Council hears plan for downtown "culinary district" to boost restaurants and events

Economic development Director Steve Weathers asked the council for a green light to advance a downtown "culinary district" initiative aimed at bringing more visitors to downtown, increasing restaurant revenues and creating private- and public-sector jobs. "The main reason that we're doing this ... is to bring more people to downtown, more people to our restaurants, generate more revenue for our businesses," Weathers said as he outlined goals and next steps.

Weathers showed the council a six-minute example video from Harrisonburg, Virginia, and presented a draft boundary that would include the Tea Room, Millennial Brewing, Bull Lake and Swamp Cat Brewing. He said staff and partners have already held an initial meeting that drew 59 attendees, including 33 restaurant operators who expressed interest in being part of the district. "Lisa Subatoni's got a grant into the visitors bureau, I think, for about a $25,000 grant to help with this," Weathers said, and he said he would request a small budget in the upcoming budget work session to match the grant and fund initial branding and event planning.

Council members asked about governance and staffing for the district, whether the city or a nonprofit would run programming, and what businesses would be expected to contribute. Weathers said early staffing would be handled by economic development staff and partners, and that the model could evolve to a nonprofit or River District-type organization if the program requires more resources. Several members voiced support for moving forward to the budget meeting for more detailed cost proposals and next steps.