A great deal of attention is being paid to developing Delaware’s various downtowns, especially in the past year after Gov. Jack Markell created his Downtown Development Districts program. In its first year, that program provided $5.6 million in grants for projects in the first three downtown districts in Wilmington, Dover, and Seaford. Those grants in turn leveraged an additional $114 million in private investment to refurbish buildings that house small businesses, create green space and build new housing.
In Dover, that funding is building on work being done by groups such as the Downtown Dover Partnership and Dover/Kent County MPO to reimagine the downtown and draw people there.
One new project the Dover/Kent County MPO is launching is the Western Capital Gateway Plan. And it is seeking public input for the plan all next week during what its calling Division Street Design Week – a series of public meetings Nov. 16, 17 and 19th from 5-7 pm at Inner City Sankofa Cultural Arts Center.
This week Dover/Kent County MPO executive Rich Vetters joined us to discuss those meetings, the gateway plan and the challenges of downtown development.
