The Beaumont City Council earlier this month adopted a plan to revitalize the city’s downtown with a focus on 6th Street and Beaumont Avenue.
“This started at the very tail end of 2022 and has gone through an extensive internal outreach and discussion process as well as an external outreach and plan formulation process,” Joel Belding, economic development manager, said at the Sept. 17 meeting. “The plan has been finalized now and is ready for your final consideration.”
The plan includes two different avenues for the city’s revitalization efforts. The first is the development of new retail, dining and housing, and the second is making changes to the city’s operations and regulatory frameworks.
“There’s a number of vacant properties that are under-utilized, properties that are sort of primed for something new,” Belding said. “The plan identifies nine and then goes through some conceptual designs.”
Belding noted that while the plan provides some potential uses and layouts, the city would not be committed to anything specific, saying that the plan serves as more of an “aspirational goal,” for the redevelopment of the area.
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As for the regulatory updates, Belding said they would be geared toward zoning code updates to modify what type of development is allowed in the city’s downtown area as well as creating development, design and signage standards. Operational changes include modifying streets to improve safety and improving public parking infrastructure.
“This really provides a framework for potentially as long as two decades worth of staff and city council activities,” Belding said. “In this will be day-to-day, incremental progress, but then 20 years from now you can look back and say, ‘Wow, how did this all happen?’”
As the city works through implementing the plan, Belding said every major milestone would require the input of the Economic Development Committee, Planning Commission, City Council and the public.
“I appreciate the work that has definitely gone into this, because I do think that the input of the community was poured into this as well, and so I just wanted to say thank you for that,” Councilmember Jessica Voigt said. “I really think that this is an exciting step forward.”
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