Jasper approaches county to assist with downtown redevelopment

During Monday’s County Commissioner Meeting, Jasper Mayor Dean Vonderheide took the floor to discuss Jasper’s Downtown Revitalization Plan.

A plan proposed in 2016 with an estimated cost of $4.3 to $5.9 million was shelved due to cost concerns as well as public dissent to the reduction of parking around the Square that designers had accommodated. With those considerations, the Jasper Common Council decided to step back from the project to concentrate on completing the cultural center and The Parklands.

The plan created by Rundell Ernstberger Associates didn’t garner support from the Dubois County Council either. At the time, the county was dealing with projected budget shortfalls and had placed a freeze on employee raises.

Last year, the revitalization plan was brought back for consideration now that the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center and The Parklands have been completed. A driving factor is a push to update infrastructure — water lines that are 100-plus years old as well as aged sanitary and storm sewer systems — as well as revitalize the area to match growth and development in the downtown and riverfront.

Vonderheide gave an update on the city’s initiative. “We would like to proceed with REA (Rundell Ernstberger Associates) and VS Engineering with regard to the courthouse square redevelopment project,” he told the commissioners. “The project is intended to upgrade and transform the courthouse square to serve the county for the next 100 years.”

He explained the plans will be done in phases and the first phase covers the downtown square and a block down each city street feeding into it.

Preliminary schematic plans call for asphalt streets — the previous plan included pavers for the streets around the square which drove the price up — with flush curbs and permeable clay parking areas to allow for the installation of “best management practices when it comes to storm water management”.

There are also alternative designs for updated concrete sidewalks that include some decorative concrete borders.

The designs also include ADA-accessible ramps to the courthouse and streetscape improvements around the Dubois County Soldiers and Sailors Monument.

Vonderheide told the commissioners the estimated cost of construction would be about $5 million and he asked for the county to contribute financially.

“I would say that just in a general sense, I want the county to partner with the city in whatever way is reasonable for both parties,” Commission president Chad Blessinger said.

Jasper City Attorney Renee Kabrick told the commissioners that at this point the only thing completed is a schematic design. “The next step in the project is design development,” she said. “That involves, as the mayor said, REA and VS Engineering coming in and putting more meat to the bones of the schematic plan.”

Funding created by the American Rescue Plan can be used to update the infrastructure so officials are in a hurry to complete plans so they can begin to apply for grants.

Based on the availability of funding, Vonderheide told the commissioners the city would like to extend the revitalization all the way to Ninth Street to the north and Second Street to the south effectively connecting the downtown to the river.