by Quinn Bennion, Vernal City Manager; Dan Smith, ASLA, MHTN Rural Planning Leader; Emily Seang, MHTN Community Planning; Ryan Wallace, AICP, AIA, MHTN Urban Design Director

Editor’s Note: The Vernal Downtown Plan won the 2022 Western Planner, President’s Award.

What makes a great place? A busy restaurant with a long line out the door? A fun street to walk along? Or maybe taking a picture next to a 40-foot-tall pink dinosaur?

The city of Vernal, Utah (pop. 10,241) is known by many as “Utah’s Dinosaur Land,” due to its proximity to Dinosaur National Monument. In addition, it is close to many other major recreation destinations including Ashley National Forest and Flaming Gorge. The city’s Historic Downtown features many key landmarks and destinations including the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum, Uintah Conference Center, local shops and restaurants, and Dinah the giant pink dinosaur. Main Street is at the center of downtown and in recent years it has seen an ever-growing number of seasonal events and attractions.

STATE HIGHWAY

Despite the many attractions, City efforts to provide programs and seasonal offerings, and recent revitalization of many storefronts along Main Street, continued investment and planning is needed to address ongoing challenges. Many buildings remain vacant and businesses and restaurants compete with national retailers and chain restaurants moving into newly constructed commercial areas of town. The unique historic charm of the downtown area is a definite draw for many to the area; however, Main Street has the challenge of being located on a wide five-lane State Highway that serves as a major transport route for many semi-trucks and heavy equipment supporting the regional mineral extraction industries. This high vehicular traffic decreases the ability for pedestrians to comfortably walk from one downtown destination to another. Constant vehicular sounds and smells also limit opportunities for restaurants to incorporate outdoor dining crucial to activating downtown areas.

Like many towns in Utah and throughout the Western U.S., main streets located along State Highways provide consistent vehicular traffic and visibility to small businesses, but this traffic also creates a major barrier for downtowns seeking to form walkable pedestrian friendly commercial districts and vibrant civic spaces. Many patrons and potential customers feel limited parking or the inconvenience of not being able to comfortably walk between destinations make larger commercial centers a more attractive and efficient location to do their dining and shopping.

DOWNTOWN VISION

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” This adage illustrates the attitude the City adopted from the beginning in involving key stakeholders and agencies to participate in these planning efforts. Vernal City recognized the obstacles present in improving their downtown and formed a partnership with the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce, Uintah County, the Utah Department of Transportation and engaged a team of planners and engineers to collectively form the Vernal Downtown Plan. This plan addresses ways to better leverage the City’s existing assets and strategies to revitalize the nine blocks within the Downtown study area boundary. These nine blocks were incorporated into the creation of a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA). The Vernal Downtown Plan looked generally at the larger downtown area in making recommendations but focused specifically on these blocks where Main Street and Vernal Avenue intersect to address the challenges and issues afflicting the streetscape and businesses along Main Street.

MEETING PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE

Through site inventory and analysis, and an intensive outreach online and in-person, strengths and weaknesses of the downtown area were identified, and strategies were discussed over a two-day design workshop with stakeholders and community members. The overarching strategy behind the community was to inform, engage, and collaborate with the public in a variety of ways and platforms. The diagram below shows the methods used to involve the community in the planning process.

The public engagement component of this project was a crucial way to ensure the recommendations made within the plan’s pages were in accordance with the desires of Vernal’s community. Through countless conversations, online comments, surveys, site tours, emails, and written notes, the overall vision of what citizens desire for their downtown came into greater focus. The robust engagement also encouraged “buy-in” and support for the plan.

In part due to the consistent colors and branding, the advertisements and communications for the plan were highly recognizable to partners and throughout the public outreach process. This helped to associate a positive image, build general support for the plan, and encourage further involvement from residents.

PROJECT CORNERSTONES

The best plans have cornerstones—sometimes known as guiding principles—to guide the process and ensure a successful outcome. The community engagement process and project branding were crucial in solidifying and defining the four cornerstones of the downtown vision. All goals, strategies, and desired outcomes were aligned with these cornerstones to reflect the community’s hopes and ideas for realizing a revitalized Downtown Vernal. The four cornerstones were:

Iconic and Memorable – reflects local assets and heritage and highlights unique identity throughout downtown.
Place for People – attract locals and visitors with places to gather forming an 18 hours-a-day 7 days-a-week district.
Place for Business – expand economic opportunities, enhance existing businesses, and entice new businesses.
Active and Connected – support active lifestyle through streets, outdoor spaces, and recreation activities.

During the planning process these cornerstones were revisited consistently as new concepts and ideas were explored. Thoroughly assessing the sites and tailoring tactics for each of the nine blocks was crucial to designing concepts that meet these four guiding principles. Context-sensitive strategies were proposed and included pedestrian-focused elements such as walking boulevards within larger city blocks, activated building fronts and side yards, appropriate roadway traffic-calming recommendations, and community gathering spaces.

In the project area, several key locations and blocks were identified and explored in greater detail. These areas saw specific strategies proposed to address some of the challenges these downtown block face being located on a wide high-traffic state highway.

HIGHWAY STRATEGIES

SIDE AND REAR BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS

Looking at spaces and opportunities along the sides and the rear of buildings became a key strategy to overcome the obstacles and constraints associated with making improvements to a major highway corridor. These Downtown Vernal locations provided some separation from the busy street and the building masses provide a buffer to the traffic and sight of traffic.

The side and rear of buildings in Downtown Vernal required design guidelines due to the Plan’s mid-block design. Consideration of the awnings, window treatments, signs, and vertical separation between the upper floors and first floor of the building was needed in order to maintain the desired function and aesthetic.

With the Plan’s mid-block design, the pedestrian experience is extended to other sides of the buildings. In addition to the façade improvements, areas to the side and rear of the building also need a cohesive design, public art, and other forms of beautification.

In order to be activated as a destination spot and place for gathering, mid-block spaces were recommended to draw in people strolling along the walking boulevards and serve as engaging connection points throughout the area.

WALKING BOULEVARDS

Another key strategy proposed to expand pedestrian options off the busy highway was to look at walking boulevards. A walking boulevard is a pedestrian passageway that acts as a mid-block connection between the main sidewalks. They add to the pedestrian interest and overall quality of the downtown, while also expanding retail opportunities with spaces for restaurants and cafes. Some of the key points of these walking boulevards included:

Twelve foot minimum unless not possible due to parcel size and ownership.
Maintain visibility through the Walking Boulevard from adjacent buildings.
Design elements for boulevard include seating, potted plants, shallow/recessed store windows, vines for color and interest, fin signs, lighting, banners for color, kiosks, awning, and clear pedestrian through-way.
Bollards, removable signs, and roll-curbs along in specific areas allow for pedestrian-only designation.

Funding and Stakeholders Engagement

The Downtown Vernal Plan is aggressive for a small rural community. The magnitude and breadth of the plan elements requires strong support from business owners, local officials, and the public in general. The public was invited to share views, and all were heard. From the onset, all stakeholders were invited and encouraged to engage in the plan's development. This engagement resulted in a better plan and buy-in as participants advocated for their views.

The inclusive planning process also resulted in funding opportunities. County officials were visionary in their participation and support of the plan—they approved funding for several elements of the transformation.

One of the first implementation efforts included the creation of a Downtown Community Reinvestment Area (CRA). The CRA is enabled by state statute and feature tax increment financing to further the plan. The City Manager led the effort to include six taxing entities into the CRA most notably the Uintah School District and Uintah County. Due to the inclusive and extensive planning process and marketing, the elected officials from the six boards were familiar with the plan and revitalization efforts. This resulted in unanimous support from all six entities for the creation of a CRA for 20 years within the downtown district. The anticipated increment from the CRA was leveraged for a CRA loan taken out by Vernal City. The loan funds are being used to finance the Downtown Facade Grant program. The facade grants pays for 40% of exterior improvements for downtown properties.

Continuing the Vision/ Conclusion

The Downtown Vernal Plan provides an exciting plan for a vibrant downtown. As the plan is implemented, downtown enhancements will attract residents, visitors and tourists to shop and play downtown. The plan has already encouraged private investment. Over 20 facade grant projects have started with several already finished. A developer has purchased property and is currently under design for two mixed-use four-story buildings. Three public infrastructure projects will be constructed in Summer 2023 with emphasis on a walkable and inviting environment. The plan will achieve its ultimate impact if it promotes community pride and unity for this rural community.

Project and plan link: https://vernalcity.org/471/Vernal-Downtown-Plan

Video link: https://vimeo.com/691459594/330865ace7

About the Authors

Quinn Bennion was born in Vernal and graduated from Uintah High School. Quinn attended Utah State University and graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. Quinn later attended the University of Kansas and graduated with a M.A. in Public Administration. Educational and career opportunities led him and his family to the Kansas City metro area, where he worked for two cities over 20 years. Quinn is married with four children. Quinn was hired as the Vernal City Manager in July 2017 and looks forward in continuing his public service and contributing efforts to maintain and improve the Vernal community.

Dan Smith, ASLA, CLARB is the MHTN Rural Planning Leader. As a landscape architect, Daniel works on a range of projects in master planning, K-12, and higher education. He has a depth of experience in streetscape projects and recognizes the importance of water conservation and xeric planting design in the Intermountain West. He provides technical skills and insight on everything from master plans to construction details.

Emily Seang is a Community Planner with MHTN. As a Community Planner, Emily loves creating places which are dynamic, inclusive, resilient, and memorable. She brings a wide array of experiences in equity-focused planning, economic development, and state-wide active transportation planning. Emily coordinates with stakeholders and clients to conduct research, facilitate public engagement, and create supporting materials to inform the planning process.

Ryan Wallace, AIA, LEED GA, APA/AICP, NCARB is a Principal and Director of Urban Design at MHTN. Ryan is an architect and planner with significant experience in higher education projects including campus master planning, programming, design and construction. With a combined background in urban planning and architecture he is able to work at multiple scales simultaneously. He has contributed significantly to projects through his careful attention to detail, passion for client engagement and development of innovative solutions to complex problems.

Downtown Placemaking on a State Highway: Vernal, Utah