Located just 30 miles west of St. Louis in St. Charles County, Missouri, the City of Wentzville experienced unprecedented population growth between 2000 and 2008, more than tripling in size from 6,896 to 23,768. With growth came supergrowth of retailing west of downtown. It also brought downtown back into focus.
Wentzville’s downtown was, and still is, the community’s gathering place for festivals, parades, and public markets as well as the site of most civic offices and non-chain retailers. By mid-2008, however, local visionaries realized that this major piece of the city’s land area and history had for the most part been overlooked. At the same time, it had great potential to unify new and existing residents and to create opportunities for multi-functional uses and diverse lifestyles. The city selected the downtown revitalization team of GBA and Development Strategies, Inc. to develop a master plan and make specific recommendations for improvements.
The first step was to see if enough people “really cared.”
A preliminary workshop attracted 80 enthusiastic residents and confirmed overwhelming community desire to capitalize on downtown and make it a unique place with a full range of land uses. Ensuing public workshops helped identify themes and establish goals for the city’s new vision.
City officials insisted that the downtown study be more than a master plan. They wanted specific recommendations for land use, implementation tools and techniques, and specifications for public amenities such as street furniture, street cross-sections, lighting, and paving materials.
Wentzville’s Downtown Revitalization Study incorporates urban-style development with tree-lined streets, on-street parking, storefronts built to sidewalks, and rear parking lots. In addition to new mixed-use development, new parks, public squares, event space, connected streets, sidewalks, and future alternative transportation modes are combined with existing residences, churches, and businesses into the Village Center Expansion Plan.
A planned roadway improvement incorporating the new guidelines is already under way. The city, along with a dedicated group of citizens and private developers, is clearly committed to achieving remarkable changes in this special Missouri city.
