Activate Ground Floors

Currently, 60% of downtown street frontage is “unfavorable.” These frontages are economic opportunities going unrealized and contribute to the idea that downtown is not a nice place to explore on foot. Activating these frontages will help boost the local economy as well as encourage foot traffic to visit these spots and help make downtown feel and be safer. Downtown zoning currently requires ”active” ground floor space, however finding tenants is hard especially with the shift to online shopping. Because of this, many ground floors are written off. Perhaps some of these spaces could be subsidized to make room for things such as makerspaces and getting local businesses off the ground.

• Stimulate the local economy

• Make streets safer

• Encourage foot traffic