Efforts to renew, revive downtown Vero Beach begin with meetings 'listening' next week
VERO BEACH — The city wants to breathe new life into downtown, and Monday marks the beginning of a series of meetings to gather ideas.
Meetings are set for 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Friday. Monday's will be at the Heritage Center, while Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday's meetings are at the Community Center.
"What these meetings are for is to set the groundwork for a blueprint that will eventually become the downtown master plan," said Mayor John Cotugno. "We want to gauge people's interest and bring downtown to the next level."
Not the first time
Downtown area has been in decline for years, with many historic buildings in need of care. In the 1980s and 1990s, a group of concerned citizens decided to take action to restore it to its glory.
"Myself and a group of people, specifically Alma Lee Loy, got together to not only preserve the historic buildings such as the theater and establish the Indian River Historical Society, but bring back downtown," remembered Indian River County Historian Ruth Stanbridge. "We went around asking people what buildings they wanted preserved, and we listened."
A highlight of their efforts was the purchase of the Vero Railroad Station.
The building was abandoned after Florida East Coast Railway ceased passenger service in 1968.
"Dr. Eugene Lyon, former city manager, actually convinced FEC to sell the building to us for $1," Stanbridge said. "FEC only gave us 90 days to move the building, so we really had to work with Planning and Zoning to get it done. That building still sits in downtown today."
"The best part about that," she said, "was how the community came together to get it done."
The community now has the chance to come together to continue pushing downtown to be better.
Meetings are a time to listen
"To build consensus and ideas and plans, you need to listen a lot," said Cotugno. "That is the point of the meetings — to listen, to learn and to hear all the perspectives we can."
For Cotugno, he's seen this before
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"I come from Providence, Rhode Island, and we did our own downtown revitalization," said Cotugno. "Our history dates back to the 17th century, and we were able to incorporate that, so I think we can incorporate downtown Vero's personality. The historical nature of our downtown is what makes it attractive."
Cotugno is optimistic.
"You can incorporate history, but you can also incorporate what downtown needs, and we have the opportunity to do this correctly," said Cotugno. "This is a generational project we're kicking off."
Nick Slater is TCPalm's Indian River County Watchdog reporter. You can reach him at Nick.Slater@tcpalm.com and 224-830-2875.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Vero Beach downtown meetings begin Monday to gather publics opinion
