Ephraim takes first step in ambitious revitalization plan By Suzanne Dean Publisher 7-23-08 EPHRAIM—The Ephraim City Council took the first step last week on what could be the most ambitious downtown revitalization any Sanpete County community has attempted. At a meeting Wednesday, July 16, the council voted unanimously to spend $20,000 to hire Nolte Associates, a consulting engineering firm with offices throughout the West, including in Salt Lake County, to take over where an earlier Main Street Committee left off. The earlier committee, which was chaired by former Councilwoman Jannette Anderson and included faculty from the Snow College art department, came up with several design suggestions. A Utah State University landscape architecture class submitted other ideas. Nolte’s job would be to facilitate further community meetings to gather more input and modify or enlarge on previous work. The goal would be to build consensus among a broad base of residents about what changes to make in the downtown area. Then Nolte would draw up conceptual plan and write grants to fund the improvements. Up to now, the city has been planning to apply for assistance under the Utah Department of Transportation Main Street program, the same program that funded improvements in Mt. Pleasant and Manti. But with the limited funding available under the UDOT program, communities tend to end up with cookie-cutter designs that include street lights, hanging flower baskets or banners, benches and street resurfacing, says City Manager Richard Anderson. The result is that many Main Streets around Southern Utah are starting to look a lot alike. Mayor Cliff Birrell said he wants Ephraim to do something distinctive. A comprehensive revitalization following a unique motif is going to be more expensive than a plan limited to lighting and street improvements. But that’s okay, Birrell said, because Nolte would help find the extra money. “The difference between UDOT and working with this organization is that they find the grants for you,” Birrell said. Another difference is that Nolte has facilitated successful Main Street refurbishment projects in towns around the West. The firm has a specialist in Main Street development, Roger Miller, in its Colorado Springs office. Miller would be involved in the work in Ephraim. “The thing that makes Nolte unique is that they have got the staff and they have very nice projects in their portfolio,” Anderson said. Ephraim got acquainted with Nolte when it hired the firm to help write its master plan for water development. Additionally, two staff members in Nolte’s Murray office, Corwin Willmore and Steve Brenchley, grew up in Ephraim. When they learned Ephraim was looking at Main Street revitalization, they suggested the town look into Nolte’s services. At last week’s council meeting, Willmore and Brenchley made a presentation that focused on a Nolte project in Manitou Springs, Colo., west of Colorado Springs. “It’s a different community, with a different atmosphere, but a lot of the same issues (as Ephraim),” Brenchley said. Nolte put as much energy into bringing Mantiou’s community together as on engineering design, Brenchley said. He showed a DVD in which one of the Manitou committee members said that prior to revitalization, “Manitou was dying while other mountain towns were reinventing themselves.” The town’s deputy recorder said the project had been “a catalyst for an explosion” in economic growth. And the economic development director said the project had transformed the town “from being a liveable city to being a memorable city.” The presentation seemed to ignite a spark of excitement among council members and visitors at the meeting. Sandra Lanier, director of the Ephraim Co-op, said Ephraim is a “nicer town than it looks” and has “every single thing it needs” to draw visitors off the Wasatch Front, especially now that gas prices are an impediment to longer trips. “If we could do something like this, it would be thrilling,” she said. Russ Stevens, whose family has been in Ephraim for several generations, said that while old timers sometimes resist change, “if we can spark the fire, it’ll happen.” “If we really do communicate, if we really do get people involved,” the city could build enough support to push such a project through, Councilman Dave Parrish said, adding “We’ll never know unless we try.” Birrell said Snow College should have a role in shaping plans. There has been discussion about extending any Main Street improvements up College Avenue to help visitors find the college and encourage them to at least drive by the campus. As discussion at the council meeting wound down, Parrish moved to appropriate the $20,000 to get Nolte Associates going. Birrell called the roll, and all council members voted “yes.”