Saturday, September 11, 2004

Heart of Belen revitalized

Project aims to bring visitors to historic district

Haley Wachdorf News-Bulletin Staff Writer; hwachdorf@news-bulletin.com

Belen Company's coming, and Belen wants to be ready.

When the planned commuter rail traveling from Belen to Santa Fe becomes a reality, passengers who travel to the Hub City will get off the train near the downtown area. The station will be located on the north side of Reinken Avenue, to the east of Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad's tracks. The question for economic development officials is how to entice passengers to go exploring in Belen's nearby historic district.

Click to enlarge

In a recent meeting with State Secretary of Economic Development Rick Homans, the Greater Belen Economic Development Corporation unveiled a project called Heart of Belen. The project focuses on the revitalization of Becker Avenue and the properties surrounding it. Although the project is still in the planning stages, Claudette Baca, executive director of GBEDC, said a $50,000 technical assistance grant from the New Mexico Rural Development Response Council has been obtained to pay for research and planning.

The Idea Group of Santa Fe, a consulting company hired to work on the project, has started researching the possibility of using the old Belen City Hall building, circa 1929, as a hub for the downtown area. One of the first projects is to decide what kind of facility the area needs, and begin looking for funding to do needed renovations.

"The cornerstone of the project is the 1929 Old City Hall building," Baca said. "We're working with the IDEA Group now to explore a concept for that, given what the community wants. The other part is the general revitalization of the area. The whole idea was how to generate more energy to get more people from here (the station) up the street. That is the general scope of the project. We've done a needs assesment, very broad-ranging from what the target need is to what kind of money we need to what the infrastructure needs are there."

As part of the information-gathering process, Baca and Kristin Humes of the Idea Group have begun compiling a list of properties along Becker and are trying to determine who owns them. The properties range from businesses to private residences, and so some of the success of the project will depend on property owners' willingness to improve or maintain their properties, Humes said.

"Part of this is to begin to address the question of who owns this property," she said. "We do need to talk to them. I mean, this is a much simple project if we owned all the property and we could just do it beautifully, but they are individual owners."

But the city and GBEDC are also hoping to make some aspects of revitalization easier for property owners. Mayor Ronnie Torres said the city has been researching ways to make the area more pedestrian-friendly and is also working to ease zoning restrictions to make it easier for businesses to open up in the area.

"We have a certain type of zoning regulation for businesses throughout the community, but, because this is a historic area, they don't have enough space to put in enough parking," he said. "So we're trying to relax that a little so we can entice businesses to come here. Now, if you have a restaurant, you don't have to have x amount of parking, because there's no way you can have it."

Another thing the city has pursued to encourage businesses and potential customers alike is changing the parking along Becker Avenue from parallel parking to 45-degree angled parking, a move designed to slow traffic and make it easier to park in the area. Lighting and landscaping will also be added, Torres said.

"We want it to be pedestrian-friendly," Torres said. "By doing this, we're hoping it will entice a lot of property owners and attract people to that area and give it a more friendly atmosphere."

In order to fulfill the terms of the $50,000 grant, the Heart of Belen project must be able to demonstrate that approximately 50 new jobs have been created as a result of the program by December of 2005. Although that number may sound ambitious, Jim Glover of the Idea Group believes it is possible to grow that many new jobs within the community through revitalizing the downtown area.

Glover also said that the Heart of Belen project is a way for Belen to show that the community is ready for the commuter rail.

"Becker is the heart of Belen, so, by taking it and making it beautiful, it shows everyone that this community is really committed to its future," he said. "It's a great thing to show people 'Hey, we're getting proactive, we're not a reactive community, we're getting ready, we know what's coming, and we're ready for it.'"

Homans said the plan sends a strong message to any outside businesses that might consider relocating to Belen.

"What you're looking at is a very important message for any business that is looking here," he said. "It's important for them to see that there is a vision here for where you're headed."

The GBEDC is working with Idea Group and other entities to answer some remaining questions about the project, including how travelers will get from the commuter station to the historic district. Design students from the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus Design Planning Assistance Center and Belen High School will be working on that issue in the weeks ahead. Also, as the planning moves forward, one of the products the Idea Group will create is a Web site for Belen citizens to visit to view plans and new announcements about the project.

Also located in the district is the renovated Belen Hotel, the private studio of internationally known artist Judy Chicago and her photographer husband, Donald Woodman. Chicago's foundation, Through the Flower, is headquartered in another historic structure in the area.

E-mail this story Printer-friendly version