make the community a more attractive place to live, work and shop. RDG Urban Planners, Charlie Cowell and Cory Scott, hosted the first meeting with the project’s steering committee to highlight what they should expect to see from the project over the next five months. Carroll Mayor, Dr. Eric Jensen, says he has high expectations for this effort. Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio
RDG got to work on the project last month and will spend the first few months of the study collecting and analyzing data, conducting small group interviews and discussions with residents and identifying previously unknown issues along the corridor. Cowell says the steering committee’s main purpose throughout the process will be helping RDG propose an action strategy that is the best fit for the community.
Everybody in the community, including commuting workers, will have the opportunity to voice their opinion through an online survey, which should be made available in early December. By January, RDG will have developed several conceptual ideas for the corridor. Those plans will be refined during February and into March with the final action plan proposed by the end of March. Steering committee members were asked what they see as their biggest concerns about the project. Many were worried about having a final proposal that ends up not being implemented, including Badding Construction President, Nick Badding.
RDG’s focus will be along Highway 30 and the nearby properties. They will also be looking at potential ideas for the former J.C. Penney store in downtown. RDG will be working in conjunction with Austin Farmer from The Retail Coach throughout the project.