Downtown Beaver Dam Revitalization Bids Advance

(Beaver Dam) Downtown revitalization efforts in Beaver Dam are working their way through committee. The city’s Community Development Committee Wednesday signed-off on bids for trees and walkway enhancements. Forward Construction Group of Beloit would be installing brick pavers and lighting in the pedestrian walkway between the tower parking lot and Front Street, next to American Bank; the contract is for just over $40-thousand-dollars. The same company has also been tabbed to install 16 trees in the concrete sidewalks on the 100 and 200 blocks of Front Street at a cost of just over $38-thousand dollars. Mayor Becky Glewen says the company has experience putting trees in concrete, which will be placed in a plastic encasing and specially-engineered soil. City Engineering Coordinator says Flowering Pear trees have been identified for the downtown. Piltz says the DNR recommends the ice cream cone-shaped trees for urban areas in southeast Wisconsin.

The committee Wednesday tabled action on the purchase of a downtown building for demolition to connect Front Street to the new community theatre building. The committee also tabled action on the purchase of planters, benches and garbage cans until a layout can be assembled detailing where they would be located. The Community Development Committee hardly met at all last year but has met three times in the last month. The mayor has redefined the role of the committee, with downtown revitalization decisions now a larger part of its focus. Items approved by the CDC still require approval by the city’s Operations Committee and the full common council. In March, the council approved borrowing $580-thousand dollars to address four primary elements of the downtown revitalization plan: landscaping, trees, a façade grant program and the acquisition and demolition of a Front Street building. The elements were identified in a downtown revitalization study that was unveiled earlier in the year.