2009 Downtown Development Plan Town of Ipswich WORKING DRAFT July 2009 Contents I. Executive Summary..................................................................................................................... 3 Overview..................................................................................................................................... 3 Organization and Process............................................................................................................ 3 Definitions .................................................................................................................................. 4 Plan Development....................................................................................................................... 6 Use of the Plan............................................................................................................................ 6 Downtown User and Business Owner Surveys .......................................................................... 6 Profile Highlights........................................................................................................................ 7 Mixed Use............................................................................................................................... 7 Retail Market .......................................................................................................................... 8 Housing................................................................................................................................... 8 Recommendations....................................................................................................................... 8 II. User and Business Owner Surveys ............................................................................................ 9 The Downtown Survey ............................................................................................................... 9 Frequency of Trips................................................................................................................ 10 Purpose of Trips.................................................................................................................... 11 Quality Assessments ............................................................................................................. 11 Attitudes about the Availability of Goods and Services Downtown.................................... 13 Attitudes about municipal services and parking................................................................... 15 The Downtown Business Survey.............................................................................................. 18 Profile of respondents ........................................................................................................... 18 Rental rates in the downtown................................................................................................ 19 Attitudes about the downtown business environment .......................................................... 20 Business trends and customer base according to survey respondents .................................. 23 Perceptions of overall trends affecting the downtown business climate .............................. 24 The visitor dollar and the role of tourism in the downtown economy.................................. 26 How does the business community rate municipal services? ............................................... 28 III. Downtown Ipswich Today...................................................................................................... 30 Mix of Uses............................................................................................................................... 30 Retail Market Profile and Analysis........................................................................................... 38 Year-round residents of Ipswich and the surrounding area .................................................. 38 Downtown employees........................................................................................................... 40 Seasonal residents and visitors ............................................................................................. 41 Housing Profile ......................................................................................................................... 44 Streetscapes, Pedestrian Linkages and Amenities .................................................................... 45 Arts and the Creative Economy ................................................................................................ 47 Image, Marketing and Special Events ...................................................................................... 48 Vacant Buildings....................................................................................................................... 50 IV. Moving Forward .................................................................................................................... 53 Key Contributors to Downtown Revitalization ........................................................................ 53 2009 Downtown Development Plan, Town of Ipswich Page 1 Town Government Initiatives ................................................................................................... 54 V. Implementation and Monitoring .............................................................................................. 69 Implementation Matrix ................................................................................................................. 70 Appendix A: Downtown Ipswich Survey Method ...................................................................... 78 Appendix B: Survey of Downtown Businesses........................................................................... 79 Appendix C: Annual Action Report and Benchmark Checklist .................................................. 80 List of Tables and Figures Table 1: Frequency of Trips Downtown.....................................................................................................10 Table 2: Quality Assessments.....................................................................................................................11 Table 3: Factors Affecting the Perceived Quality of Downtown................................................................13 Table 4: Attitudes about Available Goods and Services.............................................................................14 Table 5: Attitudes Regarding Municipal Services and Streetscape Features..............................................15 Table 6: Priorities for Improvements..........................................................................................................16 Table 7: Potential Improvements to Parking Areas ....................................................................................17 Table 8: Respondents to the Business Survey ............................................................................................18 Table 9: Types of Businesses Responding to the Survey ...........................................................................19 Table 10: Quality of Business Environment as Rated by Business Owners...............................................21 Table 11: Businesses Reviewing Downtown Survey .................................................................................21 Table 12: Other Types of Surveys Desired.................................................................................................22 Table 13: Business Trends..........................................................................................................................23 Table 14: Annual Sales by Source..............................................................................................................24 Table 15: Trend Assessment.......................................................................................................................25 Table 16: Role of Tourism & Visitor Dollar...............................................................................................26 Table 17: Potential for Economic Development of Visitor Market............................................................27 Table 18: How Businesses Rate Town Services, Infrastructure & Amenities............................................29 Table 19: Composition Analysis - Downtown Ipswich ..............................................................................31 Table 20: Business & Institutional Listing by Type ..................................................................................33 Table 21: Food Service Establishment Seating Capacity ...........................................................................37 Table 22: Demographic Summary of Primary Trade Area.........................................................................39 Table 23: Comparison of Perceived Quality of Downtown........................................................................40 Table 24: Business Community's Ranking of Marketing Messages for Downtown...................................49 Table 25: Status of Vacant Properties.........................................................................................................52 Figure 1: Downtown Focus Area Map..........................................................................................................5 Figure 2: Respondents to the Downtown Survey........................................................................................10