Dubuque Times

The Dubuque city council of Dubuque recently discussed adopting the Central Avenue Corridor Street Scape Master Plan.

At the Jan. 3 city council meeting, Dubuque City Manager Mike Van Milligen opened up the discussion for the Street Scape Master Plan. The recommendation from the economic director was in line with Milligen’s to implement a high priority project within the city’s 2022-2024 revitalization plan for this specific area. The council has had multiple recent workshops on this plan and finally brought the matter up for a formal adoption. While the council did vote to adopt this, it was also to adopt it as a priority. The council will continue to get aspects of this in front of them for further votes on various options as more data and information from traffic studies and other avenues come into the city.

"Well, I'm encouraged by all the citizen and business input," Councilwoman Laura Roussell said at the meeting. "I like that this plan will provide cohesive guidelines for development and investment and placemaking. I think it'll benefit all the stakeholders and the entire community and enhance the area to make it a place where people want to live, work, shop and just enjoy spending time there. So I'm pleased to support this plan and get things rolling on yet another city council priority."

Council member Susan Farber spoke on behalf of the Historical Preservation committee, saying that she appreciated developing the downtown area as a better place to work, play, and live while also keeping in mind all of the existing assets of downtown. She said she was very excited to see the growing pride and energy of developing specific neighborhoods in Dubuque, which cultivates a rich culture. Council member Danny Sprank echoed these sentiments, saying that this project and getting it to move forward was one of the main reasons he chose to pursue a seat on city council.

"We've just had so much great conversation about this particular plan and about this particular area of town and I sincerely appreciate that," Dubuque Mayor Brad Cavanagh said. "I really do appreciate the fact that so many people have been able to provide input. People who are living in the neighborhood, people who work in the neighborhood, people who want to see the neighborhood just grow and change and improve in the right ways. I think it's been important that we've had this discussion around what is going to be best for the folks that have made this part of town their home already and not a discussion about what can we do to make this better, even if it pushes people out. I think it's really important that as we move this discussion forward, we talk about it in a way that is going to work for what's there now and what it can be as it goes forward."