COLUMBUS -- Each day High Street in the University District bustles with pedestrians, bicycles and motor vehicles as thousands of people grab a quick bite between classes, hang out with friends in the bars or stop by one of the area’s many music stores looking for a CD.

Campus Partners presents a more compelling vision in A Plan for High Street: Creating a 21st Century Main Street. The document was published this fall at the conclusion of a community-based study of High Street’s future.

“For a long time, we just accepted High Street as High Street -- it’s just going to be that way,” said Steve McClary, administrator for the City of Columbus’ Planning Office. “We had pretty low expectations for the area. This plan does a very good job of raising our expectations of what High Street can be, not just for the University District, but for the entire Columbus community.

“No other neighborhood in Columbus enjoys this strength of market,” McClary said, “and that opens up a tremendous number of possibilities.”

Work on the plan began in 1997 with funding from the city and from Ohio State through Campus Partners. A 40-person advisory steering committee, representing High Street’s diverse stakeholders, oversaw the plan’s development. Goody, Clancy & Associates, an urban planning firm based in Boston, led a team of consultants, which prepared the plan.

Terry Foegler, president of Campus Partners, described the plan as “a shared vision” for High Street. “The plan offers a set of urban design principles and recommendations to preserve and extend High Street’s urban character and promote its evolution as one of America’s great urban Main Streets.”

The plan outlines a four-point mission:

· Restore High Street as the symbolic heart of the University District, providing a variety of public places for people from all walks of life to gather.

· Re-establish it as a vital main street for the district, providing a dynamic mix of retail, entertainment and services.

· Create a place for new economic opportunities, providing jobs and other public benefits to adjacent neighborhoods.

· Reinforce High Street as an environment that supports learning, providing settings and activities that draw Ohio State students, faculty and staff to the district.

The document is a planning tool for the University Area Commission, the city, Ohio State and the private sector, Foegler said.

Similar revitalization efforts have taken place in the Short North, the area directly south of the University District, McClary said, and Clintonville is currently in the planning stages of revitalizing the stretch of High Street running through that community.

“Most neighborhood commercial districts have used some sort of plan similar to the High Street plan,” McClary said. “But this area of High Street is an entirely unique area within the city of Columbus. It is the most dense residential area in the city, and it’s home to one of the city’s largest employers, Ohio State, which brings thousands of people into the area each day.

“So needless to say, there isn’t anything cookie cutter about this plan at all,” he added.

David Dixon of Goody, Clancy & Associates is the plan’s primary author. Dixon likens Campus Partners’ efforts to recent main street revitalization projects at Yale in New Haven, Conn., and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

“But Ohio State remains a step ahead of these other projects because of its desire to keep community members and businesses involved in the planning stages,” Dixon said. “Actually, I’m really amazed that so much is happening already.”

Over the last couple of years, High Street has seen the addition of Urban Outfitters, a trendy clothing store; the bookstore College Town; and a Blockbuster video store, all of which add to the urban feel of the area, he said.

Along with protecting and enhancing High Street’s urban feel, the plan suggests:

· Forming a parking management entity to manage the district’s parking and to create approximately 1,500 to 2,100 new parking spaces to serve development and reduce existing shortages.

· Establishing a Special Improvement District to organize property owners and businesses to better manage the commercial district in a manner that promotes essential maintenance, security and marketing to keep pace in a highly competitive, ever-changing, retail climate.

· Supporting strategic redevelopment opportunities to energize High Street with a lively “University Gateway Center,” transforming the street’s most troubled area into a regional destination, which will draw students, residents, visitors and others back to High Street.

“All of this is possible,” said Steve Sterrett, community relations director for Campus Partners.

With the continued growth and investment in the Short North area and the hometown charm of Clintonville, Columbus residents could see the face of High Street change in the next 10 years, McClary said.

Copies of the plan are available without charge by calling Sterrett at 294-7300 or Pasquale Grado, executive director of the University Business Association, at 299-2866.

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