The City of Owensboro will soon enter into a contract with a local organization that will assess downtown Owensboro over the next year. These consultants will help the City execute the third phase of a downtown initiative that seeks to create more housing for residents and increase interest in downtown living.
This contract and execution will cost $80,000 that primarily stems from a Riverport Authority dividend.
“We have a plan — we’re having them help to execute the third phase of the original plan with population density,” Mayor Tom Watson said. “We’re trying to see what can be done with other buildings that aren’t doing as well.”
In order to create density in downtown Owensboro, Watson said a detailed execution needs to take place. This consulting contraction allows a third party to take a deeper look at how downtown Owensboro can house more people — something City officials don’t have enough time to focus on right now.
“It’s pretty convoluted to sit there and spend all day on it, when they have so many other things they’re working on,” Watson said. “There are times when there’s just not enough people. With this, you don’t have to pay benefits [to those doing the consulting].”
At Tuesday’s City Commission meeting, Watson said the City was at a crucial point in figuring out how to make downtown more livable and create density in numbers. A budget amendment was proposed at Tuesday’s meeting for bond refunding/issue costs, downtown services, the York Park pickleball court project, residual funding from the Castlen Dog Park project in the amount of $5,700, the addition of one full-time bus driver and the replacement of one information technology manager with two supervisors.
Watson chose not to mention the consulting group by name at this time, but says they will send periodic reports and data to City commission over the next year. Watson hopes a contract can be officiated within the next week.
“There’s a few little things to work out, and we want to start running as soon as we can,” he said. “I think it’s going to be good, and I’m looking forward to seeing some results.”
