by Mary Loden
maryloden@clreporter.com
The second component to the Surf district’s Destination Iowa Creative Placemaking project was unveiled at the Sept. 18 City Council meeting. This component involves a complete streetscape makeover with destination gateways, lighting, public art, and interactive features aimed to draw visitors in from Highway 18 and the lakefront.
Clear Lake applied for the Destination Iowa Creative Placemaking grant last fall and received the full award of 40 percent of the project cost, or $4.3 million, from the Iowa Department of Economic Development in January of this year. Since that time a steering committee composed of members from the 501(c)(3) nonprofit group that oversees the Surf Ballroom, members of Clear Lake City Council and members of the community have been meeting with RDG Planning and Design on all the features of the streetscape project.
Although the final design choice for some of the features is still to be determined, Pat Dunn from RDG was able to present an overall view. Dunn said there were two things mentioned in their work agreement with the city – mobility and placemaking.
“Mobility is more of the functional kinds of things, the safety and usability, the crosswalks and parking improvements,” he said. “But to really make this place a national destination, it’s about the placemaking, it’s about those gateways. It’s about those connections and it’s about the public investments that will spawn private investment in this area as well.”
The plan calls for a large gateway arch at the intersec tion of Buddy Holly Way and Hwy 18; removing the center median near the Surf District to allow for diagonal parking on the west side of the road; fresh landscaping, banners and new lighting.
A plaza, featuring sculptures of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and JP “Big Bopper” Richardson, will be located at the north corner of the new Music Enrichment and Interpretive Center, along with pedestrian size interactive features with lighting and sound along the sidewalks.
“And then one of the most important places is right here [the doorway of the Surf Ballroom] at this new crosswalk across North Shore [Drive] and the connection to the lake,” Dunn explained. “That would be a boardwalk along the side of the Fox house (the ranch style house across from the Surf, where the Surf’s designer and builder once lived) with a new dock extending out as far as possible into the lake. There will be a lighted gateway visible from the lake both day and night.”
Dunn said they have completed the preliminary, or conceptual and schematic design, and are ready to move on to the design development and construction documents stage, which will take them into January.
Clear Lake City Administrator Scott Flory said their goal is to have this project bid sometime in January or February with an April timeframe for the beginning of the construction.
