Officials said the city of Morehead is preparing to take big steps in making downtown more welcoming to the community and visitors.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet awarded the city of Morehead with a Creating Vibrant Communities grant, allowing city officials to partner with multiple other entities to increase downtown Morehead’s accessibility, economic draw, and beauty. As part of the grant, officials with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet heard input from city council members, representatives with Downtown Morehead Inc., local business owners, Rowan County High School students, and more at a meeting this summer.
Edna Schack is a member of the Morehead City Council. She said when looking at short-term and long-term developments, it is vital to consider the youth population of Rowan County.
“I think we need to be thinking carefully about having opportunities for not just college students. And when I’ve spoken with high school students periodically during the past year or so, I’ve had some focus groups with them, they say there are things we’d like to do as well, and it seems like we kind of concentrate on the college a lot. So, we need to find family-friendly kinds of things,” said Schack.
One major point of discussion at the meeting was parking within city limits. Tony Pence with Downtown Morehead Inc. said there are more than 1,400 parking spaces within the city, so the problem is not the amount of parking, but rather its convenience.
“We have an enormous amount of parking that’s too much parking. But people don’t park there because if you go to Walmart, you would park your car 200 yards from the front door, walk to the back of Walmart, buy a gallon of milk, and back. And you’ve walked a mile and a half to get a gallon of milk,” said Pence. “But you would not park your car 100 feet away to go eat for dinner.”
A public meeting will be held for the community to discuss the Vibrant Community initiative and possible developments this fall. Officials said further details on that meeting will be posted on the Downtown Morehead Inc. Facebook page.