The City of Mount Vernon has completed a comprehensive redevelopment plan for its historic downtown area. The goal of that planning effort was to guide the investment of public and private resources in the downtown area over the next 20 years. A key component of this plan is to provide the City's downtown area with 100-year flood protection. The threat of flooding poses a major barrier to investment in the downtown area and limits the City's efforts to create a vibrant, attractive, and safe waterfront district. In addition to flood protection, the project's goals include enhancing public access to the shoreline and river, promoting a mixed use redevelopment that will generate new jobs, and providing an area for both housing and business development to occur in a manner that helps preserve the character of the downtown area.
The Master Plan was developed to guide the redevelopment that is anticipated once the flood protection measures identified in the recent Flood Protection Alternatives Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) are implemented. The Master Planning work also includes a transportation analysis, market analysis, financial feasibility analysis and economic impact study.
Phase I, which was concluded in April 2006, included preliminary Master Plan Concepts and a preliminary market analysis. This next phase of the Master Planning process picks-up where Phase I ended and builds upon the preferred flood control alternative identified in the EIS. This process hasresulted in a final Master Plan that includes recommended changes to the City's Comprehensive Plan, shoreline development guidelines, and design standards specific to the needs of the downtown area.
This planning process has resulted in the preparation of a coordinated implementation and funding strategy to guide the investment of public and private resources over the next twenty years and will serve as a catalyst for a series of redevelopment activities in the downtown area.
Input from the community has been a key part of the process, and opportunities for public involvement were provided. The waterfront redevelopment and downtown master plan project creates a significant opportunity for the City to recreate a vibrant, attractive riverfront and remove a major barrier to investment in the downtown area. We thank all those involved for your interest and participation.
Final Downtown & Waterfront Master Plan (6/30/08)
Downtown & Waterfront Master Plan Presentation (6/11/08)
Draft Downtown & Waterfront Master Plan (5/2/08)
Open House PowerPoint Presentation (10/17/07)
Preliminary Master Plan Concepts (8/14/07)
Waterfront Development Concept D (3/29/06)
Downtown Current Land use