City gets agreement for consultants in downtown streetscape study

Mar. 9—Downtown Frederick's streets have looked essentially the same since the early 1990s, but an ongoing study will continue to look at possible changes to the neighborhood.

The city of Frederick received an agreement with Maryland's Department of Housing and Community Development this week that will allow it to move forward with studying the impact of proposals from a 2021 report.

The $500,000 will let the city hire a consultant or consultants to look at how the proposals would affect downtown parking, traffic and the utilities under the streets, Economic Development Director Richard Griffin said Thursday.

In 2021, the city, the Partnership and the Ausherman Family Foundation worked with the design firms Design Collective and RK&K to look at the 60-feet space between the fronts of buildings, encompassing sidewalks, street trees, parking and travel lanes, and other elements.

Downtown's streetscape has remained the same since the early 1990s, when the city moved the neighborhood's utilities underground, according to the Partnership's website, which posted the report.

The study covers Market Street between South Street and Seventh Street, and Patrick Street from East Street to Bentz Street.

One option would keep the 12-foot sidewalks on each side of the street and provide a 7-foot-wide parking/flex lane on each side for parking, street dining or other uses, an 11-foot travel lane and an 11-foot shared travel and bike lane.

The second option would allow two 11-foot travel lanes with a parking/flex lane on one side of the street and an extended sidewalk area sectioned off with barriers on the other side.

The city studies will look at the impacts of each of the options on traffic, parking, and utilities, and help determine where each concept could be applied, Partnership Executive Director Kara Norman wrote in an email Thursday.

Once the studies are complete, the city or the Partnership will look to hire a consultant to complete a final design that considers all of the information that has been gathered, Norman wrote.

Once the design is finalized, work on creating detailed construction documents can begin.

Sherri Johnson, owner of Retro Metro in the 200 block of North Market Street, said she thinks the city does a pretty good job of creating a welcoming downtown environment.

Johnson would like to see a pedestrian area with outdoor dining and places for people to gather in the first few blocks of North Market Street.

The city closed off several blocks of North Market to create a dining and pedestrian area during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. While it proved popular with diners and shoppers, businesses in the area complained that it prevented customers from easily getting to their stores.

"I know it creates a whole other level of problems," Johnson said of her idea.

Those problems are what concern Sarah Hurwitz Robey, president of Colonial Jewelers on downtown's Square Corner.

Downtown Frederick is different than some downtown areas in that it's an actual business hub rather than just a small shopping district, she said.

Most customers want to park on the street and run into one or two businesses rather than parking in one of the downtown garages, she said.

Her father, Jeff Hurwitz, said he's leery of any proposal that would change the character of downtown.

"I don't know why you would want to change the look of downtown Frederick. It's a great place," he said.