CREEDE — The City of Creede was one of many municipalities awarded funding through a CDOT revitalization effort and will begin the early stages of planning for the project that will begin construction in the spring of 2025.

In a public forum hosted by the City of Creede this past week, several area residents gathered to hear about the conceptual plans presented by the town and to voice their suggestions and or concerns. Creede City Manager Louise Fineberg said it was one of at least three such meetings the city plans to host and that it was a successful event.

“We are really excited about this, and we knew going in that there would be concerns. About 25 people showed up for the forum and we were able to answer questions as well as look as some conceptual design options as we begin to move forward,” he said.

The grant awarded to the city by CDOT is $1.5 million and the proposed project will be about $1.9 million by the time it is complete, according to Fineberg.

“We are hoping to do this in one phase initially. We know there will be a second phase, but it will be later down the road. The City of Creede will need to provide about $400,000 for the initial phase,” Fineberg said, adding the focus of the project is to make Main Street in Creede from the north end down to First Street ADA compliant.

During the meeting, members of the public could see conceptual project designs such as bump outs, storm drain placements, sidewalk reconstruction and addition, crosswalk locations, the lighting system and proposed relocation of utility lines.

“2025 is going to be a big year for us. We will begin work on the new sewer project, the hydroelectric plant and now the downtown revitalization project,” said Fineberg. “We are not at the first design phase yet, but we were able to show proposed design features and get some feedback. All of the feedback from those who attended was very positive. All of these projects need to be done.”

In addition to the feedback from the attending crowd, several business owners voiced their concern about potential closures while the project is underway, Fineberg said.

“We are always in a unique position up here in Creede because our busy season coincides with the only time of year where we can feasibly do a project like this and therefore it raises some concerns for business owners who may or may not have to temporarily close for certain aspects of the project to be complete,” explained Fineberg.

Fineberg said that he and the planning crew were going to do everything they could to make sure that businesses will not have to close while the project is underway.

“We thrive on our business during the summer, and we will do everything we can to make sure business and events like the Fourth of July will not be affected,” he said.

The next step in the design phase will be to finish at least 30% of the initial design work and then host another public forum to gain feedback from the public. After that, the city will host at least one more meeting when design is at 80%.