On its Facebook page, The Wetumpka Herald recently shared questions posed by the Riverfront Committee of the Wetumpka Downtown and Riverfront Develop ment project as part of a survey to gather citizen input on the future of the city’s riverfront. The Elmore County Economic Development Authority is coordinating the project; and Barry Mask, ECEDA executive director, suggested that online newspaper readers be polled.
Following are the online questions and overall responses.
Downtown Theme: Of the following, which city's design theme for street scapes would best suit downtown Wetumpka and the riverfront?
•Savannah, Ga. - 2
•New Orleans, La.
•Charleston, S.C.
•Fairhope, Ala. - 8
•Other:
––San Antonio, Texas - 1
Riverfront Amenities: Of the following choices, select which riverfront amenity would you PERSONALLY most like to see on the downtown riverfront?
•Riverfront amphitheater - 8
•Modern marina facility- 16
•Freshwater aquarium - 9
•Riverside restaurant (next to or on river) - 14
•Additional outdoor public use space (gazebos, walking paths, park benches, playgrounds, etc.) - 9
•Other
––Finish the sports complex, connect it to downtown, add upscale camping along the river. When you bring 50-plus teams in for travel ball you’ve got to have somewhere for them to stay and eat. They are all going to Montgomery and Prattville. - 7
––We need to improve what we have. We cannot duplicate New Orleans or Savannah. We are not a big city. However, using someplace like Fairhope is a good model because it is very close to us in size and much more do-able. Enhance our town's features. Make them better and more accessible to tourism. - 1
––Hopefully this town can bring in a better hotel. We now have this sports complex with nowhere for the teams to stay. - 3
––I hope a riverfront restaurant, shops etc. will be considered. - 1
––We need a good bike path for families to ride on away from all the traffic. -1
––Enforce ordinances on junk cars. We also need hotel space so people will actually stay overnight. - 2
––Definitely need to finish the complex too. - 1
In addition to the Riverfront Committee, the project includes four other committees – History and Context, Economic Expansion, Catalyst Projects and Phasing.
When the effort began the final development plan was slated to be ready for review in March or April 2012.