Sister Bay Downtown Development Discussed Again

Sister Bay could be just a few weeks away from adopting a downtown redevelopment plan.

The Sister Bay Economic Development Committee met on May 30 to hear Jolena Presti of Vandewalle & Associates, the consulting firm hired to create the village’s downtown redevelopment plan, present another draft.

This draft was created after consultants held focus groups and a community meeting, and surveyed residents about what they’d like to see in the village’s downtown. There were 344 responses to the survey, most coming from property owners 55 years and older.

“We were really trying to understand how people currently use downtown, what they envision for downtown in the future and what they would like it to be,” Presti said.

The updated plan included a changed “market walkway/alley” concept, which would develop a walking space behind some businesses on Bay Shore Drive, and gave more details about the types of businesses that could go into each redevelopment parcel.

As Presti clicked through the updated plan, the committee and about 15 attendees discussed ideas for the parcels, like gearing businesses near the marina toward boaters and building a hostel-type lodging facility that would attract younger visitors.

After the presentation, committee members discussed some changes to make for the final draft of the redevelopment plan, like backing off the “market walkway” idea so it’s more of a proposal than a plan, and not allowing any condo housing development.

Presti will take the comments made at the May 30 meeting and use them to update the downtown redevelopment plan.

The economic development committee will meet again on June 19 at 5:15 pm at the Sister Bay Fire Station to discuss the final draft of the plan.