Girard seeks ways to spruce up downtown

By RAYMOND L. SMITH Tribune Chronicle
GIRARD — When Paula Pecorelli moved Flowers & Alternatives to the city, she hoped to see more foot traffic than in the two years she was in McDonald.

‘‘We certainly are getting more people coming in our store now,’’ she said. ‘‘We are hoping to expand the business from being just a florist shop to also having a small bistro that will serve everything from pastas, soups and other take out foods.’’

She is hoping the restaurant, which will be in the front of Flowers & Alternatives, 32 W. Liberty St., will draw even more customers.

‘‘We’re exploring different ideas,’’ she said.

Pecorelli was among about a dozen business owners that attended a recent meeting organized by city councilman Thomas Seidler with Alan Knapp, a representative with the Trumbull County Planning Commission, to find ways to attract new businesses and money for improvements of existing businesses.

Pecorelli was hoping to learn about grants or low-interest loans available for small-business owners.

“If there is money for businesses to fix up our storefronts and invest in the buildings, we might get more people willing to open businesses here and more people coming into the downtown area to shop and relax,’’ she said.

This was the first of a series of meetings that the city will have that Seidler hopes will lead to the creation of a citywide economic plan.

‘‘We want our business community to know we recognize the fact that we have not done a very good job in the last few years in reaching out to the business community,’’ Seidler said.

Knapp outlined a program that focuses on developing a downtown strategic plan when the administration applies for Community Development Block Grant funds for downtown redevelopment.

‘‘They have to look in the future, focusing on how to improve the area’s marketability, parking and other factors that will attract businesses and bring customers into the downtown area,’’ Knapp said. ‘‘One of the first actions Girard will have to do is to identify what is its central business district.’’

To obtain these federal funds, an estimated 51 percent of the businesses in a central business district have to be in substandard buildings and a majority must be willing to participate in an improvement program.

Downtown business owners and the administration should agree on a variety of issues including what look they want for downtown businesses, Knapp said.

‘‘They likely will have to create a design review committee, which will approve the look of businesses in the downtown area,’’ he said.

Because the CDBG funds are competitive, Knapp said the city should apply for them sometime in June, if not sooner.

Mayor James Melfi said the city tried unsuccessfully to work with downtown business and property owners on at least two occasions in the late 1990s to obtain similar downtown redevelopment money.

‘‘Our problem was at the time we could not get enough property and business owners to agree to participate, which is required to obtain the grants,’’ he said. ‘‘The efforts fell on deaf ears. Property owners had to agree on uniform facade requirements and we could not reach an agreement.’’

Melfi said area political leaders and business owners need to look beyond traditional retail establishments and restaurants to specialty stores.

‘‘We are fortunate that we have some stores, restaurants and bars that have been in our downtown for many years,’’ Melfi said. ‘‘We also have some professionals — doctors and lawyers — who have their offices downtown.’’

‘‘We are at a very early stage of this process,’’ Seidler said.



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