Watonga Chamber of
Commerce,
Thank you so much for the
invitation to work within your downtown. Your downtown is so intriguing and has
a lot of potential! Your community has tremendous opportunities all around you,
hopefully they will be captured more effectively moving forward. I really enjoyed my time there, and I know
that your downtown is poised for positive development. The time is now, the
opportunity is here.
The pages that follow is
my best interpretation of the current state of Watonga, where you would like to
go in the future, and what I feel it will take to get you there.
Please use this as a
motivational tool to inspire your downtown community to take action! I would
love to come back Watonga and assist with any area I can. I am still amazed at how
quickly the “Ugly Baby” is already looking better! Restoration is possible!
Again, my time in Watonga was
amazing. Thank you so much for the final watermelon reception! You should be
proud of your community spirit; even given the challenges you do face.
Please let me know if
there are any questions or comments from my analysis!
Keep up the good work
downtown!
All the best!
Ron Drake
Watonga Gap Analysis
Current state of Watonga:
1.
The people I talked with see the opportunity,
yet don’t believe great things can happen in Watonga. They don’t believe that
revitalization will work in their small town.
2.
Possibly double the population is or will be
working all around the surrounding areas. Is Watonga fully capitalizing on
that?
3.
There's little for students and young people to
do in town, especially the downtown. There is potential places and spaces in
the downtown core, yet it is underutilized.
4.
City Hall appears to be developer friendly. The
City Hall and Code Enforcer appears to be willing to work with developers. The
problem is, there are no developers.
5.
Some of the quality of life opportunities are
evident; good schools, low cost of living, low crime, great park nearby &
outdoor lifestyle could be more than realized.
6.
Most of the buildings downtown look sketchy.
Visitors won’t enter these buildings to see what is inside. Reality is, those
businesses would struggle in any town based upon their condition.
7.
Only a couple of restaurants in town. Mostly
fast food on the highway. No night life.
8.
Only a few retail service shops downtown. The
ones that appear to do it right are very successful and have been for year.
Others appear to barely be open, which is evident before walking up to the
business, and more evident once you enter.
9.
Many of the downtown buildings are in a dire
need of repair and updates.
10.
Watonga has a culture that is averse to change.
11.
Downtown buildings have an epidemic of using
buildings for storage. Very dangerous situation as many of them are basically
filled with fire kindling.
12.
Although there is an obvious need for housing,
there is very little available downtown.
13.
The school system seems to be a great source of
pride in the community!
14.
Although homeownership is very affordable, there
is a shortage of homes in the middle income bracket. This is considered the
real estate sweet spot.
15.
There is a belief that students move away to
college, and most don’t come home due to a lack of work and things to go.
There’s an apparent lack of an entrepreneurial spirit for young people.
16.
There is a general lack of belief in something
great being/happening in Watonga.
17.
It is widely accepted as ok for people to live,
shop and eat in Watonga. Traveling there for dinner is very common for many of Watonga.
There is a lot of retail and residential leakage.
Vision for the future/What you want to be as your
reality:
1.
Strong downtown organization with support from
all major industry in the area. Many downtown events annually that attracts
tourists from all over.
2.
The quality employees of the industries are
living, shopping and eating in downtown Watonga.
3.
The downtown is filled with young people of all
ages creating and enjoying a fun and vibrant cultural center for families and
adults to enjoy.
4.
Watonga has plenty of options for corporate and
family entertaining. On a Friday night people can hang out at “Movies in the
Park.” Others go to the revived bowling alley while others have a great craft
beer playing cornhole in the new play area!
5.
Watonga is open for business! Proper zoning with
a concise plan for building.
6.
Watonga capitalizes off of the excellent quality
of outdoor life by having a third place for citizens...that place between home
and work. The place you go to relax, or visit, or shop or eat. Entertainment of
the mind and soul.
7.
The coffee shop is open downtown! Multiple areas
for children of all ages to hang out.
8.
The existing veteran businesses mentor the new
ones, and the streets are filled with successful business that attracts folks
from multiple states into Watonga.
9.
The community believes in themselves and wants
to invest in Watonga. They believe that cool restaurants and residential will
work, and trust in the statistics that show there is a need.
10.
People driving along the highway stop in the
downtown to shop and stay. The gateway into the community is warm, inviting and
very progressive to the consumer.
11.
There is a great hotel located within Watonga,
and it is packed out every week due to the abundance of activities outdoors and
in for the tourist to enjoy.
12.
College students are moving back home after
college! Watonga is a great place to raise a family, start a business and buy a
home. Downtown living is also a great option.
13.
Downtown Watonga is known for its eclectic vibe.
It’s an artsy center with affordable works completed by local artisans.
14.
There is a great connection between Roman Nose
Park and the downtown. People that stay at the park can come downtown for an
excursion and vice versa. Possibly bike trails from downtown leading from the
local bike shop to the park.
15.
The city population is growing with the downtown
being full of people living in every available second story space, as well as
any infill location available. Developers are now looking at Watonga due to its
excellent quality of life, progressive attitude, developer friendly and with
the new annex to add more land into the city limits.
16.
The citizens of Watonga are open to ideas and
change, as long as the root ideals of good citizenship and community pride are
not compromised. #OneWatonga is the new way of thinking.
17.
With all of the people having ownership in
downtown, and the type of people living downtown that fully embrace the ideals
of recycling, lower fuel use, healthy living and supporting local economy.
Their front yards are clean, and the city has restored crosswalks alongside the
restoration of the buildings, and the streets are beautiful and quaint.
18.
Main Street is very pedestrian and bicycle
friendly! The traffic lanes are down to just two lanes with attractive
landscaping and possibly bike lanes added. People feel safer crossing from side
to side as they spend the afternoon shopping and dining downtown.
19.
The population has grown, and new people are
moving in.
20.
Community pride is at an all-time high. There is
a volunteer base of over 100 people with new projects events and events
occurring monthly.
21.
The people of Watonga know their story, and they
collectively know how to tell their story.
INSPIRE•EQUIP•RESTORE
Roadmap to get there. The agent of change:
1.
HOUSING!! Creating infill housing that is not
government subsidized may be one of your most critical components in this
effort. In order to bring Life
downtown you need to bring Lives
downtown. With the shortage of housing in Watonga, trying to entice mixed use
within the buildings will work, especially for the artists and creatives you
hope to bring to life downtown. They don’t want the cookie-cutter homes in the
burbs, they want unique. Build it for them.
2.
A downtown organization comprised with community
leaders and the “Movers & Shakers” of Watonga needs to be formed to
champion this effort. Historically, City Hall cannot do this alone; this must
be grass roots from the community itself. I suggest the focus group starts
planning to expand into a downtown organization or partnering with Main Street.
This group must also go to City Hall and support the tough changes in code
enforcement against blight.
3.
The downtown group needs to communicate the
importance of a vibrant downtown. Meet with local business people, including
every business in the downtown core and stress/question the importance. Educate
and share the vision. Create posters with the “OneWatonga” brand and place them
throughout downtown. A clear vision creates excitement.
4.
I suggest you have a community vision session.
Again, get the community leaders in a room, along with opening it up to the
public and bring someone to facilitate a vision for Watonga. The amazing result
of this is over 100 people leave the room in one accord. With that momentum
alone you start checking items off the list that you collectively agree needs
to happen, according to the new vision for your community. Change happens with
a clear, concise vision.
5.
It’s obvious there needs to be more
communication with the local industry. Their needs are not being met within the
city limits of Watonga, so they are going elsewhere. They need housing options,
they need restaurants and entertainment venues. Do you know how many people
these businesses bring in annually? The number is staggering. Hundreds of
thousands of dollars are being lost every year due to a lack of amenities in Watonga.
Fix that.
6.
You have a great community partner with the
group that purchased the bowling alley. I believe their desire is to create a
space that the community will enjoy. Introduce them to the industry leaders and
encourage them to use their space for entertaining rather than traveling out of
town. Be intentional.
7.
Ask the industry and oil company leaders for
data. Try to determine the actual amount of nights spent out of town. Determine
how many meals are purchased monthly. Find the needs of the employees and
managers and be intentional about working to fill the needs within the
boundaries of Watonga.
8.
What is your brand? Often overlooked is the
importance of a unified and strong brand. When people drive into Watonga they
should see a welcome sign, the gateway into downtown, the City Hall and
throughout town with the same brand. Show visitors and locals alike that Watonga
is unified and progressive, yet in the same quaint setting.
9.
I encourage you to work on creating brick paved
sidewalks, or some other significant feature that will tell the motorist they
are in the heart of the community. You need better signage along the highway
encouraging drivers to check out your town and learn your story. Insist your
Main Street to be pedestrian friendly.
10.
Engage in social media! Educate store and
restaurant owners on the importance of Yelp and Facebook reviews. More Yelp
reviews will cause the stores to show up on Google maps and IPhone maps. Print
out “Rate us on Yelp” cards and place them in every location.
11.
Assistance is needed in helping with design
ideas as well as financing options. Continue to work with the local banks and
work to create a consortium with monies set aside for financing. With the new
relationships being harvested between the City and developers, a steadier,
accurate action plan is in place for the developers to be able to take to the
bank. Build it and they will come, they are waiting in the wings.
12.
Look around town at the outdated signs, the disrepair
of some of the businesses. Encourage them to add new paint. Encourage them to
replace the old signs. Celebrate the ones that do!
13.
Look at incorporating a façade grant. Many of
your buildings have incredible charm under the ugly facades that exist today!
Be aggressive, make them cute on the outside so you’ll want to go into the
inside!
14.
People are wonderful in this community; all that
is needed is a consistent message that Watonga can be a small town that’s
progressive. #OneWatonga- Get younger people involved, they will spread the message
for you. Utilize social media!
15.
Ownership or at least the feeling of ownership
downtown is critical. Have movies in the park! This was a community space that
felt as if it belonged to the people. Find other places in the downtown that do
the same. Ownership, or the feeling of, is a powerful thing.
16.
It was said to me while in Watonga, “We are
behind the curve. Other towns seemed better prepared, our town seems junky.”
What are you doing about that? Be intentional, use the hashtag to start a
campaign for cleaning up your town. Aggressively attack blight!
17.
Get a project started, and then celebrate the
heck out of it! Get the press involved, start the message that downtown
restoration is happening in Watonga!
18.
Be certain your building permits are more streamlined
and encourage your building officials to fully understand the Existing Building
portion of the IBC. The City appeared to be very willing to work with building
owners and developers downtown. Be sure that message is told, that Watonga is
developer friendly and willing to help.
19.
The flooring company downtown is awesome! Engage
them in this effort. Ask them to teach other retail shops their secrets to
success. They do things right, and they receive the rewards. They are proof
that Watonga can be a destination shopping district.
20.
I have not been to a community that has more
buildings filled with storage than I have in Watonga. There is a need for the
City to enforce the use of buildings as tax producing, not storage facilities.
Educate on the fire risk of buildings used as storage. Create code that protects the ones making investment, not the ones
causing the most harm.
21.
There is a need for affordable homes, yet there
is a disbelief in the need for downtown lofts. Encourage developers to build
small scale loft projects and see what happens. They will rent.
22.
Consider a Fire Sprinkler Grant to encourage the
use of fire suppression systems. The City can do the street cut for the
developer at a much lower cost than the sprinkler company.
23.
Find more ways to utilize the downtown community
theater. Partner with the group that operates the facility to have events occur
there at least twice a month. Children’s programs with the schools, maybe a
projector and play old movies, find ways to give the community things to do.
Partner with the winery next door to be open on those nights.
24.
Find small areas to have hang out places! I
identified several locations where a taproom could have a small outdoor space.
Develop the space behind the winery. Keep it simple but cool.
25.
During the first focus group meeting, the
following ideas were suggested:
·
Create a blog or social media account relating
to the revitalization effort
·
Create a hashtag- #OneWatonga #MorethanCheese
·
Network with other communities that have
experienced restoration
·
Create an inventory list of available buildings
·
Create a list of buildings currently used as
storage
·
Create a blight ordinance (I have already sent
an example to Teresa)
·
Get channel 9 to Watonga talking about this
effort-make a shout out to the surrounding area the need for qualified
contractors in Watonga. There is workers needed in Watonga!
·
Make a list of community assets-EX: Watonga is a
biking destination
·
Have transparent communication through TV, news
paper and social media
·
Start a “Did you know?” campaign. EX: Did you
know Roman Nose sees over 500,000 visitors per year? Did you know Watonga is a
biking destination? Did you know Watonga has excellent Library/Police/Fire
services?
·
Start a “Welcome to Watonga” class, teaching
employees at the local gas stations and restaurants all of the great things of
Watonga that can be shared with newcomers.
·
Start a Watonga Leadership Class through the
Chamber.
The key takeaway for me on this
week is the word INTENTIONAL. It seemed that many could see and explain the
community faults, yet almost nothing is being done to work on them. Watonga is
just on a path of survival, rather than being intentional about taking the road
to thrive. It seems there is a paralysis by analysis in the decision making,
therefore things aren’t happening. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Decide who
you want to be then be intentional about making that happen! Do something every
day towards this goal.
There’s a lot of suggestions in
this report, and it’s up to you to determine the importance. In my opinion,
here are the top 5 of the above mentioned to work on ASAP.
1. Have
a community meeting to go over this report. From this meeting, make a list of
importance and a list of attainable one-year goals.
2. Work
on the blight ordinance. This is going to be tough, don’t procrastinate.
3. You’ve
started the Focus Group, now make it more visible to the community. Open it up
for smaller groups to help in this effort. Speak about it at civil groups.
4. Create
the building inventory list. This will open your eyes to the amount of
buildings that are available, the amount of buildings that are used for storage
and give you an accurate count of buildings that are currently in use.
5. Start
planning a Community Vision Session. Have a non-biased facilitator that is
accustomed to leading a vision session. I would be willing to come help with
this.
All of this is brief synopsis of my findings in Watonga. It’s
amazing what can be discovered in just three days, yet a realization that there
is yet so much that can be learned. As a professional consultant I can assist
in nearly every single aspect of downtown revitalization, and have faced many
of the challenges you are facing now. I would love the opportunity to work
again in Watonga. Please contact me if there is anything I can help you with as
you work to revitalize your beautiful downtown.
All
the Best!
Ron Drake
INSPIRE•EQUIP•RESTORE
