After a 43-minute public hearing and discussion on a local improvement district consumed the early part of Monday night’s meeting, Philomath city councilors clearly welcomed the chance to talk about something a little more fun — how to transform North 13th Street into the kind of place where neighbors run into each other on a summer evening.
City Manager Chris Workman laid out a package of downtown improvements — a timber-framed pavilion, cross-street string lighting, additional benches and a state-of-the-art interactive digital kiosk — alongside a proposal to close a half-block of North 13th to vehicle traffic every Friday evening this summer under the banner of “Fridays on 13th Street.”
The council gave its blessing to the concepts, and the conversation that followed had the loose, brainstorming feel of a group enjoying itself.
“Thank you all for a discussion about something good happening in Philomath,” Mayor Christopher McMorran said as the talk wound down. “That is what we need.”
Workman told councilors the city has urban renewal money budgeted this year for the projects, and that the pavilion and lighting could move quickly.
“We’re looking at some lighting down 13th Street, a pavilion with that real timber town look … that’s going to cover the new digital kiosk,” Workman said.
The 16-by-24-foot pavilion drew approving nods from the council on its appearance. Gerding Builders has previously expressed interest in working with the city on construction. Workman is still collecting quotes on the string lighting.
“At least with the lighting and pavilion, I think we can get it done within the next few months,” Workman said.
The digital kiosk is a different story. The company that installs them prefers to do several at once, so Philomath — needing only one — may have to wait until it can be tacked onto a larger order elsewhere.
“They’re going to try to do us as like a ‘plus 1,'” Workman said. “So you find a group that’s building 10 of them with similar specs to what we’re looking for and then they may just add us to that purchase order. But I don’t have a lot of control over that timing.”
Workman described the kiosk’s capabilities with enthusiasm. The technology would highlight tourist attractions and events, map locations and provide other information for both locals and visitors. A built-in camera would even allow people to take selfies.
Councilors had some back-and-forth on whether the kiosk would actually get used, but the general consensus tipped in its favor.
“I see a lot of benefits but it’s got a price tag to it,” Workman said. “We don’t want to be wasteful but I’ve been noodling about something like this for several years and the technology’s gotten better now.”
He left the door open for councilors to scale back.
“If the council wants to keep it simple or postpone that, I’m fine with it,” Workman said. “I just think it’d be really cool there and it would put us ahead of just about every other city in Oregon having one, which in and of itself would put us on the map.”
Councilor Spencer Irwin saw the kiosk as setting a tone.
“I just think that we’re kind of moving into that area as a fun, flexible, future-oriented space,” he said.
The lighter mood carried into the discussion of “Fridays on 13th Street,” Workman’s proposal to shut down a half block of North 13th to vehicle traffic from 4:30 to 10 p.m. every Friday in June, July and August. Barricades would be placed at Main Street and on the south side of the alleyway just north of Dirt Road’s new structure, preserving parking access in front of Birdie’s Pizza and Spaeth Hardware from College Street.
Workman said the city should commit a modest amount of money toward hosting activities — a karaoke machine and card tables for game nights came up — along with signage and barricades sturdy enough to stop a vehicle. The barricades, he noted, could be repurposed for other community events.
“I think for not a whole lot of money we could get a whole lot of economic development slash quality-of-life benefit out of just shutting that down to vehicle traffic on Friday nights,” Workman said.
He pitched the summer series as an experiment.
“Let’s start small, try something and if it doesn’t work, then we’ll stop doing it,” Workman said. “If it works — great and we’ll talk about replicating or doing it more or doing it better. But this is a small step to do something to help vitalize it.”
Councilor Teresa Nielson suggested building in activities that would draw teenagers and younger residents, and said the closure fit the broader direction of downtown.
“If we’re going to make this a pedestrian friendly downtown area, which we’re hoping to, it makes sense to have something like this,” Nielson said. “I’m really for it and I think it really could be good for the businesses and the activities that are happening in our area and getting people out of their cars.”
McMorran offered to help fill the pavilion with programming, even floating the idea of accepting a donated piano that could live under the structure for outdoor use. He also pitched outdoor movie nights.
“I love all this … I’m excited to see this come together,” the mayor said. “I know we’ve all been talking about these concepts for a while and so thanks for kind of aggregating everything and making some progress.”
Workman said he plans to talk with businesses in the immediate vicinity and to bring the proposal before the Philomath Community Network group, which meets monthly, to gather additional perspectives.
“Mostly, I’m just hoping we find friends and neighbors and other people you associate with and talk and not being worried about getting run over — just having a spot to come together,” Workman said.
McMorran suggested the council reconvene after the May 27 Budget Review Committee meeting to walk through additional details.
“I just feel like we’re approving the concept and then it might be nice to hear more about the plan,” he said.
