The Mount Vernon Streetscape project had a public feedback session for some elements of the streetscape Wednesday, April 24.
Areas that groups had small 15 minute sessions to provide feedback to the consultants had to do with corners, infrastructure improvements, sections of the street and sidewalk and some possible design elements that may be featured.
Kristen Ohnoutka of JEO walked through the survey results thus far for the Mount Vernon Streetscape project. More than 200 respondents from the community provided insight into the assessments. Thirty-six percent of respondents have been in Mount Vernon for more than 20 years, while 34 percent of the respondents to the survey were in the 35 to 45 age range. Ninety percent of people responding reside here in Mount Vernon.
Fifty-six percent of respondents visit the uptown more than two times a week, and 70 percent travel to the uptown by car.
On walkability, the uptown has a rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars.
Ohnoutka said that some of the strengths for Mount Vernon’s streetscape are the historic charm, the greenery areas in the uptown and the community atmosphere.
Those also leaned into some of the weaknesses in the streetscape, however. Accessibility on those same sidewalks was noted, as was the access to some businesses because of the streetscapes. Parking spaces in the uptown are an issue, as is a lack of outdoor amenities like benches.
Some elements, like the historic buildings in uptown might provide significant challenges to the project.
Jonathan Hauck with JEO provided insights into the existing conditions of the Mount Vernon Streetscape.
Hauck said that what he found in the study of the Mount Vernon Streetscape project currently is something many attendees and citizens in Mount Vernon already know – lack of parking in uptown is an issue.
“I only originally looked at the parking that would be required for businesses only in the uptown, and what we found was a significant lack of parking for those needs in on-street parking,” Hauck said.
The additional parking provided at the south alley parking lot, north alley parking lot, Mount Vernon City Hall Parking lot and the private parking lot adjacent to Iowa Physical Therapy and CauseTeam help with providing additional parking in the uptown and are used by both employees and customers.
Hauck said that it would take some solutions to better identify the parking areas in the uptown, a sit would probably not be a priority to find new parking solutions for the uptown.
Another issue is that there are a number of street crossings that are not currently ADA compliant. Three out of the four corners of Highway 1 and First Street do meet ADA compliance, but other blocks to the east and west have issues with their crossings.
As well, the slope of the Mount Vernon Streetscape has slopes that range from 4 to 8 percent in slope, especially on the South portion of First Street. Part of that is that the sidewalks can match the current slope of the roadway.
When it came to the infrastructure, Hauck said that the water main that serves most of Mount Vernon’s uptown is more than 100 years old, and the connections to that water main from many businesses are older as well.
“If we were to choose to replace that water main, that would be very disruptive to the block of uptown with many businesses and service lines,” Hauck said. “every five feet in uptown in that block between Highway 1 and Second Avenue you have another connection to the water main or services.”
There is also only an adjacent 12 inch storm water drain located in the south alley of uptown, which will need to account for any impact to storm water that might be disrupted by changes to the uptown, including potentially investigating a permeable surface to allow more water to move on.
The streetscape has four goals in mind with any design:
1. Enhance the corridor for motorway transit and making a more drivable and easy to park in uptown.
2. Improve the conditions and safety for pedestrians in the uptown.
3. Enhance the environmental integrity (green space in the uptown)
4. Encourage local economic growth of the district continuing.
Attendees review some of the impacted areas of the Mount Vernon Streetscape and provide Jeremy Koemmer of JEO with some guidance for trouble spot areas they noticed in the design