Urbandale wants to transform its downtown to make it a destination with a revitalized base for commercial and retail space, and housing.

The city has hired consulting firm Bolton and Menk to take its vision for revitalizing its downtown and turn it into a reality with recommendations for policy and ordinance changes to the City Council.

It’s all part of the larger comprehensive plan, approved by the council in December.

A refresh of the plan was badly needed, with its last update coming more than 20 years ago with a few minor amendments along the way, according to Curtis Brown, assistant city manager for the  community of nearly 47,000 people.

“Everybody was realizing the need to have a new direction and a new look at the community,” he said.

And part of that is taking a close look at downtown Urbandale and the opportunities that exist to redevelop the area and “create a sense of place where people want to go,” Brown said.

Downtown Urbandale is the area on Douglas Avenue between Merle Hay Mall and 75th Street, and a couple blocks north and south of Douglas.

The plan will also address access and mobility and how to make the downtown area more friendly for pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as allow businesses to treat Douglas Avenue as their front door, Brown said.

“So really using that arterial as an asset rather than an impediment to development,” he said.

Brown and Aaron DeJong, the city’s economic development director, said everything contained in the downtown master plan is only a concept that will be brought into greater focus over the next year as the consultant works to refine the vision with input from community stakeholders.

It could include revitalization of existing buildings, new construction, the development of street-level retail with upper-story residential, more landscaping to create buffers between parking lots and the street, and altering traffic flow on Douglas. But those are just initial concepts and nothing is set in stone, Brown and DeJong said.

DeJong said the city has already committed to investing in infrastructure and incentives to support redevelopment of the area.

“We need everybody to have their input and guidance in the creation of this,” he said. “So we’ve started those meetings. We’re building those stakeholders and finding those champions in the neighborhood to do this. The business community loves certainty, and they abhor uncertainty.”

DeJong said the master plan is the city telling business owners and residents what it is going to do and what its vision is.

“This is how we’re going to make changes and how we’re going to incent, and we’re going to do infrastructure,” he said. “You can count on the city doing this, so then the expectation is you can tie into that Mr. or Mrs. property owner to get that vibrancy back that has languished for 20 years now.”

He’s hopeful the city can get 80% to 90% of downtown property owners on board with the plan.

The total cost of that investment will be in the millions of dollars, with specific numbers not being determined until actual projects are identified, Brown said.

A key component of the vision is making the downtown corridor a destination where people will visit to shop and have dinner, and a place for community events, DeJong said.

“We want this to be pedestrian oriented; we want this to be vibrant for retail and restaurants,” he said. “The way Douglas is used, 90% of the cars going through Douglas aren’t stopping in downtown Urbandale. They’re going right through the corridor.”

“We need that to be an attraction, and Douglas is not an asset, it’s a liability for downtown Urbandale,” DeJong said. “So what is Douglas going to be?”

He said the city will look at what development is needed along Douglas to meet the vision outlined in the master plan.

Parking will also be evaluated because the vision is to create a “park-once” neighborhood where parking is shared and accessible to everyone who visits without requiring them to hop from parking lot to parking to visit a different business, he said.

Downtown Urbandale has more than 1,900 parking spots.

The city is looking at what has worked in other areas of the metro and see if it can be implemented in the master plan. Areas like Valley Junction, the East Village, Prairie Trail and Uptown in Ankeny are all examples of places that can be looked at as models for Urbandale as it redevelops its downtown, DeJong said.

DeJong said the city wants to make its downtown an attractive and vibrant area the community can be proud of.

He said the businesses that call Urbandale home want an asset they can show off and where they can entertain customers.

“They want that to be in Urbandale,” DeJong said. “We just don’t have it. We don’t have that place for them to do that, and this downtown area can be that. We’ve got to figure it all out.”

Brown said the goal is to be able to take policy and ordinance recommendations to the city in the summer of 2025.

Brown said the downtown comes alive during the city’s annual July 4 celebration with the parade, and he envisions the area becoming a community gathering spot year-round.

“That’s a great day when there’s lots of people downtown,” he said of the July 4 parade. “It would be awesome to see that happen a couple dozen times a year that people want to be downtown to experience something that’s happening there. Communities need those places to get together.”