Envision Lincoln organizing open house to restart conversation on community planning

Envision Lincoln, the community revitalization effort begun in 2017, has been flying below the radar for the past several months, but organizers are working to invigorate the movement with an open house at the Lincoln Community Hall Tuesday, Feb. 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

"It will be an introduction to getting Envision Lincoln going again," lead organizer Karyn Good said at a Jan. 10 meeting of several of the core members of the Envision Lincoln group. "We had a break, but we need to get back to work. It'll get the conversation started, maybe it will bring in some new people and it's a great opportunity to introduce the in-town trails plan."

For much of 2019, work by Envision Lincoln has been largely behind the scenes as lead organizer Karyn Good and other core team members established relationships with the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, Montana State University's Western Transportation Institute and both the governor's Main Street Montana – Rural Partners Initiative and the separate Montana Department of Commerce Montana Main Street program, as part of their planning efforts.

Good explained that the aim of the Feb. 18 open house is to provide organizations and businesses from throughout the Upper Blackfoot Valley a chance to showcase their successes and discuss their future plans, and she hopes Lincoln businesses - particularly those under new ownership - will take part to discuss their businesses, their vision for the future and to learn about Envision Lincoln itself.

In part, the event is also a response to the LOR Foundation's push to see small communities participate in a sort of "rural homecoming," and it will provide Envision Lincoln a chance to highlight the successes of the foundation's investment in Lincoln. Envision Lincoln began in 2017 after the LOR Foundation, working with the Blackfoot Challenge, provided a $100,000 grant for Lincoln to help the community improve its economic outlook.

"We want them to see what we did with their money and we want them to see the community is engaged and we are continually working on these projects," Good said, who added they may be a potential funder again in the future.

One highlight at the event will be concept renderings to show what Lincoln could look like with some simple updates and infrastructure improvement. Good stressed that they have been working with the landscape architecture student who is developing the renderings to ensure they reflect concepts true to the spirit of the town.

"I don't think we've pulled pie out of the sky of what Lincoln would look like, "said group member Becky Garland. "We did use feedback from the Envision Lincoln process, so it's not that we're digging up something new."

"That's the planning part of the whole event. We want people to look at these and say 'I love this idea, but could we do this differently' or 'could we add this,'" Good added. "We want Lincoln to be a safer town for our kids, for visitors, for people who come into Lincoln to slow down and look around."

The renderings should serve as a jumping off point for discussion on downtown revitalization to address questions regarding whether there should be a unified "theme" for downtown Lincoln and what walkability really means for the town.

"I'm seeing a lot of opportunities for what you guys want to accomplish, but we've got to figure out where you want to start," said Erin Farris-Olsen, the Rural Development Director for the Heart of the Rockies, who has been working with Envision Lincoln since last fall to help them with accessing programs and resources. "Montana Main Street is gonna want to know that too."

At the end of December, Envision Lincoln, with the LVCC serving as the host organization, applied for Lincoln's membership with the Department of Commerce Montana Main Street.

Though they are still waiting to hear back, Farris-Olsen said there aren't a lot of affiliate communities, and they only pick one or two a year, but she said Lincon should be competitive due to a 2018 meeting with Montana Main Street program coordinator Tash Wisemiller coordinated by Envision Lincoln.

"You had a really well attended meeting, with high school members," she said. "They were really excited by the level of community enthusiasm, so good on you all."

Farris-Olsen said Montana Main Street works with local businesses on revitalization and business planning with a goal of seeing the community and businesses succeed without changing the community significantly aligns well with the program

If accepted, Lincoln would be eligible for funding through including grants and federally-sourced funds and other resources administered through the Montana Department of Commerce. As communities move up though the program's three affiliation levels, more resources with less matching funds become available.

"I'm super excited about the Main Street membership," Good said. "I'm really hopeful we get that because it could lead to really great things."

The upcoming open house will also give the community a look at the in-town trails plan, which was a main topic at the Jan. 10 meeting. The plan has been in development since 2018 and includes proposed trails that connect downtown Lincoln assets like the Community River Park, Sculpture in the Wild and Parker Medical Center.

Establishing in-town trials have proven to be more expensive and complicated than one might think. The first trail planned for development ran along Stemple Pass Road to the River Park, but cost estimates forced organizers to reconsider. Good said they are now looking at the trail section that would run from Lambkin Park to Highway 200, along 8th Street North. It was chosen because it has the best chance for an upcoming RTP grant application due Jan. 31. Other trail sections are on hold for the moment as they explore cost and easement concerns.