The Downtown Infrastructure Enhancement Project

What is the Downtown Infrastructure Enhancement Project?

It’s a vision for the future of OUR community. This Downtown Revitalization Plan grew out of the City’s 1999 Redevelopment Plan. The process used to prepare this Plan followed the “Main Street” model, developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Redevelopment Plan identifies numerous goals, objectives and programs for improvements to the Downtown area including:

• Improvement of the downtown streetscape;
• Addition of anchor tenants to increase activity in the downtown;
• Improvement of public parking facilities in downtown;
• Expansion of entertainment facilities in the downtown;
• Financial and technical assistance in support of the Main Street program to stimulate community
involvement;
• Many others.

Here’s an example of what the city of Lancaster has done to revitalize their Downtown.

The Proposed Plan & Benefits At A Glance

Quick benefits of the plan include:

Increased pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle safety
Enhanced appearance
Increased commerce
Increased parking opportunities (more than 120 spaces!)
Connected downtown businesses on both sides of El Camino
Designed road to encourage vehicles to obey traffic speeds
Placemaking: making it safe and comfortable for the community to walk and enjoy the space

Why do we support the project for OUR community?

A key objective of the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce is to support economic development in our community. We believe that this enhancement will dramatically improve access to our business community safely and responsibly. It is also our belief that it will increase occupancy rates and subsequently raise property values with the increase of green space and event space. The Downtown Infrastructure Enhancement Project (DIEP) will help our downtown businesses, the City, community and visitors. Now more than ever we believe in investing in business. It is the Chamber’s goal to work together with the City and community to assist in the recovery of our economy. We believe that this project will contribute to our recovery efforts while benefitting the community on a long-term basis and should move forward.

Read our full letter of support here.