The future of downtown Fort Dodge can be transformed by addressing things like building facades, parking and street lighting, according to a group of residents who considered the issue Wednesday evening.

Deciding what the community wants downtown to be – for example, an art hub – and working toward that goal was suggested as a way to address the broader future of the community’s core.

Those ideas were brought forward during the Shaping Our Future Together: Community Survey Insights and Input Session held at the Municipal Building. About 35 people attended.

“The discussions we had in this room tonight were very valuable,” said Mary Green-Warnstadt, director of Main Street Fort Dodge.

“The information we gathered tonight will help to develop what in the Main Street world is called a transformation strategy, which is a strategic plan,” she added. “That will set our direction moving forward.”

She will meet today with the Main Street Fort Dodge board, downtown building owners and downtown business owners to work on that transformation strategy.

“We’re not done gathering input yet,” she said.

The completed strategic plan will likely be introduced to the public in July, according to Green-Warnstadt.

Wednesday night’s session was led by Brooke Prouty, a business specialist with the Main Street Iowa program.

Prouty reviewed the results of a downtown input survey that was recently completed.

She said in Fort Dodge, 916 people completed the survey. That, she said, is the highest participation rate of any community in the state that she has worked with.

The survey results showed that vacant or neglected buildings are considered the top challenge for downtown Fort Dodge, according to Prouty.

Crime and the condition of the streets and sidewalks also emerged as challenges in the survey, she said.

The survey asked people to list what they would like to see in downtown Ford Dodge. The responses included unique food options, a general store, and boutique shopping.

After a presentation by Prouty, those in attendance worked in small groups to generate ideas for things that could be done in the short-term and in the next three years to improve downtown.

The common themes of fixing facades and filling storefronts with news businesses emerged from those discussions.

The Main Street program is a national effort that seeks to rejuvenate downtowns with an emphasis on historic preservation and economic development.

In Fort Dodge, the Main Street district is about 33 blocks in downtown.