Wednesday, June 5, 2024
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Serving Kosciusko County and parts of Elkhart, Marshall & Noble Counties Know Your Neighbor . . . . . 2➤ Nappanee Area News . . . . . 6 Silver Lake Days Festival . . . . . . . . . 9-11 Vol. 53, No. 38
Milford (574) 658-4111 • Warsaw (574) 269-2932 • Syracuse (574) 457-3666
IDEAS ON THE TABLE — Milford’s Clerk-Treasurer Tricia Gall, left, attends a downtown development committee meeting with Made on Main owner, Angie Deak, Milford Town Council President Doug Ruch, and Olivia Nix of the Michiana Area Council of Governments. The committee has discussed revitalizing their small downtown through beautification, facade grants and way-finding signs.
114 W. Market, Warsaw, Indiana 46580
PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY — Airika Houser, right, looks through some of Jasmine Penn’s wares at a sidewalk pop-up outside the Elysian Co. boutique in downtown Warsaw. Wider, more pedestrian-friendly sidewalks — a downtown development goal for some area communities — are meant to allow for activity such as this.
Towns around Kosciusko County take an interest in downtown revitalization Text and Photos By LILLI DWYER Staff Writer “The downtown is the heartbeat of a town, and, I like to say, the front door to the city,” said Terry Sweeney, the new downtown development director for Main Street Warsaw. Indeed, the downtown is often the oldest part of a community, around which other developments spring up over the years. It functions as an economic, civic and cultural center for a town. In recognition of the downtown’s importance, Main Street Warsaw was first formed by a
group of business people as the Warsaw Community Development Corporation in 1980. Common concerns of the time were vacant buildings, dilapidated storefronts, parking and traffic flow. Since then, downtown development has been a continuous process. “Development and revitalization is never done,” explained Sweeney, whose hiring was announced by the Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce earlier this month. Before coming to Warsaw, he had worked in downtown management in Indianapolis, Lexington, Ky., and Corpus Christi, Texas.
When it comes to plans for Warsaw, Sweeney said, “anything that will come about as we move forward will have basis. Some will have basis in the recently completed HyettPalma plan, as well as portions of the Critical Corridors plan.” HyettPalma, Inc. conducted a study on the downtown area in 2002, then again in 2023 to look at what had been accomplished and what could be improved. Some main points of the recent HyettPalma study include attracting businesses, encouraging mixed use of buildings, adding multi-family housing, refreshing the streetscape and
improving parking. “The county’s looking at a parking garage. I think you’ll see some really significant steps taken here over the next 12 to 24 months that will change how downtown operates from a parking perspective,” said Sweeney. A comprehensive outline of the study and its vision for downtown can be found online at warsaw.in.gov. Warsaw is not the only town looking to improve. Elsewhere in the county, Syracuse is in the process of starting its own Main Street organization for next year. Town Manager David Wilkinson explained the reasoning behind
DOWN ON MAIN STREET — Milford’s Main Street is located a few blocks off of the busy SR 15, so directing people to it proposes something of a challenge.
this interest in downtown revitalization. “Years ago, the development of towns and cities left the downtown and became part of what they call ‘urban sprawl.’ People moved out into the suburbs, away from the downtown, and then all the stores followed them and built on the outskirts of town. Shopping destinations became periphery to the town centers and so town centers, the local shops, were suffering as a result. There was a revitalization awhile back trying to restore the downtowns, that’s kind of where the Main Street organization came from,” Wilkinson said. Continued on page 2
POINTING THE WAY — Pictured is a way-finding sign that points people in the direction of downtown Warsaw and other noteworthy destinations. Other communities, like Milford and Syracuse, are looking to implement these for better navigation to and around their own downtown areas.