Locals hear ideas on revitalizing downtown Havre

Representatives of High Plains Architects provided an update on their work creating a master plan to revitalize Havre's downtown area speaking Thursday at a meeting which drew more than 30 community members.

High Plains President Randy Hafer led the presentation, where he talked about observations he and his team members have made during their time in Havre and what they think can be done to make downtown more vibrant.

Hafer said they put out a Facebook survey about the downtown and they're very happy to see so many people interested and engaged, with almost 5 percent of the total population of Havre responding.

"That's unprecedented," he said.

Roads and parking

He said he and his team have come up with some overarching ideas that could make the downtown area better and said the area already has a lot of potential that just needs to be teased out, much of which could be with simple changes, but others would take more work.

One big subject he talked about was the streets in the area, which he said are not very pedestrian-friendly.

He said the layout of the streets is fine, and touted the fact that Havre's downtown area isn't just a main street, which is already advantageous.

However, he said, the streets tend to be too wide, with traffic going much to fast, making crossing places like First Street dangerous and overall making for a less welcoming area for walkers.

"If you want people to be downtown, you have to be able to walk downtown," he said.

Hafer said downtown areas aren't really about cars, but about walkers, which ties into another problem he sees, too much parking.

He said some people act like he's crazy when he says there's too much parking, but his team surveyed the area, finding that the equivalent of six and a half square blocks worth of space in the downtown area is just parking, and much of that space can be used for other purposes.

He said when a downtown area is vibrant and well populated enough to draw people in, they are happy to park somewhere and walk a few blocks.

"As soon as you have a vibrant place, people will park three blocks away because they want to be there," he said.

Hafer said Billing's downtown area had the exact same problem, with people going downtown to go to one place and then going home, and in that situation it makes a lot of sense to have a lot of parking, but if the area becomes a place people want to walk around in they'll be happy to walk, which is what happened in Billings.

He also suggested making changes to the streets width, narrowing them and adding a median in the middle for pedestrians, as well as improving the lighting, which he said is too much like a highway, not a city street.

Making these changes, he said, would still allow traffic through, but slow it down enough that the area becomes much more walkable.

He said he knows that the Montana Department of Transportation will have some things to say about this proposal, but he believes communities like Havre should make an effort to push back and reclaim streets to make them more than just highways through their town.

The idea of narrowing the streets also got some pushback from audience members who worried about larger vehicles no longer being able to easily navigate the area, saying Havre is the only reasonable route for many people moving large rigs.

Hafer said he understands the concern, but with the proposed changes most large vehicles would still be able to get through, they would just be slowed down, and if something is so big that it would require more space, they could restrict street parking to make sure they have that space.

Some audience members seemed skeptical, but Hafer said none of what he is proposing is set in stone and changes to the plan can be made to find a middle ground if needed.

He also talked about possible sidewalk improvements, including putting some trees in, and about improving signage in the area for newcomers, saying he had some finding routes to places like Montana State University-Northern during his time here.

Building aesthetics

Hafer also talked about a few problems he sees with the general look of many areas of downtown Havre.

He said it seems like there is a significant aesthetic disconnect between what buildings look like on the outside and the inside.

Hafer said he and his team have been talking to business owners in the area and have been consistently impressed with the quality of their establishments, both the businesses themselves and the buildings they are in.

However, he said, often the outside of these buildings don't reflect what is going on inside and he thinks there are ways to change that by improving the outside of the building to match the quality he now knows is inside.

He said he actually got lost looking for one of the businesses he was invited to because it looked nothing like a business from the outside.

He said a lot of great buildings in the area have facades that have been built over or obscured, an issue he said is hardly unique to Havre, but is very common across the U.S.

Hafer said exposing those old facades may be a great way to improve the look of a lot of these buildings, as well as adding more windows so people can see the great work going on inside.

He also said there's a lot of boarded-up buildings in the area and his team has ideas about how they can be made to look better as well.

Downtown housing

Hafer said one critical aspect of improving downtown Havre is adding new housing.

This was an issue he talked about in his last trip to Havre when he said having more people living in the area will ensure that things are always happening in the area.

He said his experience working on similar projects in Billings tells him that, once people start living downtown, the area will naturally start seeing much more activity, and he thinks Havre has the same potential.

Hafer said in his survey he found so many buildings with second stories that were not being used at all, the equivalent of 133 two-bedroom apartments, many of which were in high-performance buildings that would have low operations costs if converted into housing.

This was another idea that got some pushback with one audience member saying there are financial realities in the area that make that a difficult prospect and said it seemed like Hafer was implying that the people who owned those buildings were bad businesspeople.

Hafer said he thinks the building owners in the area are great businesspeople, he just thinks there is untapped potential and many don't realize is there, partially because no one has jumped in and done it yet.

He said downtown Billings was much the same, but now that people have taken the plunge, it's clear it can work and it's clear there's a desire to live there.

"There was no market because there was no offering," he said.

He said he also understands the funding concerns people have, and some of the things they are proposing would require substantial investment, but there's a lot that can be done fairly quickly and without any huge costs, and the plan they are developing will provide guidance on what would be needed for these projects and ways they can be funded.

Hafer said there is one more public meeting on the master plan, so people who didn't make it to Thursday's meeting would have another chance to voice their opinions and ideas if they want.