Collaborating to create a community-based

framework for moving downtown Rochester

forward and continue down the path of recovery.

Draft Action Plan Recommendations:

Community Update
Date: 4/27/2023
Downtown Rochester Task Force: Draft Action Plan Recommendations

Background:
The pandemic interrupted many aspects of our lives – changing how and where people work, shop, and
conduct other activities. In many cases, downtowns will not return to how they were before the
pandemic.

Downtown Rochester, like almost all cities, has suffered because of these disruptions and long-term
changes. While several new businesses have opened and many have pivoted, more can be done to help
during recovery. The Downtown Rochester Task Force was established to help accelerate Rochester’s
path forward and build a more resilient downtown.

The goal of the Task Force is to collectively create a community-based action plan that identifies (1)
immediate and short-term recommendations, (2) responsible organizations/partners, and (3) timelines
associated with each recommended action item.

Process:
The Task Force intentionally took a collaborative approach to build the action plan. A 90-day outline
guides the work and includes three phases:
- Phase 1 (February – March): Stakeholder engagement to build consensus on key themes/issues.
o Step completed
- Phase 2 (March – April): Determine immediate and short-term action steps and accountability.
o In progress, working sessions to be held in April
- Phase 3 (May): Implement immediate and short-term action recommendations.

Four public working sessions included in Phase 1 were held with the downtown stakeholder community
to gather input. All information gathered during these sessions was reviewed and organized into four
larger themes. The Task Force used these themes to begin to identify sub-themes to inform potential
action plan recommendations. The themes and sub-themes were shared with the community in April
and community members were asked to provide additional feedback through a short survey.

The additional feedback gathered has been incorporated and, as part of Phase 2, public working sessions
will take place over the next two weeks to provide more opportunities to provide additional input on the
action plan recommendations.

Phase 2 Community Working Sessions:

- Friday, April 28 at 9 – 10 a.m., Chateau Theatre
- Tuesday, May 2 at 6 – 7 p.m., Chateau Theatre
- Thursday, May 4 12 – 1 p.m., (virtual)

1
Draft Action Plan Recommendations:

Theme 1 - Downtown Promotion, Activation, and Programming:

Strengthen promotion, marketing, and communications –

• Create Downtown as a Destination marketing campaign

• Establish monthly downtown stakeholder meetings
• Improve marketing/communication with Mayo Clinic patients and downtown
stakeholders/businesses
• Cross promote event calendars

Activate downtown in a variety of ways –

• Enhance summer activation strategy

o Include youth and young adult/family activities in summer programming
• Develop an all-season activation schedule
• Support the activation of Chateau Theatre and other downtown venues
• Activate vacant downtown storefronts

Theme 2 - Access to Downtown:

Improve public parking –

• Create a focused summer parking program

• Evaluate new parking tools
• Implement a marketing campaign specifically related to parking downtown

Improve downtown wayfinding and navigation –

• Update and circulate current downtown maps

• Improve downtown navigation signage

Address safety concerns –

• Leverage existing tools to improve the safety and cleanliness of downtown

• Establish a work group to collectively monitor concerns, share information, and deploy
mitigation strategies

2
Mitigate the impact of construction –

• Implement downtown kick-off-to-construction-season public meeting

• Roll out improved City construction communication tools
• Prioritize and implement Business Forward Strategies related to public projects
• Identify new processes for private construction projects to minimize public disruption
(examples: sidewalks, street closures)

Theme 3 - Barriers to Doing Business Downtown:

Simplify–improve and streamline–policies and processes
- Street closures for special events
- Sidewalk permitting
- Permanent and temporary alcohol and food service permits
- General activation and pop-up activities

• Improve permitting processes: clarify requirements, streamline processes, and communicate

clear expectations of timelines and flow to meet the new needs of downtown stakeholders
• Examine past pilot programs for innovative solutions
• Establish new pilot programs to test new concepts

Decrease costs of conducting business downtown -

• Review costs related to conducting business downtown (e.g. rent, taxes, parking costs, permits,
licenses, and fees)

Theme 4 - Downtown Growth:

Recruitment of new businesses –

• Ensure a common understanding of current and future available real estate

• Develop tools to support the brokerage community
• Develop and activate recruitment and marketing strategies

Retention of small businesses -

• Pursue the development of incentive programs

• Support available tools already established for small businesses
• Create resources to help small businesses collaborate and idea sharing

3
Understand new market demands -

• Begin a market demand study

o Focus areas: patients’ patterns/needs, increase in downtown living, increase in young
adults, young families, new patterns of downtown employees

Next Steps:
Once feedback is collected, a final plan will be shared with the community in mid-May 2023.

Downtown Rochester Task Force:

The Downtown Rochester Task Force includes members from the City of Rochester, Destination Medical
Center, Experience Rochester, Mayo Clinic, Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, Rochester Area
Economic Development Agency, Inc., and Rochester Downtown Alliance.