A City with great schools, verdant open spaces, accessible civic amenities, and neighborhoods that provide a variety of housing opportunities that fulfill independent living for all stages of life - all within a walkable context.
Support a Diverse Group of Citizens
Continue to pursue the development of a uniquely-themed children’s learning center AND senior center near the downtown by acquiring land, securing funding sources, and promoting the concept. Collaborate with stakeholders, citizens, the private sector, and property owners to carefully consider the programming and preferred potential location for this new facility.
Consider combining the learning center and senior center as a single, shared multi-purpose structure in order to conserve resources. The new building should be designed as an iconic civic structure that can anchor the downtown and catalyze the Hudsonville art scene. This center should also anchor an outdoor sculpture area that emphasizes the public art of the City.
Build a Downtown Amphitheater
As part of redevelopment efforts in downtown Hudsonville, pursue the design and construction of a downtown amphitheater that can be used for outdoor concerts and spontaneous gatherings. The amphitheater should be carefully sighted, preferably as part of a plaza space and/or adjacent to the learning center. Care should be taken to make sure that it is of appropriate scale for a small town.
Continue Public Realm Improvements and Maintenance
Install more uniform and consistent lighting along sidewalks, in parks, and around public spaces. Lighting should be pedestrian-scaled, sustainably operated and designed to accentuate the uniqueness of Hudsonville. Install uniform trash and recycling receptacles downtown. Continue to maintain and enhance efforts for clean sidewalks and streets.
Continue to plant and maintain trees, specifically along streets and in parks, so that the City’s tree canopy can increase. Increased trees within a city can enhance livability by increasing aesthetic appeal, mitigating heat island effect, and helping to manage stormwater runoff. Collaborate with Consumers Power in order to ensure that street trees are compatible with overhead lines, this may include the use of clerestory trees in selected locations where overhead lines are present.
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Create a Way finding System Design and install way finding signs at key locations within the City that provide residents and visitors with a system to better navigate the City. These locations should also consider gateways coming into the City. Signs should be placed in or near parks, open spaces, and civic structures and along pedestrian and bike routes. The way finding system should also double as tour support for the future public art. Include lighting and landscaping to support these way finding measures. |
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Curate Events
Create and launch events aimed at attracting a diverse group of citizens (including children, empty-nesters, families, and Millennials) to the downtown. Advocate and create event friendly polices that will attract new events and retain (and build upon) existing events. New events may include movies in the park, hands-on art, “a taste of Hudsonville”, and public performances.
Maintain the stability of the City’s existing residential neighborhoods by ensuring that existing residential zoning requirements do not substantially change. Work to connect these existing neighborhoods to each other, civic places, and schools with green infrastructure, bicycle facilities, and pedestrian access. Provide opportunities in new neighborhoods and at neighborhood edges for higher density housing.
Build Density (or Density Done Well)
Encourage density in the downtown through a mix of uses, housing variety, flexible and diverse living arrangements, and appropriate building type. Increasing downtown density that still maintains the small town scale of Hudsonville can be accomplished by using buildings that are of appropriate scale and mass. This increased density and variety can include apartments and lofts above stores (in multi-story mixed-use buildings), live / work buildings that provide the flexibility to small business owners to live in the same building that their business is in, and apartment buildings that fit into the context of the surrounding neighborhood.
