Crowdfunding Goal Reached For Warsaw Alley Improvement
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
The Warsaw alley project was just an idea for over the last four years.
That idea will now become a reality thanks to the crowdfunding goal of $50,000 being met – and then some – by a Friday deadline.
According to the website patronicity.com, $58,795 was generated by 144 patrons. Since the goal was met by the deadline, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority will provide a $50,000 matching grant for the project.
The alley – located between city hall to the north and two businesses to the south – extends about 130 feet and stretches from South Buffalo Street to an intersecting alley to the west.
Proposed improvements include seating areas, bike racks, plants, public Wi-Fi and additional lighting. The facade will include artwork displayed in a long wooden case. An asphalt walkway including a decorative inlay pattern tentatively using a blue and white color scheme is also part of the plan.
Warsaw Assistant Planner Justin Taylor said once the city confirms all the donations and submits all of its paperwork to the IHCDA, the state agency will start the process of sending the city the matching grant. That could take up to a month. The different city boards then will have to approve the grant, and then the city will start working with its contractors.
“We’re really excited about it. We’re extremely excited about it,” Taylor said.
He said the idea for the “alley activation” project has been around for years, and to see the community support and fund this kind of project, which is an asset to the community, is great. “They saw a value in it,” he said.
Taylor said they want to give the public a realistic timeline when the project will be completed.
“It will take a little time. We hope it’s up and running by late June,” he said.
“I imagine we’ll do a formal opening,” he said.
The city will do its best to communicate with the public where the project is at in the process, he said.
Much of the project is seasonal, so come winter it will be stored and brought back out in the summers to come.
In 2016, David Gustafson, the owner of Three Crowns Coffee and Oak and Alley, a coffee shop and bar/restaurant on the south side of the alley, sought to do the project on his own. The city then changed course and stepped in to operate 75 percent of the project, with Gustafson using 25 percent of it for his diners.
