‘Assessment’ effort awaits consultant recommendations

‘Assessment’ effort awaits consultant recommendations

       An “assessment” of Old Colorado City's future Sept. 17-19 will not lead to any immediate action, but Jonathan Neely, who initiated the consultant-aided endeavor, believes it was a good start - especially in terms of unifying the four main groups that have a stake in the area.
       “What we have now is an opportunity,” said Neely, who chairs the committee for the Old Colorado City Special Improvement Maintenance District (SIMD) and initiated the effort. “What I think we need to do is to get together on a quarterly basis.”
       A time frame for a new meeting has not yet been determined. Still, Neely was encouraged that people from the other main groups - representing OCC merchants, their nonprofit foundation and Westside residents - “stopped by at the end of the meeting and said they were agreeable to it, that we need to keep this up,” Neely said.
       A similar tone was voiced by Katherine Correll, of the the consulting firm, Down-town Colorado Inc. (DCI), as what was titled the “Old Colorado City Corridor Assessment” came to a close Sept. 19, with about 50 people in attendance. “This is just the beginning,” she said. “The important thing is to keep talking.”
       Contracted by SIMD, DCI offered initial findings during the event and is still in the process of refining them, Neely said, when asked for an update in October.
       The perceived value of such a review has emerged as SIMD meetings in recent years have revealed desires or needs for expensive public improvements in Old Town.

Westside Pioneer article