L-R Mayor Richard Hoeppner, Naomi Hoeppner, Lynn Rorick, Sandy Heckley, Heidy Stoller, Brad Stoller, Keith Malfait, Tom Miller. Not pictured: Ray Abbott, Jayne Numbers.
It has been a grueling four years of planning, meeting, designing and applying for the Woodburn Partnership committee, but their vision is about to be realized. Beginning in 2015, construction will begin for a newly beautified Main Street cityscape.
In 2011, a committee was established in Woodburn, IN. They were brought together with the desire to revitalize the downtown district of their city. This Main Street project planning continued and in 2012, they completed all the mandatory requirements to be eligible for the Main Street Improvement Grant in which they planned to apply. In order to become eligible, they needed to set up regularly scheduled meetings, have volunteer hour requirements met, plan fundraisers, etc.
They also named LandPlan as their architectural firm for the design of the revitalization during this time frame. The official grant was written by Sturtz Public Management. In February 2013, Mayor Hoeppner received a letter from Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann that Woodburn was awarded the $30,00 planning grant. The Woodburn Partnership For Downtown Revitalization committee received the approval as an Indiana Main Street Community on March 13, 2013. Also in 2013, the committee received a $2,500 advance from the Woodburn Community Association, which was half of the $5,000 grant administration fee for the $30,000 planning grant. In October 2013, the designs were reviewed and a pubic input meeting was held. The plans were presented to the City Council in November and all was approved.
2014 began with applications for a competitive construction grant of $400,000 for the streetscape. The committee secured 20% in a matching portion of the grant from some generous community donors, the city of Woodburn, and other fundraisers.Two other communities were also applying for the two grants that would be awarded. On August 19, 2014 the grant was awarded to the city of Woodburn. Now construction will begin in 2015.
The Woodburn Partnership for Downtown Revitalization is a committee of the Woodburn Community Association and a member of the Indiana Main Street Program. Their mission is “to preserve and improve the physical, social and economic health of downtown Woodburn while enhancing the quality of life by providing a beautiful and safe community and to effectively build public and private participation to improve downtown Woodburn.”
