“This is the first stage of a revitalization project for these areas and is a step in the right direction to identify each city’s unique needs.” –Colby Kirk, One East Kentucky CEO
BY PHILL BARNETT
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
PAINTSVILLE — One East Kentucky is using a $270,000 grant announced in October from Kentucky Power to assist in the downtown revitalization of six eastern Kentucky communities.
According to newly-appointed OEK CEO and former Martin County Judge/Executive Colby Kirk, the funds will pay a consultant to conduct preliminary research into each community to determine what strategies will be most effective at attracting retail businesses to downtown.
The Downtown Revitalization Project grant is funded through the Kentucky Power Economic Growth Grant program and will benefit the communities of Hazard, Jenkins, Prestonsburg, Pikeville, Whitesburg and Inez.
“Although I wasn’t involved in the writing of this grant, I did write a letter in support of it while serving as the Judge-Executive for Martin County and was aware of its objective,” said Kirk. “Each city included in the grant will receive approximately $45,000 that will be used to conduct a preliminary study to identify the greatest needs of each location, such as the types of businesses most needed in the downtown areas, and that could also include recommendations of parks and recreational areas.”
OEK has solicited proposals from retail development consulting firms, ultimately accepting a proposal from a firm called Retail Strategies based out of Birmingham, Ala.
“The funds will go to pay for the consultants,” said Kirk. “The work they’re delivering is a five-year strategic plan for each of these communities, but it also includes two years of ongoing implementation support.”
According to Kirk, Retail Strategies will recommend five years’ worth of actionable steps to attract unique retail businesses in each community. Then, instead of abandoning the situation as many consulting firms do, they will spend two years helping the communities work towards the goals set in their five-year plans.
“I thought this was more advantageous,” said Kirk. “In the past I’ve seen consultants come in, they’ll do their tour, they’ll do all this great work. They’ll give you this really nice strategic plan that aligns with your goals and what you want to work for, and then they just leave and never come back.”
According to Kirk, the ultimate goal of each five-year plan will heavily depend on each city’s needs and community input.
“They’ll hold a meeting where they invite stakeholders; it’s a public meeting,” said Kirk. “If you have a vested interest in seeing something downtown, show up and tell us what your ideas are. The plan will revolve around that community input. If a lot of people show up and say, ‘We really want a space for a dog park,’ part of the strategic plan could be the development of a green space that is pet-friendly.”
While some goals of the strategic plan may be that specific, based on public input, Kirk explains that most of the goals of the five-year plan will focus on the big-picture goal of bringing jobs to downtown and reducing vacancy.
Planning community tours with Retail Strategies is already underway and progress will continue throughout 2023.
“We had a kick-off meeting Tuesday of last week, actually, with all six communities and the consulting group,” said Kirk. “I think the visit for Inez will take place sometime in March.”
Kirk said the consulting firm would do community tours with local stakeholders in the six communities in March, June and July. Once Retail Strategies has completed its on-site research, the firm will spend around six months preparing the five-year strategic plan for each community. Even before the plans are returned, communities are likely to have actionable steps in front of them.
“It really depends on what kind of projects come out of it,” said Kirk. “You know, if it’s a simple beautification project, a person with a can of paint can get out there and really start some of that work.”
While each community’s plan will focus primarily on bringing businesses to town, Kirk acknowledges that this may entail infrastructural improvements.
“I think water could be part of it,” said Kirk, referring specifically to Inez. “Something they may consider looking at also is the sewer in downtown. I know we’ve had issues with that in businesses and so there may be some strategies that are helpful.
“I think stormwater may be something that comes up too,” Kirk continued. “I know that a lot of downtown communities treat stormwater at their sewer plants. I don’t think we do that and I don’t think we would have the capacity to do that.”
While this project will not magically solve any of these communities’ problems, it will play a key role in motivating policy and shaping stakeholder involvement in improving communities.
“This is the first stage of a revitalization project for these areas and is a step in the right direction to identify each city’s unique needs,” said Kirk.