Downtown Growth

The 600-800 blocks of Laurel are no longer adequate to handle dining and retail needs for our community, as well as the influx of visitors flocking to our lively downtown.  Here are a few ideas to protect and extend our downtown: 

• We should look at augmenting the downtown corridor by encouraging more retail and restaurant businesses on South Laurel Street, as we did on North Laurel.  

• We should encourage mixed-use buildings that can accommodate family-friendly retail and restaurants with added on-site customer parking.  This will both relieve congestion in traffic and parking in the downtown area, and stimulate additional economy and jobs.  

• We need to protect North Laurel’s charm. Current zoning has set a building height limit for the 600-800 blocks of Laurel at 50 feet, and no more than four stories. While larger buildings around that area of Laurel can happen, let’s cap the height of the 600-800 blocks of Laurel at two stories to preserve the character of our core downtown area.

• The city should develop a multi-year plan for our Downtown, so residents and businesses can envision the future of Laurel and plan for its success.