SHELBY - The downtown Shelby Vision and Implementation Team (VIT), formed in mid-April, following the village’s Redevelopment Ready Certification designation, recently met to review progress toward their stated goals and discuss next steps.
Shelby’s VIT purpose statement reads, “Implement initiatives designed to elevate the aesthetic appeal of downtown Shelby, attract local businesses, entrepreneurs, and visitors, foster community pride, and enhance connectivity among community members.”
The group met Friday, July 18 to report on recent activity. Within the VIT, seven “Emphasis Groups” were originally formed: Aesthetics, Connection Team, Development, Downtown Refurbish, Events, Fundraising and Marketing. However, as these groups have been working together for the past three months, it was determined it might be more efficient to combine a couple of the original Emphasis Groups.
As a result, the “Downtown Refurbish” and “Aesthetics” groups were combined and will be led by Co-Chairs Richard Raffaelli and Andy Carter. “Events” and “Marketing” groups were combined and will be led by Chair Damian Omness. The “Fundraising” group will remain as is and be led by Mishelle Comstock. The “Development” group will remain as is and be led by Chair Deanna Fox. A “Connection Team” group was eliminated. Originally its purpose was to foster connections, enhance community involvement, ensure residents are informed and encouraged to participate in events. However, it was determined that these tasks were more in line with the newly merged “Events and Marketing” group.
At the group’s first meeting in April, those in attendance were divided into three different groups to determine top goals for downtown Shelby, with the main goals being: making downtown Shelby more affordable, offering more parking, beautifying Shelby, bringing more businesses and people to the downtown area, instilling more pride in Shelby, improving communication and connectivity and addressing walkability and wayfinding.
Next, the VIT listed some of the activities each “Emphasis Group" would focus on in the coming months (May-July). The “Aesthetics” group was tasked with coordinating the planting of annual flowers downtown, designing and coordinating holiday decorations, organizing volunteers for spring and fall cleanups and ensuring everything stays weeded and watered. The “Development” group was to identify housing development sites, incentives, processes and review zoning language to promote and attract housing and commercial development. The “Downtown Refurbish” group planned to lead and oversee a downtown renovation plan. The “Events” group would work in conjunction and cooperation, offering support where possible, with groups hosting both current and new events planned in the village. The “Fundraising” group would focus its attention on raising funds to implement the village’s vision. And the “Marketing” group would focus on branding and promoting Shelby.
At their July meeting, the Vision and Implementation Team reviewed the work accomplished thus far with the Downtown Refurbish group leading out. Over the past three months, this group has interviewed different firms for performing work in the downtown area. In Phases I and II the group will focus on the design and budget of proposed projects. The first two phases will involve more public hearings and opportunities for feedback from residents. Phase III would see the creation of a construction plan and bidding. Phase IV would be the actual construction and oversight. Ideally any plans would be completed by the end of 2026.
“During the next 60 days, residents and stakeholders will have ample opportunity to provide feedback and offer suggestions to help us create the design. After that we would work the plan, the time for suggestions will be past,” Raffaelli said.
The Marketing group chair, Amanda Mazur, was not in attendance on July 18, however, various marketing ideas were discussed, including websites, Facebook pages, news outlets and billboards to notices on water bills, flyers and word of mouth.
The Events group has been involved with Movie Night coordination and the Chainsaw Carving Festival since April and is looking to offer support to the chamber’s Halloween and Christmas events. They also mentioned several other possible activities and events in the works they would like to bring to Shelby in the coming year. Stay tuned!
While the Development group did not have anything specific to report, group representative Malcolm Carey shared the need for more places that young, single people like himself could rent. Village Administrator Phil Morse also mentioned the MSHDA (Michigan State Housing Development Authority) grants that can help people with roofs and window replacement and the USDA No Down Deposit home loans. “I’d like to see more people involved in these,” he said.
At the conclusion of their July 18 meeting, Morse asked each Emphasis Group to come up with an idea of what funding their group would need to do what they want to do. While some grant funding is frozen right now, there are other untapped opportunities Morse is anxious to pursue.
Meetings of the Shelby VIT will be held quarterly, with their next meeting scheduled for Friday, October 17 at 9 a.m. at the village hall. All interested individuals are welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.
