The Daily O’Collegian

The Stillwater City Council voted 5-0 Monday to create a new Business Improvement District in the downtown area.

Throughout the six-month planning process for the BID program, a number of constraints were considered, including finances, public opinion, consensus of participants and regulations and logistics.

“We have to look at not only what we can afford to do, but also building requirements and codes,” said City Manager Dan Galloway.

One of the goals for the BID program is to develop a mechanism for the business and property owners to have something to invest in, said Galloway.

“To improve the streetscape appearance, the city will develop incentives to attract new investors and create special development and building guidelines to facilitate renovation and revision of existing structures.”

The city wants to see more dining and entertainment opportunities for the community and students at OSU, Galloway said.

“We are also looking to improve transportation and access to downtown.”

Galloway said the BID program can provide a strengthened partnership among the downtown business owners and operators.

“If we are all going to pitch in together and help the community, the first ones to benefit from this are those business owners,” he said.

Plans for the BID program include renovating the old, abandoned Katz building at the corner of Seventh Street and Main Street to house the Stillwater Children’s Museum and Stillwater Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“Funds from the local hotel/motel tax can create a stream of revenue to help pay for renting the building for the two entities,” Galloway said.

Galloway said the city will also replace 30 to 50 of the existing street light poles and fixtures with period light fixtures similar to those on the new Western Avenue bridge.

“Another development will be the construction of cab stands, bus stops, pedestrian plazas and a one-way street at Seventh and Main Streets,” Galloway said.

He said the BID program plans should be completed by August 2007, with an Assessment Ordinance in October 2007.

“We will employ the contract coordinator this fall and make the loan and financial incentive program available for new and expanding business in August,” Galloway said.

During public appearances, a case came up involving the Sutherland housing edition, where several houses were flooded because of drainage runoff from a church and building construction uphill from the houses.

One Sutherland resident said he does not have flood insurance to cover the extensive damages in his home.

“I have been living in my house for four and a half years, and until something changes within the city to fix the damage, my house is missing carpet and my children wake up in the mornings crying,” resident Jamie Lynch said.

Sutherland resident Mike Payne said since his family moved into the edition in May, they have had water spill over their curb numerous times.

“We would expect to buy a three-year old house not in a floodplain and not have these drainage problems,” Payne said. “Another 2-3 inch rain and we’ll be right back with the same problem.”

Another Sutherland resident said the flooding caused his home’s footing to shift, cracking the brick veneer and keeping the doors from closing.

“I would like to see the City Council install adequate drainage systems around housing editions to prevent flooding and have building codes modified to be below street level to keep from flooding the houses themselves,” Steve Whitworth said.

Public Works Director Ralph Kinder gave an update on construction projects for the City of Stillwater.

“We are 30-40 days behind schedule due to the record rainy days we’ve had, but I can assure that the contractors are more than ready to get back to work after being pent up for so long,” Kinder said.

Kinder said the construction at Sixth Street and Jardot should be completed by the second week of August.

“The construction at University Street near campus has been mostly completed except for the asphalt overlay,” Kinder said.