By Emily Younker
eyounker@joplinglobe.com
WEBB CITY, Mo. — Big plans are in store for downtown Webb City.
Chuck Surface, economic development director, shared a few of them with the Webb City Historical Society on Saturday in an update on the city’s involvement in the state DREAM Initiative, a downtown revitalization program.
“I believe this is the right time in the right city to make this work,” he said.
Some of the biggest plans for downtown revolve around U.S. Route 66. Surface said Webb City should take advantage of its Route 66 heritage by developing a downtown focus on the historic roadway.
“We’ve got Route 66 running through town, but what good does it do?” he said. “It doesn’t cause (motorists) to stop; it doesn’t cause them to spend money in Webb City.”
One vision, Surface said, is to turn the city’s east entrance at Broadway and Daugherty streets into a Route 66 park and visitor center, where motorists could get information on what Webb City has to offer.
Another vision involves the former gas station one block west of Main and Broadway streets, Surface said. The property would be ideally suited for the office of the city’s downtown manager, a position yet to be created, he said.
Funds for the projects could come from state grants, he said.
Webb City was accepted as a DREAM city in 2008 by the state Department of Economic Development, Development Finance Board and Housing Development Commission. The initiative provides assistance to select cities for downtown revitalization efforts.
Historic preservation in the downtown area is important as well, Surface said. The City Council approved in October the creation of a Historic Preservation Commission, and a separate committee will be formed in January to help guide downtown activities and to find additional sources of funding, he said.
Ann Watrous, one of five members of the Historic Preservation Commission, said she volunteered for the position because of her connection to the city.
“I’ve lived in Webb City almost all my life,” she said. “I just have a vested interest in the town.”
Watrous said the commission’s job is to approve construction or renovation plans involving buildings downtown or in historic areas of the city.
The goal is to preserve “as much as possible to keep the historic theme,” she said. “I look forward to seeing it come back.”
As part of the DREAM Initiative, about 300 residents were recently surveyed by phone to share their ideas for downtown revitalization, Surface said, and those results will be released in January.
In the meantime, the city has already begun to anticipate the improvements residents might want to see. In 2007, it partnered with Drury University in Springfield and University of Missouri Extension to host several architecture students, who conducted a study of Webb City and offered suggestions for improvement.
“We were a step ahead there,” Surface said. “We had some planning work in force.”
Streetscaping efforts have already begun downtown, he said, with the installation of new trash receptacles. Anticipating that downtown parking will be a concern of surveyed residents, the city also plans to create more parking lots, he said.
