Uptown hopes for revamp

The possibilities for uptown Creston are endless with the Neighborhood Revitalization Grant.

The Update Uptown Committee presented Tuesday their updated grant application to Creston City Council, highlighting various projects the grant could be used for. Nothing on the application is concrete yet, with all aspects up for council review.

Five cities are up for the Neighborhood Revitalization Grant, $1.75 million provided by the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA). Creston was invited after a community review was completed by RDG Planning and Design.

After polling community members last summer, RDG came up with a number of city priorities. The two focused on for the grant application are improving city walkability and beautifying the uptown.

Jeremy Rounds, a member of the Update Uptown Committee, explained how, since the the grant is with the Community Development Block Grant program, the funds can only be used in certain ways.

“They can’t just fund everything we want. We had to look at projects that the grant would potentially fund,” Rounds said. “It’s a capital improvement funding program. It’s not funding staff to the library or to do a clean-up day or to design a website. This is for capital improvement-type things: roads and streets, home repairs, things like that.”

The current grant application lists seven different projects. As part of the requirements, at least 15% of funding for these projects must come from a committed outside source. This percentage comes from the sum of all the projects. The committee’s goal is to get committed funding from the city.

Rounds said the committee has been looking to create the Adams Street Linear Park since the group was founded in 2017.

“A linear park would basically be a side walkway, which could be expanding the sidewalk in some places, replacing it in others and also refurbishing that one travel lane into more of a multi-use area, which could include some parking spaces for people of that area,” Rounds said. “We would convert the lane closest to the depot to a walkable space with some parking instead of a second travel lane.”

Another park idea looked at the city parking on the west side of Elm Street.

“Some of the ideas we’ve had has been a small playground, possibly a splash pad-type thing or something similar to that nature. It could be a gazebo, some benches, things like that,” Rounds said. “That was something people have commented on, that it’s not very attractive coming across the railroad there.”

If awarded the grant, there would be collaboration between the committee and the railroad to keep safety a priority.

Other possible projects include replacing the street lights on Adams Street, sewer improvements along Montgomery Street, adding a residential sidewalk repair program and housing rehabilitation program for low income individuals and adding upper story housing.

Once final plans are made and there is funding committed, the grant application will be submitted. The application is due May 14, with results coming in late summer. If awarded, project activity would begin the following spring.