Local Business Owners are looking forward to Essex-Middle River UDATJean Flanagan Essex-Middle River Whitemarsh Chamber of Commerce Newsletter, The Shoreline August 2004 The Essex-Middle River Urban Design Assistance Team (UDAT) is one step closer to their visit to the area. Team leader, Steven Gaddis, a successful urban planner from Durham, NC, has visited twice and is in the process of gathering the team. The team will consist of landscape architects, transportation experts, park designers, open space and historical preservationists who will identify issues and suggest solutions to future growth problems. A tentative date for their visit is the end of October.
A series of public forums have been held where residents and business people in the community shared their ideas and concerns for future development. Another public forum will be held when the team is in town. The team will collect and process all of the information garnered from the public forums and put them on paper, creating a "blueprint" for the community's future.
Gary Jennings, has worked with others in the area for many years to solidify the downtown Essex business community. Jennings' business, Jim Jennings Transmissions, is located in the heart of Essex. "I just ended up with a bloody forehead from beating my head against a brick wall," he said.
First and foremost, Jennings said, he hopes the UDAT will figure out how to get the traffic through downtown Essex to slow down. "We need to make Eastern Boulevard more pedestrian friendly and safer," he said. Jennings said the road changes made recently to other parts of the boulevard have improved flow and slowed traffic. "If we could take a foot off of each lane and add it to the median, making it wider, people wouldn't feel like they take their life in their hands crossing the street," he said.
And then, there's the parking issue. "Parking has always been an issue in downtown Essex," Jennings said. "We should identify an area and create a central parking lot." Brad Wallace, whose family business, Wallace Engine, has been on Eastern Boulevard for more than five decades, hopes the UDAT will help preserve the area's rich history. "We should move forward very slowly and cautiously, and not forget those who have gone before us," he said. "UDAT should revive the nucleus of the area, so the surrounding area will survive," he added.
Wallace said people in the area have become complacent and apathetic because of things that have happened in the past. "But if I don't benefit from UDAT, it's my fault," he said. "Others are stepping up and if I'm not part of the solution, I'm part of the problem." Wallace said he hopes residents as well as other business owners in the area will participate in the UDAT process. "I would like to see the average guy on the street come to the meetings and share their ideas."
Randy Cogar, whose printing company, Cogar Printing, is located on Martin Boulevard in Middle River, wants to see some fresh ideas. Cogar has lived in the area for nearly 50 years and has operated his business here for nearly a quarter of a century. "I'd like to see something that will stimulate enthusiasm, uplift the image of the area," he said. "We've stumbled around with our own ideas long enough. We need some fresh ideas." Frank Pommett, president of the Essex-Middle River-White Marsh Chamber of Commerce said the organization is very well represented in the UDAT process. "Several of our board members are serving on the UDAT steeting committee," he said. With the diversity of businesses the chamber represents, Pommett said there was "nothing particular" the group expected to gain from the UDAT process. While the chamber encourages redevelopment, "some members expressed concern about the high density of some of the new developments," he said. "Obviously, we would all like to see more beautification of the downtown Essex area, and we are very grateful the UDAT has chosen this area to study," Pommett said. "We hope whatever the UDAT comes up with can be embraced by the chamber." The UDAT process is only possible through community support and participation, said Steering Committee Co-Chair Shawn Meyer. "We really need the community to support this effort by joining the Essex-Middle River Renaissance Corporation," he said. "This will not only defray the cost of the team's visit, but will send a message that the community is behind the effort."
| 
