Main Street Batesville: A Comeback In The Making

Editor’s note: Contributing writer Bob Qualls is the author of this feature story.

Fifty years ago, Batesville had a bustling downtown business district. Variety stores like Sterling and Ben Franklin, drug stores, diners and many thriving family businesses selling everything from shoes to jewelry brought shoppers from surrounding counties to Main Street. After dark, there was lots of traffic, thanks to two movie theaters and many teen-agers cruising Main.

But, like most downtown business districts, it went into decline as supermarkets and the big discount stores opened in shopping centers outside of the central district. The family-owned theaters closed, replaced by multi-screen chain operations located on the high-traffic highway away from downtown. Many small businesses closed, unable to compete with Wal-Mart and other corporate giants.

The outmigration from Arkansas downtowns began in the 1970s and continued through the 1980s in many communities. Many historic buildings were left vacant as the businesses that occupied them closed or relocated. In 1984, Main Street Arkansas was created as an agency in the Department of Arkansas Heritage. It became a leading advocate for downtown revitalization across the state, spawning organizations at the grassroots level.

Main Street Batesville (MSB) was also formed in 1984 with the help of the statewide agency. Its success has ebbed and flowed over the years, but Bob Carius said when he left the organization’s board of directors in 2006, there was only one vacant downtown building. When he returned to the board last fall, there were 15 vacant storefronts.

SEVEN SHORT YEARS
How could so much have happened in just seven short years?

Downtown was at low ebb last fall, and so was Main Street Batesville. A clothing store went out of business, and a shoe store that had been a mainstay of downtown for decades closed when the owner retired. The organization that was supposed to help revitalize downtown was itself in need of rescue. It had been without a director for a several months and it was placed on probation by the state organization. It had to correct a list of deficiencies by the end of 2013 or it would be decertified, which would mean no more state grant funds.

The MSB board reorganized, adding new members and bringing back Bob Carius to help them right the ship. Carius, a retired Navy admiral and a professor emeritus of physical science and mathematics at Lyon College in Batesville, re-joined the board in September. Led by Carius as chairman, the board began addressing the deficiencies that led to probation. By the end of November, all the deficiencies had been corrected, including hiring a new executive director, Joel Williams, a native of Hope with a background in criminal justice and theater.

Batesville Mayor Rick Elumbaugh gave Carius the name of a consultant that he had heard about who might help with the revitalization effort. Carius contacted Dan Burton, the consultant from the state of Washington, who came for a two-day tour of the city and held a public meeting to get input from citizens. Area banks helped sponsor Burton’s visit, and the result was several ideas for developing downtown. The most striking was a new streetscape plan.

An advisory panel established by Mayor Elumbaugh to guide the downtown revitalization effort created the plan and in March the Batesville City Council gave Main Street Batesville the go-ahead to implement a trial streetscape layout on the three blocks of downtown.

The first phase included creating one “skeleton” block using dimensions obtained from Fayetteville officials by City Engineer Damon Johnson. Striping for parking – both diagonal and parallel, narrowed intersections and a narrowed, single one-way travel lane form the skeleton. Two more blocks were added to the trial. All traffic lights on those blocks were changed to flashing red rather than a full stoplight. Eventually, the flashing red lights will be replaced by four-way stop signs at the intersections.

There is a buffer of two or three feet between parking spaces and the travel lane. The buffer on the angled parking side is designed to make it easier for drivers to back out into the traffic lane, Carius said. The trial also includes both back-in and front-in diagonal parking. However, the back-in parking will be abandoned in favor of front-in because a survey conducted on MSB’s Facebook page showed very few people like it and many strongly disliked it.

The intersections will have trees and plants on the corners. Tree wells and plantings will also be interspersed between two to four parking spaces. Until the permanent curbs and plantings are installed, orange poles holding “caution” tape define those areas.

ON TIME, FOR NOW
Phases 1 and 2 of the timeline were completed in June. Phase 2 included creation of a booklet that details the new streetscape and lays out the plans for the revitalization project.

A series of visuals were created to provide the public a view of the finished streetscape. They were on view at a downtown festival on June 6 and 7. The festival showcased the streetscape and provided an opportunity for the public to comment on the plan. Carius told the City Council in July that the advisory panel had received 90 opinions so far, and that 70 percent of them approved of the new streetscape.

He said the largest number of negative comments had to do with back-in parking on the first block of the trial streetscape. As a result, he said those parking spaces would be changed to front-in parking.

Carius said that consultant Burton rated the enthusiasm he found in Batesville near the top of all the places he had visited.

With the first two phases completed, the City Council gave its approval July 8 to Phases 3 and 4 of the timeline. Phase 3 includes modifying the trial streetscape, as needed, taking into account the public’s input and engineering considerations. The modified trial configuration will be left in place until it is replaced with the permanent installation. The trial streetscape will be extended two more blocks on Main Street.

Phase 4 is scheduled for completion by April 2015 and includes transforming the first block (from Fifth Street to Fourth Street) to permanent status. This includes installing an underground irrigation system for the green spaces that are planned, and removing all overhead wires. This block would be completed before additional blocks are considered. This phase also includes creation of a small task force to raise funds needed for the permanent streetscape, which has an estimated price tag of $40,000.

CHICKEN, EGG OR NEST?
In a recent interview, Carius and Executive Director Joel Williams talked about the challenges they face. Carius said the streetscape is just the first part of the revitalization program, which he said would take at least two more years. “It’s an evolutionary process,” he said.

“The goal is to get people to come downtown,” he said. “Foot traffic will bring more businesses to the area.”

Williams cited an analogy that Carius had used when he was asked which comes first, the chicken or the egg. Carius replied, “The streetscape is the nest. It’s necessary for either the chicken or the egg.”

Carius said, “99 percent of the businesses are for it.” And the streetscape survey shows 70 percent of respondents “are favorable to it.”

He said many of those who oppose it only want a fast thoroughfare to get to Central Avenue, which crosses Polk Bayou and leads to West Side. He said they don’t want to stop at every block because they are just passing through.

Williams said one of the challenges is the public’s opinion of the progress being made.

“The opposition is mainly on two points: back-in parking and those who want no changes at all,” he said. “Most are just unfamiliar with it, and what it will look like.”

He added, “We understand their concerns, but I believe we are going to make it.”

To those who want no changes to Main Street, Carius said, “If we don’t change it, it will die.”

Main Street Batesville is working on several fronts. An Economic Restructuring Committee has been formed and is looking for businesses that will “fit” the downtown area. Paperwork is being prepared for Batesville Downtown Foundation, Inc., which will raise funds and prepare grants for the revitalization effort. A farmer’s market is held monthly at the Pocket Park on Main Street and Carius and Williams hope it will be available on more weekends next spring and summer because it has proven popular.

Carius said MSB is in “total unity with the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce,” and they are working together well. He also praised the city’s help with the program, from Mayor Elumbaugh and the City Council to City Engineer Damon Johnson, who helped lay out the streetscape, and the city’s street and landscaping departments.

Carius re-established communications with the City Council when he took over as chairman, and has appeared regularly at its meeting. He is an advocate of transparency; the MSB board meetings are open to the public. The Council gave MSB a $10,000 grant to purchase and install solar-powered decorative lanterns on poles downtown. The lanterns are from Old World Lanterns by Benoit, a business located on Main Street.

“This is an all-encompassing project,” Carius said of the revitalization effort. “Nineteen groups are represented on the advisory committee. It takes a lot of people to make it work.”

HISTORY WORTH SAVING
One of the motivating factors in the effort to save downtown Batesville is the historical significance of the Main Street business district. Fifty buildings in the district are on the National Register of Historic Places. When the buildings are left vacant for a long period of time, they fall into disrepair.

Several of the historic structures are in need of renovation and Carius said Main Street Batesville is encouraging the owners of the buildings to repair them before it is too late. Often, historic preservation grants are available to help with this process.

Williams said they are also encouraging businesses to purchase the buildings they occupy. Ownership of the buildings motivates them to take better care of them, he said.

Another Main Street Batesville initiative is the development of Maxfield Park, located behind a furniture store and Polk Bayou, which runs behind Main Street.

This project is the brainchild of Danny Dozier, a MSB board member and well-known local musician. Anne Maxfield Strahl donated the one-half acre site to the city with the stipulation that it is for the use of Main Street Batesville. She also asked that it be named Maxfield Park in honor of the Maxfield family. Her parents owned a furniture store and several buildings downtown.

Dozier said the park would be a natural amphitheater setting with a stage, benches and green spaces. A sculpture and possibly a fountain are planned for the park. It also offers additional parking spaces for the downtown area.

Another MSB committee is working on a book about the history of Main Street, Carius said.