Tuesday is last big chance for comment on Downtown Master Plan

Tuesday at Havre City Hall from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. is the last big chance for the people of Havre to provide comments on and ask questions about the Downtown Master Plan, a roadmap being created by High Plains Architects to revitalize downtown Havre.

The plan has been a long time in the making, and this will be the last in a series of public meetings the architectural firm has held in town on the plan, and it is a prelude to the plan’s development reaching completion.

“It’s an opportunity for people to come with questions, thoughts and ideas and input to the High Plains Architect team as they move into the final stages of developing the Downtown Master Plan,” said Debbie Vandeberg of the Arts and Beautification Committee in an interview Thursday.

High Plains Architecture Project Designer Brad Kahler said that, after Tuesday’s meeting, his firm will finalize the plan and submit it to the steering committee for approval.

“(This meeting) is basically the last chance for the public to comment before we finalize the plan,” Kahler said. “ ... We’re looking forward to getting that last little bit of feedback.”

Vandeberg said the meeting will include a presentation by the firm on their recent progress in developing the plan, which presents a chance to see how they have done integrating recent feedback into the plan.

Kahler said they will directly address a number of the issues brought up by community members in the last meeting and how they intend to accomplish some of the goals people wanted to include in the plan.

He said he would also talk about what is needed from the city after the plan is approved, as well as some zoning changes that could help some of the projects proposed in the plan come to fruition.

“If you want them to change something now is the time,” Vandeberg said. “Because when they leave and start working on the final product there is very little time left to change anything.”

The last meeting on the master plan was held in April of this year and had a very big turnout, with people mostly giving the plan positive reception.

Attendees did provide a significant amount of feedback and representatives from High Plains Architects said they found the comments very helpful.

At that April meeting they said they also got a huge amount of engagement online with High Plains President Randy Hafer saying a Facebook survey about the plan received an unprecedented 5 percent of the population of Havre responding.

In Thursday’s interview Vandeberg said this week’s meeting is slightly behind schedule between changing it from a remote to an in-person meeting and juggling summer schedules, but, overall, she feels development of the plan is going well and she hopes people will come to Tuesday’s meeting.

“It is Havre’s plan so we’re hoping the community will come,” she said.

Kahler said working with the community so far has gone very well, with representatives from across Havre’s many communities working together to spearhead the creation of the plan.

He said the community has made it clear that they want actionable items they can work toward and the plan is being developed with that in mind.

He said they actually looked at a similar master plan created in the late ’80s, and, while it had a lot of good ideas and information, it didn’t have a lot of actionable goals and projects.

While development of the plan is reaching conclusion, work on it has been going on for several years.

Downtown Havre Matters! was formed to try to find ways to improve the area, and one of the first steps was to apply to the Montana Department of Commerce’s Montana Main Street Program, which provides a range of services and assistance to communities striving to enhance economic and business vitality while maintaining local historic integrity, quality of life and sense of place. The program offers technical assistance and expertise to member communities and awards competitive grant funding to communities actively working on downtown revitalization, economic development and historic preservation.

Havre was approved in 2020 as a member of the program, which started in 2005 and now includes 35 communities with Ronan the most recent addition.

After being approved as a member, Havre applied for a grant to develop a downtown master 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.

The driving forces behind the plan have been the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, Bear Paw Development Corp., the city of Havre and Downtown Havre Matters!

Part of the goal of creating a master plan is strengthening place identity, which builds communities by making memorable and meaningful places, the release said. A special experience or something unique to Havre is one goal of the Master Plan development.

Places that are authentic and distinctive add value to communities — historic buildings, a unique art scene like Havre’s Art Alley, specific cultural attributes like Montana Actors’ Theatre and fun shops and restaurants to explore.