David City Partners with SENDD for Downtown Revitalization Plan
June 26, 2020
UNL Partners with SENDD for David City Downtown Revitalization Plan
The College of Architecture at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and the Southeast Nebraska Development District (SENDD) will partner with local community members on a downtown revitalization plan for David City. Planning students at UNL will begin working on the downtown revitalization plan during the fall 2021 semester. David City community members will be encouraged to take a survey to help UNL students better understand the needs of the downtown area and community concerns. Both a physical copy of the survey and an online version of the survey are already available through this link David City Downtown Revitalization Survey.
Dr. Zhenghong Tang, the professor and program director of the Community and Regional Planning program at UNL, says that “the students in the Community and Regional Planning program, College of Architecture at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) will have a great opportunity to learn from this real-world planning project. At the same time, as a land-grant university, the students and faculty can apply their expertise and skills to help the community for more effective planning strategies in downtown economic development. The faculty and students will conduct a community stakeholder survey, participate in community meetings, make field surveys and assessments, and organize planning strategies and recommendations. We really appreciate the collaborative support from David City, Nebraska and the Southeast Economic Development District. We look forward to having the planning process to facilitate David City’s economic growth and sustainable development.”
“This downtown revitalization plan will be a great tool to guide the city on the track to potentially ignite the local economy,” said Frank Ordia, lecturer at the Community and Regional Planning program at UNL. The plan will draw on David City’s strengths, with Ordia noting that “the number of historic buildings here are the foundation of reimagining David City.”
Local community members look forward to the project. “We are grateful that SENDD and UNL are willing to help our community create a vision for the future of our downtown,” said David City’s City Administrator, Clayton Keller. “David City recently completed a downtown project that addressed the infrastructure needs of the area. We hope to keep that momentum moving forward as we turn that focus to economic and property improvements.”
Mayor Alan Zavodny says that “we are looking forward to our partnership with SENDD and the University of Nebraska for David City’s downtown revitalization. The downtown of a community like ours is the heartbeat of our community. We realize the importance of this endeavor.”
The downtown revitalization plan also bolsters support from local business owners, with Mike Moravec, owner and president of Moravec Financial Advisors, Inc. noting that “as a long time resident and business owner in David City, it’s exciting to hear of a potential downtown revitalization effort. David City has a lot of positive things happening and the timing is perfect for a refresh of our downtown. I know the business community will welcome your help on this project. It’s important to our local economy, that our downtown be an inviting space that people want to come to dine, shop and do business.”
