Medford Sun

By AUBRIE GEORGE | The Medford Sun
Since Bob Martin took his seat as mayor, he has been focusing on an initiative to revitalize Main Street and bring it back to the days when it was the heart of Medford.
Martin said revitalization, while in its earliest stages, has already begun with the reconstruction of the Stagecoach building at the corner of Main and Union streets.
The historic building, which was damaged in a fire over a year ago, was torn down and is currently in the midst of being rebuilt in its original style.
Martin said once the new Stagecoach building is up and running, township officials plan to do as much as possible to make it easier for the building owner to get tenants and storeowners to occupy the building.
“From the time someone comes in and says ‘I want to put a boutique in there,’ we’re going to try to work with that person to get the door open as quickly as possible so that we don’t have a long time period between the time they sign the lease and the time they open the door for business,” Martin said.
Making the permit process easier for any storeowner who wants to open a new business is something Martin would like to do for all of Main Street in order to encourage revitalization.
“It’s always taken a while to get a permit for business in Medford,” Martin said. “Now what we’re trying to do is make it easier.  We want to simplify it by maybe making it a checklist process. We’ll tell them, ‘here’s what you need to do. We’ll tell you every step and we can get this done in x number of days or weeks.’”
Martin said he thinks reconstruction of the Stagecoach will help to encourage revitalization of the entire area of Main Street.
“Once The Stagecoach is up and running, I think that’s going to help encourage other people to fix up their stores, make them look a little nicer and maybe that will create new businesses,” Martin said.
His goal, he said, is to fill Main Street with a wide variety of shops that people want to frequent in order to draw more business traffic.
Martin said he has a vision for a restaurant that offers families a place to get breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as surrounding stores that will keep people shopping.
He said he would also like to see a bank return to Main Street, which is something he has been working on.
“Not a big bank, but a satellite bank – a branch of a big bank,” Martin said.  “I think that would be wonderful.”
He would also, in the future, like to see if the township could encourage an association to enforce required business hours so that all stores on Main Street are open on a consistent basis.
“That tells people that if they walk up there they can walk up and down the street the stores will be open,” Martin said.
To accomplish revitalization, Martin said council and the Historic Medford Village Association, as well as the Medford Business Association, have to work as a team to bring businesses into Main Street.
President of the Historic Medford Village Association and owner of Bain’s Deli Vickie Fay said council has always done a good job in helping with the revitalization of Main Street but Martin is taking it further.
“Bob has taken it to the next level. He’s working on trying to bring more businesses into the town, more specifically, to Main Street,” Fay said.
Fay said she has been working with Martin in order to offer her insight as a Main Street business owner as well as president of the HMVA.
Fay said she is assisting Martin by educating Medford residents about the hundreds of businesses that already exist in town and asking them to “consider Medford first,” she said.
“That’s part of the revitalization,” Fay said. “Yes, bring businesses into downtown, but in addition to that we have a lot of businesses already. We’re trying to reach out and educate our residents and say ‘consider Medford first.’ With that, we can help keep businesses in Medford.”
Fay said she is working on making sure that all of the businesses in town are listed on the township’s Web site.
In addition, she is working to dispel the myth that there is no parking available downtown. She said, contrary to popular belief, there is plenty of parking downtown, including a lot behind the Medford Community Center, a lot behind the Stagecoach as well as plenty of street parking.
Fay said there are already a lot of businesses located downtown, but she is working with Martin to fill Main Street with a large variety of shops.
“Main Street is beautiful as it is,” Fay said. “It’s quaint, it has a lot of charm. What we’re trying to focus on with Mayor Martin is bringing a variety of businesses downtown.”
Martin said he hopes to accomplish the revitalization goals within the year he is mayor but he said it might take a few years longer than that.
“It took a long time to get to the point where we are so it’s going to take a long time to get back to where we were,” Martin said.
But, he said, he thinks it can happen.
“I think Medford is a beautiful, safe town that is so nice to walk,” Martin said.  “I walk up there every day and I love it. I think a lot of people do too. It’s just that we have to have something up there to do.”