Creswell anticipates face-lift for downtown.

Byline: MARK BAKER The Register-Guard

CRESWELL - Space for rent.

Three words not uncommon on storefronts along Oregon Avenue, this town's main street.

But city officials are hoping a downtown revitalization project is going to change things. The public is invited to a meeting tonight at the Creswell Community Center, 99 S. First St., to see a presentation of the revitalization plan, a project that will spruce up Oregon Avenue between Third and Front streets.

"Every city, every so often, needs a face-lift," City Administrator Linda James said.

And many here say it is past time. After all, no one can remember the last time downtown Creswell got a face-lift - if ever.

About five years ago a city group did a survey and "the biggest complaint was: Creswell is ugly," said Tamara Blum, a chiropractor who, along with her husband, Alan Bennett, owns a multibusiness building at the corner of Front Street and Oregon Avenue.

The revitalization plan, funded partly by a $300,000 federal Community Development Block Grant, will add trees, ornamental lamp posts, widened sidewalks, curb extensions, benches, colored crosswalks and bicycle lanes. The Lane Council of Governments helped with some of the city's Downtown Plan.

Part of the project - the first stage of $160,000 in overlay work and new sidewalks by the Oregon Department of Transportation at Oregon Avenue and Second Street - already is finished, James said.

Begun as a separate project, the overlay work has been tied in with the revitalization project, James said. A visit last spring by Vicki Dugger, executive director of the Oregon Downtown Development Association, paid huge dividends, James said. Dugger suggested that the city apply for the Community Development Block Grant and tie it in with the Department of Transportation work, James said.

The city applied for and received the grant.

However, not everyone is thrilled with the project, James admitted. It will change Oregon Avenue's diagonal parking to parallel parking, resulting in some businesses losing parking spaces, James said.

"It's one of those things, you take it on the chin," said Blum, the building owner. "But I think (the project) is going to improve the looks of the town and that will hopefully get others to come to town."

Francisco Fregoso, who runs Los Cabos, a Mexican food restaurant at the corner of First Street and Oregon Avenue, agreed.

"I wish they could get it done already," he said.

DOWNTOWN MEETING

What: Presentation of draft streetscape improvements for the downtown revitalization project along Oregon Avenue in Creswell.

When: 7 tonight.

Where: Creswell Community Center, 99 S. First St.

For more information: Call City Hall at 895-2531.