Cascade Locks considers Main Street

Pursuing affiliation with Main Street could work alongside other options, said City Councilor Denise Emmerling-Baker, the city’s designated contact for Main Street.

Oregon Main Street, part of the Main Street America program, provides communities with technical support and training to help them revitalize downtown districts, and also access to grants at some levels of affiliation.

The city is currently at the Connected Community level, which provides “access to information to help them make a difference,” according to Oregon Main Street, but little to no access to grants.

Reaching the affiliated level would allow the city access to grants, including a potential $10 million to be awarded in 2025 to communities which were affiliated in 2024.

To reach affiliated in 2024 would require commitments from a minimum of seven people by the January deadline, said Emmerling-Baker, who hopes for one from the city and one from the port.

“It is a way to bring all of us together,” Port Executive Director Jeremiah Blue, noting that constituents could include such members as businesses, property owners, and ports.

Main Street is a community project rather than an entirely tourism- or business-funded one, Emmerling-Baker said, and could exist alongside a chamber of commerce. “It doesn’t have to disrupt anybody else’s goals,” she said. “It just needs support from a diverse group.” For this reason, they hope the Main Street project will move away from being strictly a city council project and “become its own thing,” as 90% of other Main Street programs have done, according to Emmerling-Baker.

Cascade Locks could benefit from both, noted Mayor Cathy Fallon.

With an agenda that included notes on 10 tourism events throughout the year, commissioners and councilors also discussed other means of revitalizing for tourism and development.

The meeting discussed increasing marketing and services for tourists and, in advance of more development in Cascade Locks — including 45 houses in the works — for residents. With the help of a new tourism consultant, the city is considering options. “A hope is to integrate marketing with the port and the city,” Emmerling-Baker noted. She also noted the hope of cross-marketing with Skamania County.

Several councilors and commissioners expressed the desire for more resident-oriented events and services, pointing to a potential increase in residents.

Issues included the “eight or nine” unoccupied buildings downtown, with the city considering a “dark store code” that could require property owners to keep the lights on and maintain an appearance of use, even if there is no business in residence. Currently there are no penalties for keeping an unoccupied building dark and empty. Blue noted that the port has little influence in ordinances, but is committed to revitalizing empty buildings and keeping buildings out of the hands of speculators, if possible.

Other subjects of discussion included affordable housing for workers and others, to be addressed in the city’s in-progress strategic plan, a shortage of short-term housing for major events, and a comment regarding licensing rules for Bed-and-Breakfast owners.