Work on downtown master plan detailed

During the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting Wednesday Randy Hafer of High Plains Architects provided an overview of a downtown master plan that is being put together to revitalize Havre's downtown area.

The driving forces behind the plan have been the Chamber, Bear Paw Development Corp., the city of Havre, and Downtown Havre Matters!, which have been working together to make the area more attractive to people, and after looking at a number of firms chose High Plains to develop the plan.

The plan is being funded in part by the Hill County Community Foundation, Montana Main Street Program and the Big Sky Trust Fund Program.

Hafer said he's been looking for an opportunity to get to Havre for a long time, and, based on what he's seen so far, the downtown area has a tremendous amount of potential, both in its buildings and the people there.

He said his firm has a lot of experience with undertakings like this, having done a lot of revitalization work in Billings creating high-performance buildings and adapting historic buildings for reuse, the latter of which he said will serve them particularly well in Havre.

"There are a lot of great old buildings in this town, but they're also a lot of great old buildings that aren't being fully utilized," he said.

Hafer said a lot of the buildings can still be used, and his firm can help develop a plan to help the town do just that.

"I just love finding these old buildings with potential and figuring out how to make them work," he said.

He said he and his colleagues' goal is not just to hand the town a document that will sit on a shelf gathering dust, but one with steps that can be implemented and finished quickly.

Hafer said in touring the town for the last two days one thing he's noticed is an aesthetic disconnect between many of the buildings and what's going on in them.

He said whenever he opens a door in the downtown area he's consistently impressed by what's going on there, especially with so many young business owners in the area, but from the outside many of these buildings look a bit run down.

However, he said, many of these are relatively simple fixes, and most of what's needed to revitalize the area is already there.

"You've got it, we just need to show you how to fix it up and we will help you do that," he said.

He also said the streets in the area aren't very pedestrian-friendly, but that, too, need not be an expensive thing to address.

Another big topic Hafer talked about was the need for more people living in the area.

He said his experience in Billings has shown him that for an area to become a hub of activity people need to be living there, which means diverse housing is essential.

He said if a downtown area is dominated by 9-to-5 business then those are the only hours people are going to be around, but if things are going on around the clock and people are living down there, it will become a more active an vibrant place.

In downtown Billings, he said, they added a substantial amount of housing in the area and just that happened, with networks of friends forming, going out to eat, buying from the local businesses and more.

Hafer said he believes Havre has the opportunities to do something similar.

He said some revitalization plans like this involve a huge project at their center, and smaller projects are often derided, but he thinks smaller projects sustained by a plan will make a huge difference in Havre.

"Just keep hitting singles and the runs will keep coming in," he said.