AUG 13 PRESS
RELEASE: Downtown Happenings:
The Scappoose Business Development Advisory
Committee (BDAC) Leaps Ahead with a Plan for an Ambitious Vision for the City’s
Emerging Downtown Area
August 13, 2003 City Meeting Room, Scappoose.
Last night, the men and women business leaders and common
citizens of the Scappoose BDAC agreed to endorse an ambitious plan for the
achievement of a ‘downtown district to die for’.
Prompted by accelerated population growth, new business
interests in the area, and major movements in key sectors, such as the
development at the old TVBS site, the committee has initiated a diverse array of
mechanisms to help guide the anticipated growth ‘into the optimal downtown
result.’
Included in these measures are: 1) a new website to define
and prioritize objectives
www.ScappooseVision.com, 2) work on various funding projects such as
an ‘Urban Renewal District’, 3) discussion and movement toward a regular
commuter/tourist train to/from Portland, 4) adoption of recommendations of the
recently published report of the Oregon Downtown Development Association, 5)
recommendations for revision of city ordinances integrating ODDA
recommendations, 6) discussion toward the formation of a separate Chamber of
Commerce for Scappoose, 7) an increasingly active and informed Design
Subcommittee, 8) the writing and distribution of an ‘Inspirational Design
Handbook’ to assist businesses in achieving more pleasing architectural designs,
and 9) achievement of a Farmers’ Market through the Scappoose Community Club.
"The ODDA Report has helped to channel a growing enthusiasm
in the downtown district toward an achievable ideal,” said Bill Blank, Chairman
of the Design Subcommittee. “Their goal, ‘to create a unified, walkable,
inviting downtown that serves residents and visitors alike’ has sparked many
peoples’ imaginations.”
While admittedly most of the changes are long term, “we’ve
clearly reached a degree of inertia that some exciting things are beginning to
happen on their own”, said BDAC President, Michael Hafeman, “we’ve just got to
make sure that we work together to help them happen harmoniously.” Citizens are
encouraged to get involved or just to find out more by visiting
www.ScappooseVision.com or attending the BDAC meeting, the first Wednesday
at 7pm.
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