West Bend BID board approves removal of overhead cables, hears downtown master plan presentation and event updates

The Business Improvement District (BID) board in West Bend on June 4 voted to have the Department of Public Works remove four overhead decorative/utility cables spanning downtown buildings at no cost to the BID and heard a presentation on the downtown master plan adopted earlier this year.

The votes were the most immediate decisions at the meeting, but board members also approved the minutes of the May 7 meeting and the updated financial report, moved to reconstitute the facade-grant committee with new members, and formed a strategic-plan committee to set multi-year priorities for downtown. The board also received operational updates about new street planters arriving in phases and a report on a recent downtown block party produced by The Bend performing-arts venue.

The downtown master plan and streetscape presentation led by City Planner John Fellows was the main substantive briefing. Fellows said the city had not done a deep downtown plan since 1999 and noted the master plan and a companion streetscape plan were adopted by the city earlier in March. "The plan looked at the downtown area basically from Regner Park down to Chestnut Street in the south," Fellows said, summarizing the study area and…