The Extension Connection
Above: Iowa State’s PLaCE program helps communities repair peeling paint, boarded windows and stress fractures — restoring buildings for community renewal. Below: The Shafer Building’s exterior brick renovation has been completed.
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Last update: July 2003
A quarterly publication of Iowa State University Extension
Town square gets a new face with PLaCE
The town square in Mount Ayr is beginning to look a little
different.
It is the visible start to what local residents, Iowa
State University Extension and the ISU
College of Design feel will be restoration for the square and renewal
for the community. A book with detailed drawings, photos from the past
and visuals of the future guides restoration efforts.
Plans call for refurbishing the northeast quadrant of the town square,
including
• a two-story restaurant building with housing potential, known as
Pheasant Run;
• an existing insurance business building;
• three structures known as the Extreme, French (with Romanesque
influences, including a tower) and Cunning Buildings; and
• a bowling alley.
Mount Ayr has taken part in the PLaCE (Partnering Landscape and Community
Enhancement) program, a 3-year-old endeavor that pools the talents within
Extension, the College of Design and several related academic departments.
Communities need only supply partial expense money for students, faculty
and staff. What they receive varies, but often is a written plan for action
– a roadmap of what is possible.
While some 14 communities and three counties have worked projects for
main streets, parks and industrial areas through PLaCE, the Mount Ayr
project showcases some of the knowledge application and attitudes that
make the program successful.
“We took the summer of 2002 to work on this, traveling down to Mount
Ayr every couple of weeks.” said Mark Engelbrecht , dean of the College
of Design. He, along with a graduate student and another professor in
the college, were the primary resources for the project. They worked closely
with business owners, city officials, other consultants and the Square
Enhancement Committee that oversees a trust fund for grants to refurbish
town square properties.
For Engelbrecht, the Mount Ayr project may have been “unfinished
business” that began 20 years ago, when as a Des Moines architect
he was involved in building a new church located on the square. “The
congregation wanted to move to the edge of town. We talked them into staying
on the square,” he said.
“It was apparent then the square was decaying. It’s almost
a typical story now in so many of our smaller communities. It is really
hard to make things happen, even when there is money available,”
he said. The PLaCE program offers one avenue of assistance.
“Plus, we can’t just let this state blow away. These little
towns have a lot going for them,” Engelbrecht continued.
“This has been wonderful. It gave shop owners a visual of what could
be done with the money available,” said Vicki Sickels, market president
at US Bank in Mount Ayr and a member of the committee.
Progress in Mount Ayr continues. The brick exterior of the Shafer Building
(insurance) has been reworked. Another structure has new windows, tuck
pointing and sandblasting completed. For some, awnings still are needed.
Yet some difficulties occur. One of the businesses targeted to receive
grant money from the trust – the restaurant – has closed.
Check the Web for additional
information about PLaCE and applications to participate.
**********
The PLaCE
program “gave shop owners a visual of what could be done with the
money available.”
-- Vicki Sickels, Mount Ayr committee member