“The goal here was to synthesize previous plans and policies into one document,” said Tony Kroeger, Dayton’s planning manager.
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Dayton City commissioners on Wednesday had the first reading of a resolution in support of adopting the West Dayton neighborhood vision plan.
The plan focuses on the neighborhoods south of Wolf Creek in the southwest quadrant of the city.
It looks at using public infrastructure investments, like roads and sidewalks, to incentivize private investment, said Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley.
“Much like we did 20 years ago on Brown Street by UD,” she said.
Over the last two decades, West Dayton has lost density, residents, businesses and buildings along some of its major corridors. West Third Street, once a vibrant main street, today is far less active.
But the connections between West Dayton neighborhoods can be strengthened, in part by improving the primary corridors, including West Third and Germantown streets, city officials said.
With the right investment, some major corridor can be more like the revitalized Wright Dunbar Business District, which is full of shops, businesses and amenities, officials say.
The Germantown Street corridor can increase density, add new retail and pedestrian upgrades, and can become a destination for nearby neighborhoods.
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West Third Street has the Westown Shopping Center, the Dayton VA and the Wright brothers factory site, which has been acquired by the city of Dayton to push for its redevelopment. The Dayton Metro Library plans to build on the factory site.
The plan imagines new retail at the Westown center, as well as new renovations to make it more modern and appealing.
Streets, parks, squares and other public spaces can and should be designed to be pedestrian and bike friendly and to create a sense of place, the plan states.
West Dayton has 1.78 times as many affordable housing units as the rest of the city, and 8.2 times as many as all of Montgomery County, the plan says.
But the planned redevelopment of Miami Chapel is to create a mixed-income neighborhood, and the planned closure of the Hilltop Homes public housing is expected to de-concentrate poverty.
Rising rents and home ownership prices in downtown make Five Points and Wright Dunbar the next logical neighborhood for strong housing demand, the plan states.
Charles Simms Development, downtown’s leading homebuilder, is considering building new housing in the Wright Dunbar area.
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The plan says investments must be clustered near other economically viable projects, and public and private dollars are best directed at “high-risk” and “high impact” investments that improve residents’ access to to opportunity.
“Our goal of the vision is to bring forth this geography in such a way that neighborhoods can be enhanced in ways people can be proud of and investments can be coordinated in such a way that they are catalytic,” Kroeger said.
The plan will serve as a model for other parts of the city.
Funding is one of the main challenges, but private-public partnerships are expected to help bring the vision to reality.
“I think this is a great next step in our work around developing our neighborhoods,” said Dayton City Commissioner Darryl Fairchild.
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