Part two of two
By: Purvi Desai
Not all of the redevelopment is held up with ongoing negotiations. The Main Street Program and the NPP have been gliding along since being established a couple of years ago and are continuing to pick up steam.
"We have renovated and transformed our former municipal building in downtown New Egypt into the welcome center," Mayor Ron Dancer said. "Significant progress has been made in the redevelopment of the downtown. It’s beautiful."
Two women individually head the Main Street Program and the NPP. Sharon Gano is the executive director of the Main Street Program, which she said, comprises of 33 active volunteers that include 10 members on the board of directors and four committees; and Vicky Berlenbach is the grant coordinator of Plumsted Township and head of the Neighborhood Preservation Program.
Ms. Berlenbach said the NPP is more focused on the residential structures in and around the downtown area and is a 20-member volunteer committee made up of local business owners and residents.
Ms. Gano said the Main Street Program’s committees include the design committee, the economic restructuring committee, the organization committee and the promotion committee. Each of the four committees has a goal and a set of objectives and projects for achieving those goals.
"For instance, the design committee’s goal is to restore the downtown’s character, while planning for development, improve the physical value of the downtown and add streetscape improvements and create additional parking for a more pedestrian friendly downtown. The project includes installing benches, trash receptacles and flowers plants, and repaving and stamping the existing crosswalks in the downtown’s intersections."
Ms. Gano said the design committee’s 2006-07 annual work plan also includes creating a new parking lot in the downtown area, installing new signs there, and a winter project of developing design guidelines for improving the downtown visual quality.
The promotions committee’s main goal is to increase pedestrians downtown to promote sales, she said, adding that the committee also has to promote Main Street as the place to shop, dine and have fun, and build a sense of community.
"They have to promote Main Street as a family destination," Ms. Gano said.
Other projects for this committee are the establishment of a calendar of events and to organize cooperative retail events with the downtown merchants.
The economic restructuring committee’s goals are retaining downtown businesses, determining customer perceptions of the shopping district, gaining an understanding of the local market, determining the current mix of goods and services and the desired the goods and services offered, she said.
"They also are going to determine merchant needs in the district and recommended strategies of improvement of how to empower both the new and existing businesses," Ms Gano said.
She said that among other things that the economic restructuring committee will do is conduct customer surveys, market analyses and complete business inventories.
"We have conducted several merchant surveys so that we can determine what the merchant needs in the district are and recommend strategies for improvement," Ms. Gano said, adding that the committee has also held a series of business improvement seminars and plans to distribute welcome and orientation packets for new businesses.
Lastly, the organization committee’s goals are to promote the efforts of the Main Street organization itself and grow the membership, she said. The members of these programs are community stakeholders, which include businesses owners, property owners, civic groups, local government, financial institutions, residents, part of the business and merchants association, the historical society, the arts council, the local schools and the media, Ms. Gano said.
"The objectives of the committee are to raise funds for the organization, since they don’t receive any funds or grants from the state," she said. "We receive technical assistance, such as training, architectural services, and marketing studies." Ms. Gano said that other objectives for the group are to promote the downtown area and the organization itself, to broadcast community events and build the volunteer base.
The projects for the organization committee are "to develop a sponsorship campaign to expand financial and philosophical buy-in for the revitalization effort," to educate stakeholders and promote the downtown area through a Web site, www.mainstreetne.org, a tourism brochure, a newsletter, a commercial, press releases and other printed informational material, she said. The third project is to develop the event calendar for the district together with the promotions committees, Ms. Gano said, adding that this committee is also subject to conducting membership drives within the community.
Ms. Berlenbach said the NPP, which is a five-year program started in September 2005, focuses on housing rehabilitation, neighborhood beautification and improving the quality of life for residents and visitors. She said the state-approved program currently has a $525,000 grant to fund its activities.
"In the first year of the program, we’ve been able to offer housing rehabilitation grants for individual homeowners within the downtown area," she said, adding that so far, four homeowners were granted $15,000 to work on their roofs, get new windows and doors and improve their porches. "We’ve awarded $1,000 in paint and material grants to several individual homeowners for new driveways and painting the exterior of their homes. We’ve been able to offer new businesses startup incentives by awarding sign grants where NPP will sponsor 50 percent of the new sign costs."
Ms. Berlenbach said the NPP has been working on enforcing housing code violations, which she said is improving the overall first impression of the downtown. Another incentive being offered by NPP is to businesses, where they can obtain a grant of $5,000 to match $5,000 of their own property improvements, she said.
"As we enter into the second year of the program, we’re going to be working on the housing rehabilitation," Ms. Berlenbach said. "Because of the age of the homes in the downtown, where the majority of homes are over 100 years old, this assistance program will offer homeowners the opportunity to rehabilitate their homes.
"I think the results of the program are excellent," she said. "It’s only been the first year. As you talk to the residents that live here, they’re all starting to see improvements. The mission of the program is to have the community feel a sense of pride."
Ms. Berlenbach said the township is consistently working to bring in more grants for the NPP.
"We operate out of the New Egypt Welcome Center," Ms. Berlenbach said of Ms. Gano and herself, adding that the place is one of only 27 such welcome centers in the state. "In addition to running our programs, Sharon and I are promoting tourism to the area and new business start-up. We are down now to only three vacancies on Main Street."
Ms. Gano said that during the course of this year, Plumsted’s downtown district lost seven businesses and gained another seven. Most of the closures occurred earlier in the year, and the new businesses came in after both the Neighborhood Preservation Program and the Main Street Program were implemented, she said.
"It’s a lot of work," Ms. Berlenbach said. "Unfortunately we live in a society where everybody is busy and flock to shopping in malls or strip malls. We’re a rural community and it’s a little slowpaced. It’s like being taken back in time. There’s only a few people left in society that appeal to that setting. You’re not only trying to revitalize the downtown, you’re trying to change the way of life for Americans and remember what this country was founded on, which is family and community, not money. That is very rewarding job if you can accomplish that."

