Clarkdale’s Revitalization Project Selected

Clarkdale AZ (January 28, 2019) – Over the last few years, ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability through their Project Cities Program has chosen to work with one city per year on a variety of sustainability-oriented projects that can benefit from professors’ and students’ new ideas.

This year at Town Council’s direction, Clarkdale’s staff applied to the program, a university-community partnership through which the faculty and students collaborate with a municipality to co-create strategies on subjects that may benefit from new thinking and ideas. After scoring all the applications, ASU chose the City of Peoria with whom to work, and Clarkdale just barely came in second (0.5 points less). That’s the bad news.

However, the good news is that ASU was so enamored with Clarkdale’s Central Business District Revitalization Plan that ASU is using the Clarkdale project as a pilot, expanding the number of cities with whom they’re working in 2019 to two; Clarkdale’s project made it!

These are highlights of the types of project deliverables the collaboration may be tackling:

1. Develop a strategy to encourage public and private investment.
2. Produce a report of building conditions including a revitalization plan for each building, cost estimates on the repairs and possible funding sources.
3. Develop a parking/pedestrian/bicycle connection plan.
4. Identify creative use of existing spaces to promote foot traffic in the area.
5. Identify possible locations for high-density residential and/or multi-use projects either as infill or adjacent to the downtown area.

Bottom line, the Town will be investing additional resources in partnership with ASU to enliven the Central Business District.