Activating Downtown Victor- A Strategic Plan
Victor, Idaho | 2016
Project Details
The Challenge
Key Activities
Outcomes
Report
Facing substantial impact from its location in a resort region, Victor, Idaho has no shortage of livability issues. The small town of less than 2,000 people resides across a mountain pass from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a very expensive job center and tourist draw.
Because of this proximity, a majority of the population in Victor commutes to work, resulting in housing and transportation cost burdens to all those who live in Victor. At the same time, the is experiencing explosive growth. In hopes of preventing bad development in their city, as well as wanting to activate their city through housing diversification and better transportation networks, the community reached out to Community Builders (CB) to identify a few accomplishable projects.
After a three-day charrette with the community, city staff, business and property owners, and the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), CB identified five catalyst projects for the City of Victor.
Although the original concept for the three-day workshop was to develop design drawings for streets and buildings, it quickly became apparent that a more strategic approach would be to focus on major public policy and infrastructure actions that might encourage commercial/mixed-use interest in Downtown. The following 5 projects were proposed by CB following this charrette:
- Intersection improvements @ Cedron and Main
- Revitalization @ the Depot Site
- Adaptive reuse @ Victor Elementary
- Improved street and alley network @ Downtown core
- Intersection improvements @ Dogwood and Main
Of the 5 projects, the City of Victor has been most successful at tackling their street grid. Faced with large superblocks in their city, Victor most recently worked with a developer building an apartment complex and the Urban Renewal Authority to build an alleyway from the new complex to Victor’s downtown. The new public money that was dedicated to the project was $275,000, a significant amount for a small place like victor.
The community also started the Victor Placemakers Group, a community team with the goal of bringing more activity and engagement through placemaking to Victor. In summer of 2019, the group created the HeART Park, a pop-up park in Downtown Victor.
To view the final report, click the button below.