EYOTA — Over three days, about 10 volunteers in the fields of urban planning, tourism, landscape architecture, architecture and economic development came to learn all they could about Eyota.
Now Eyota has learned a thing or two from them.
As one of two cities chosen to in 2016 for the Minnesota Design Team, a volunteer committee of the American Institute of Architects Minnesota, Eyota opened its doors in hopes of learning how to revitalize its downtown, connect local and regional bicycle networks, better use open spaces and coordinate city-owned land in the development of a community-event center.
In the end, nine AIA Minnesota volunteers each presented their piece of a vision for a future of Eyota that included a new lake, a repurposing of downtown, connected trails, an event center and plans for open spaces that currently dot the city.
"It's up to us to make a strategic plan to take advantage of what they give us," said Eyota Mayor Tyrel Clark.
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Some of the ideas looked simple. To draw families downtown, for example, the city could host movie nights projected on the side of the downtown grain elevator. Clark said the idea could and should be adopted quickly. Other ideas will certainly take a bit more work. And more investment than a quality projector and a popcorn popper.
For example, Richard Baker, a community development coordinator, suggested elements such as lighting and way-finding signage to tie together the city's three distinct commercial districts — downtown, the area surrounding the Kwik Trip at the corners of U.S. Highway 14 and Minnesota Highway 42, and the area farther south on Hwy. 42 near Eyota Market.
But Baker also had bigger plans for Eyota. "We suggest a frontage road for commercial development," he said, pointing to the curve of Highway 42 on the west side as it approaches U.S. 14 from the south.
That plan, he admitted, would take some city investment starting with a retail market analysis for the city.
The volunteer Minnesota Design Team members showed up Thursday night, met their host families — locals who invited team members to stay with them in Eyota — then met Friday morning with Eyota citizens ready to give their five-minute pitch on what they saw as important to Eyota's future. The rest of Friday consisted of a bus tour that covered nearly every street in the city, and a walking tour of downtown, before the group met informally for dinner with residents.
On Saturday, the team met at the media center at Dover-Eyota High School to develop a cohesive theme and their individual pitches. The Design Team members, one by one, showed a vision of Eyota's future from the perspective of their specific disciplines beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Dover-Eyota High School auditorium in front of a crowd of roughly 90 residents.
"I think it was a superb perspective from people who came in and listened to the community," said Wes Bussell, who served as mayor for 16 years in Eyota.
Bussell was impressed by the turnout Saturday night. He also said he loved the idea called "Lake Eyota."
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Harold Skjelbostad, who worked on the flood control project for the Zumbro River in downtown Rochester, made the man-made lake the centerpiece of his presentation. The lake would be built on the 11 acres the city recently purchased for wetland use between Highwat 42, West Second Street on the south and the railroad on the north. The lake, he said, could be the new entry point for the city, meeting not only near the two highways but also where bike trails would enter the west side of Eyota.
The plans were careful to leave space for the Lincoln Brewery, a business idea the city is working on, at the east end of the tract. East of the lake could be a community center near the American Legion post and room for development.
Like the lake, many ideas presented would take careful planning, investment from both the city and private business, and support from Eyota's residents. Ideas for Eyota ranged from a swimming pool to infilling neighborhood development within the city, to encouraging hospitality and tourism to grow.
Mike Kvale, an Eyota resident for 16 years, said he saw things he'd never thought of before during the presentation. "You've got to dream big," Kvale said. "The more ideas the better, and you can sort through them later."
MDT member Deborah McLaren focused on tourism — specifically, something she referred to as medical tourism that would include healthy activities such as biking and environmental exploration — by getting local investment in bed-and-breakfast inns. With Eyota's history as a rail stop, she suggested train cars converted to rooms for a rail-themed inn.
Local ownership, she noted, would keep the profits invested in the city instead of leaving town for some distant corporate headquarters. Eyota's existing focus on bike trails and parks could be incorporated into her plan. "I think you're doing a good job investing in your history," McLaren said.
To help revitalize downtown, team member Todd Streeter said the city needed to attract a new kind of business to what once was the shopping center of the city. "Every community that's been around for 75 or 100 years or longer is looking to revitalize its Main Street," Streeter said. But changing shopping patterns mean downtowns need to look at a new type of business.
"What we look at is how do you make it a family-friendly downtown," Streeter said. The answer: food. "Everybody has to eat. That's the surest way to have local ownership and reclaim your downtown." A family bar and grill with outdoor seating, ice cream, pizza, deli sandwiches, coffee shops, all were part of the discussion with residents on Friday, he said.
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Paul Mogush, the Design Team leader, said the group polled citizens to ask what they wanted to see in Eyota, what would bring them downtown, what activities they would like at a community center, what they would like to see in Eyota in 20 years, and how they expected to help make it all happen.
"We're all going to leave, and you're still going to be here," Mogush said Saturday night. He commended Eyota's residents on their history of supporting the town, citing the new ambulance barn, upgrades to the schools, and the installation of the roundabout. "You've done it before and you'll do it again."
