City and consultants preview 5-year 'Imagine Downtown' action plan

City staff and consultants from MIG presented a near-final five-year action plan for downtown Duluth at the Duluth City Council meeting, outlining strategies to increase residential population, improve safety and pedestrian connections, and catalyze targeted development.

Consultants Jay Rankins and Sue Garner described the three-phase process that produced the draft: discovery and existing-conditions analysis, testing and refining recommendations with the public and a 16-person steering committee, and the present finalization and implementation planning phase. Staff said the plan focuses on actions that can be initiated or meaningfully advanced within five years, not a 20-year horizon.

The consultants identified several “big moves” intended to coordinate multiple actions. On safety, the plan proposes a formal partnership among city agencies, police and fire, large employers, property owners and social-service providers to coordinate clean-and-safe efforts and better serve people experiencing homelessness or severe behavioral-health issues. For housing, the plan recommends establishing a development corporation to help create 1,500 new residential units downtown, “aligning with the mayor’s goal” and providing a diverse mix of unit types. The plan also calls for promoting small-format food co‑ops and markets as neighborhood amenities to support new residents.

Infrastructure recommendations include prioritizing safe walking and biking routes at street level and within the Skywalk system, and redesigning public spaces to better connect downtown to adjacent neighborhoods and the waterfront. Economic development recommendations emphasize stronger ties between K–12/higher-education institutions and downtown workforce and entrepreneurship efforts. Consultants said community input showed a desire to move multiple actions in parallel — housing, safety, and pedestrian improvements — rather than sequencing them strictly.

Consultants outlined five focus areas with tailored priorities: the South Library/Civic Core (transit-oriented development potential), the waterfront gateway (event infrastructure and multimodal connections), the downtown core (adaptive reuse and street-level activation), Canal Park (improved physical and programmatic links to the heart of downtown), and the Medical District (partnerships with Essentia/Health and improved connectivity). Examples of catalytic projects included streetscape treatments, transit‑oriented development near the transit center, skywalk enhancements, sidewalk activations and infill housing on vacant lots along First Avenue.

Staff said the steering committee met earlier in the day and that some steering-committee members disagreed on priorities — reinforcing staff’s approach of pursuing several complementary actions simultaneously. The draft plan will be distributed during downtown outreach in July, with a final plan expected after that round of public input. Staff acknowledged funding remains to be identified for many actions and said implementation working groups will pursue funding, assign responsibilities and track next steps. Staff also noted that Boreal Waters Community Foundation provided a matching grant supporting the planning work.

The presentation closed with councilors invited to comment and questions about compatibility with long-range projects; consultants said recommendations were framed so they would not preclude large future projects such as highway reconnections or bridge changes but acknowledged some physical changes (for example, to bridge approaches) could require later redesign.

Supporters and steering-committee members asked that councilors receive the slides; staff said the slide deck would be distributed and that the consultants would return with final materials. The next public outreach or “downtown Duluth days” engagement is scheduled for July, when the draft plan will be available for additional comment.