In this photo: Downtown Porterville. Commercial, office, and residential buildings will be added along and adjacent to Main Street.

Projects will rejuvenate downtown
Sabrina Ziegler | 3/18/08 | Feature

Plans aimed at bringing new life to downtown Porterville -“the heart of our community,” -according to Chamber of Commerce president Donette Silva Carter, are taking shape in a way that will benefit businesses and residents involved in making the sight a venue for vibrant economic and social activity.

City development planners recently adopted an update of Porterville’s General Plan that accommodates mixed use development: commercial, office and residential additions to areas along and adjacent to Main Street.

The new plan promotes building upward and creating density in the downtown area rather than spreading out development, according to Community Development director, Brad Dunlap.

A top priority is to remove the existing Porterville hotel, located on Main St. and reconstruct the space for new and different use.

“[The hotel is] a dilapidated building that’s beyond repair,” Dunlap said.

Commercial and office use is what planners anticipate the space to be directed towards; however, concessions with the current property owner and State officials are to be dealt with first. Once city planners are able to line up finances for the space’s new use, they can begin soliciting proposals from developers, according to Dunlap.

Other amenities to downtown will include housing development on the corner of Putnam and “E” St., a walking path, which would run along Main St., and a new CVS pharmacy that would be located on the Southeast corner of “C” St. and Olive.

The pharmacy is currently underway, and is actually one of two pharmacies being built in Porterville. The other will be located on the Northwest corner of Westwood and Main St.

The space once occupied by JC Penny before it burned down in 2003 has not yet been issued any source of use in the General Plan. Because the Porter slue runs under the space, city planner’s options are very limited.

“We don’t have a well-defined plan. We’re looking for funding options [to direct towards construction],” Dunlap said.

Another item pending further notice is whether plans will maintain positive that the site currently designated to fairground use will be converted into a new courthouse. The Master plan will contain more precise information regarding this subject, according to Dunlap.

The Master Plan would look at the fairgrounds site and focus on improving the connection between that and Main Street, Dunlap said. This would be made possible with new, “more comfortable,” pedestrian walkways, he said.

“This will make a very nice walking environment,” said Carter (Chamber president).

In addition, a walkway that connects the fairground site to Main Street. would provide a new opportunity for the fair to grow, since it is currently land-locked, said Dunlap. However, he added, “it definitely looks like the courthouse will be moving to that sight.”

The Porterville Chamber of Commerce is working to create activities that will stimulate a successful economy in the downtown area. The Iris Festival, which will be held on April 26 and Music on Main Street – which will begin on April 1- are two highlights for upcoming opportunities to promote businesses and attract tourists to our community.

The Chamber is an advocate for downtown development, according to Carter. The purpose of events like the Iris Festival is to bring people into the downtown area, about 20,000 tourists on average, said Carter. By allowing businesses and non-profit organizations to set up booths at the event, the idea is to create greater exposure to those entities, which is what the Chamber believes will help to stimulate greater activity, said Carter.

“Keeping entertainment downtown is intended to provide greater viability to our downtown businesses. We need to make sure we keep that,” said Dunlap.

When it came to establishing more opportunities for social activity, Carter said, “one of the things we, [the Chamber of Commerce], agreed on was: we needed to highlight music in our community.”

An event that allows school bands and the Mariachi group of Porterville to perform at Centennial Park every Friday night attracts a gathering of about 100 people on average, said Carter.

“Creating a vibrant downtown is very important. No matter what [development] you see in other areas, the heart of your community is downtown,” said Carter.

The CVS Pharmacy and Porterville hotel will be the first visible changes to the area, said Dunlap. Overall, “things are moving in the right direction,” he said. The General Plan has so far received unanimous approval from citizens and planners, alike.

Porterville is on its way to hosting a brand new community and business-driven environment, beginning with a boost in the downtown area.