(Batesville, IN) – Batesville City Council approved the downtown comprehensive plan Monday night.
City leaders say the plan will be used as a guide to direct downtown development.
Batesville Main Street Executive Director Amy Pretzer says she’s glad the plan was adopted.
“I’m really excited to see that we have a direction, a plan, some ideas and we can start jumping in there looking for grants and funding from different sources so that we can build a nice, open, exciting downtown,” Pretzer said.
Pretzer says, now that the comprehensive plan has been approved, it won’t be forgotten and left to gather dust.
“We definitely want to make sure that we find those low-hanging fruit that we can grab hold of right away,” she said. “I know Main Street, on our end, we have already started grabbing some of those things and thinking, ‘Okay, where can we get funding and start to write some grants for those things. The city’s the same way. They (city officials) really want to make something of this and not just throw it on the shelf.”
HWC Engineering Senior Project Manager Kyle Lueken presented the plan to council in September.
Lueken worked with the city and Batesville Main Street on the plan starting in April to look for long term ideas on how to make downtown a destination for both residents and visitors. These include making the area more pedestrian-friendly and attractions, such as the Umbrella Sky Project, which brought thousands from near and far to downtown Batesville in 2021.
The city, HWC and the Main Street organization hosted a series of public presentations and updates on the plan earlier this year.
