City Kicks Off Festival Street Planning

The Hermiston City Council hosted an open house Monday night to kick off the planning stages for a proposed festival street that will run along Second Street in front of the Hermiston City Hall.

Members of the public, city officials and architects gathered inside a tent that was set up in the parking lot across from city hall to look at features that might be part of the festival street.

“This started back in 2008 as part of an effort to revitalize the downtown,” said Hermiston City Planner Clint Spencer. “The idea is to create a public gathering place.”

The city has hired Mike Faha of Greenworks, a landscape architecture and environmental design company based out of Portland, to help with planning and design.

On Monday night, inside the tent, were photos of festival streets around the region. Folks were given red dot stickers to place on features and elements they would like to see incorporated into Hermiston’s festival street. Among the features included archways, water features, decorative streetlights, bike racks, public art and more.

Among the most popular features for those attending Monday night’s open house – based on the number of red dots stuck to the photos – were the archway and water features.

Faha said Monday marked the first stage of planning.

“We haven’t done any design work,” he said. “Today, we’re here to listen. This project will serve as a catalyst for downtown Hermiston.

According to the city of Hermiston’s website, a festival street is a public street which is open to vehicle traffic but which contains design elements which make it easily convertible to a public gathering space during special events. The projected construction budget for the festival street is $1.25 million. It is anticipated that the next 10 to 12 months will be spent on a collaborative design process between the Hermiston Urban Renewal Agency and a citizen advisory committee. The advisory committee is made up of three at-large citizens, one city councilor, and one parks and recreation commissioner. Construction is targeted to begin in the fall of 2017.

The project is broken down into three phases. Phase 1 will include work on Second Street between Main Street and E. Gladys Avenue. Phase 3 will include work from E. Gladys Avenue back beyond the Hermiston Public Library parking lot. Phase 2 will focus on the entrance onto Second Street in front of the Hermiston Conference Center.