McMinnnville Starting Master Plan Process For Downtown Pedestrians

The city of McMinnville has taken the first step towards creating a master plan for its Safe Streets to School project.

Tuesday’s public input session was the first of two discussing the needs of the study area north of downtown. Community Planner Katie Kemezis said the overall goal is to use residential feedback to gauge where safe walking and biking options are needed.

“They allow the community to come together and talk about the challenges, the trouble spots of these areas, the opportunities,” Kemezis said. “And then, our planning team will then take that, bring it back to the community in a couple of months with our recommendations on how to achieve that vision, and once we have those master plans, we will be well suited.”

So far, 232 residents have completed a survey over the study area. The top three locations residents want pedestrian connectivity are the Milner Recreation Center, Dottie West Park and Warren County Middle School. The top three barriers preventing more bikers are lack of infrastructure, difficult intersections and volume and speed of traffic.

KCI engineering group is helping create the master plan. Planning Consultant Rachel Durham said the second meeting will be sometime this spring to review the recommendations and rank them either short term or long term projects.

“The study area mainly stretches from the three schools,”  Durham said. “We have Bobby Ray Elementary, West Elementary and then up to Warren County Middle School and extending over to that rec center. So, it is more connecting all of these points and local destinations for school children and recreational opportunities.”

Another goal for the master plan is promoting healthy lifestyles. Kemezis said connecting downtown areas with safe walkways will encourage residents to utilize the facilities.

“This gets to public health,” Kemezis said. “Allowing people to be more active and go for a walk in their neighborhood and feel safe. As well as, quality of life for creating a community where children coming to the schools and graduate decide to stay.”

The survey will remain open until April 9th. The overall master plan made of community feedback should be completed this summer. A T-DOT multimodal grant is funding the work once the master plan is complete.