Last modified: Sunday, September 14, 2008 12:24 AM PDT KATIE PIZZA | ARGUS OBSERVER Residents walk across the street in downtown Ontario. A special meeting held last week between city leaders, residents and local merchants cleared up a number of issues, according to Ontario City Manager Henry Lawrence. City official lauds downtown session By Katie Pizza Argus Observer Ontario—Local business owners appeared pleased with Ontario’s downtown revitalization efforts in the wake of a special meeting held Tuesday. The meeting, which Ontario City Manager Henry Lawrence said was to help clear up myths and misconceptions regarding the proposed planning effort, was held at the Four Rivers Cultural Center. Some of these myths, Lawrence said, came from a petition sponsored by business owner David Eldredge. “After the petition was conducted and given to the council,” Lawrence said, “I started to get phone calls.” The petition, he said, helped to get people involved in the conversation. “The whole process of the petition got a lot of people interested,” he said. However, not everything people said about the project was accurate, he said. “One person thought we were going to build a waterpark,” he said. “The depot plan did have a water fountain but not a waterpark.” Lawrence said he believed the meeting, which was billed as an “evening of straight talk,” did a good job of dispelling myths and rumors. He said he also believed it was well attended by both downtown owners, city staff and other residents. “We had about 80 chairs out,” he said. “Most of the chairs were full.” As for the people who sat in the chairs and heard what city leaders had to say about the project, one local business owner spoke favorably of the plan. “It just kind of cleared things up a little,” Intimate Image owner Melissa Knapton said. One of the myths Lawrence said he hoped the meeting cleared up was that nothing needed to be done to improve downtown. In a Powerpoint presentation shown at the meeting, a lightpole was shown sticking out of the middle of a sidewalk. “There is always room for improvement,” Lawrence said. Another point of contention for business owners was that new development would remove parking spaces. “We don’t plan to take away parking,” Lawrence said. “2005 studies discussed the idea that parking is a key component of any successful downtown.” The issue of parking was one of the main reasons some business owners opposed the proposed depot square concept, an idea which Cheryl Cruson, one of the owners of Oregon Trail Hobbies and Gifts, said was still on the table. “The city manager called it a fairly aggressive plan,” she said. “A long-term goal.” Her husband, Dale Cruson, who also owns Oregon Trail Hobbies and Gifts, said he now had a better idea of “what we’re going to be working towards.” He also said city leaders who spoke at the meeting said they had to move quickly on the revitalization project. “They are under the gun because the grant is up in June,” he said. Lawrence said a $130,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation and the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development is slated to fund planning, traffic studies and economists for the project. He also said a similar meeting is slated in the future to keep the public updated on where the plan is heading. “Oct. 9 is our next big meeting,” he said. At the Oct. 9 meeting, he said, Matt Hastie, of Portland-based Angelo Planning Group, is scheduled to present what the team has discovered regarding the downtown area so far. “He’ll update where there are some issues,” he said. “He may have some ideas to present at the next meeting.” As for the plan itself, Lawrence said he would like to see downtown development similar to what is in place in Pendleton. The city manager and mayor of Pendleton spoke at a recent Ontario City Council session. Downtown business owners there, Lawrence said, are given 40 percent of the money they spend on improvements to their building’s facade as long as it keeps with the historical theme of the city. “If they want to do a more modern building or do something different,” he said. “They don’t have to take the grant.” Lawrence said the city does not have any plans to create regulations for building color or materials. “If all the business owners got together and said they wanted to have a color palette,” he said. “We could look into that.” After the meeting, he said, he saw both proponents and opponents of the plan getting together in small groups to talk about the project. “They were talking about it, smiling and shaking hands,” Lawrence said.