Michelle Kivela has worked in our town government for 10 years, the last 5 as our town manager. She has seen many changes in that time and many more in her 21 years as a Parker resident. Looking to our future, Michelle has a great vision and excitement for what lies ahead. She shared her insights and strategies as to what the future might hold for the Town.
Kivela: There has always been a really good sense of community here. You don't find that everywhere. I like Parker. This is were we moved right after I got married and we had our kids here; our kids are at school here, and after our kids leave we'll still be here. It's where I want to be by choice. We have a lot of support for moving forward, support for staff, support for getting things done, support for new ideas. That's one of the things I have always liked about Parker.
There are so many new opportunites in Parker becasue we aren't landlocked. We're not in a maintain mode. We have opportunities to continue growing our opportunites. I don't want to say it's growth in terms of more houses or more commercial; it's the whole experience. When I have looked at Parker, I've seen there are so many opportunites in terms of having that complete community.
My Mainstreet, I will say, I'm super excited about that. But it is going to take a year before we really see anything started on that. Everybody was so excited when it happened. There were a lot of high fives and we're so happy that we got there. For council and for the Mayor, this is a legacy; it's a legacy project. It's something they should be very proud to get accomplished. We've put a lot of time and effort into creating the development plan with Tony and really working on getting a proposal in front of council that would be acceptable to the community.
There's a whole bunch of stuff coming down the pipeline next year ... there's going to be a lot of dust flying in 2023. That's not just My Mainstreet stuff, it's a lot of parks, it's a lot of trails, it's road widening and infrastructure.
Look for a future article detaiing these many projects.
Downtown is growing. There has not been much growth on the east end of Mainstreet in recent years, but over on the west end, the addition of the Ascent Hotel has welcomed new restaurants to enjoy a wide array of foods that attract visitors from all over South Metro area.
With the recent sale of the 5 parcels in November between the Town of Parker and Confluence Companies, we will welcome new retail, restaurants, office space, apartments and condos. This is super exciting as this growth needs to come to keep Parker residents spending their money here to fund all the wonderful amenities Parker has to offer. This excitement is something the Downtown Business Alliance of Parker (DBA) has supported and has been heavily involved in every step of the way since the DBA was created. The Dba visited some of the projects that Confluence Companies completed in Castle Rock and were super impressed with what they did. We are excited about the partnership betweenthe Town of Parker & Confluence Companies. This new and welcomed growth on both ends of Parker Road is an exciting time for Parker and for downtown.
Established in 2015, the Downtown Business Alliance of Parker (DBA) serves the downtown Parker community. Downtown Parker has more than 50 shops, services, and restaurants in the downtown footprint. The DBA is made of100% volunteers with no paid staff. The concentration and diversity of options puts Parker on the same level as other regional shopping districts in communities like Castle Rock, Lone Tree, Castle Pines, Highlands Ranch, Aurora, and Centennial.
The DBA just brought back The Hometown Christmas Parade on December 10th after a brief 2-year hiatus and had well over 65 participants, 100+ volunteers, and was planned from start to finish by a group of dedicated volunteers of the DBA. We also just recently did the Trunk or Treat off Mainstreet where over 1500 kids attended the event. Future plansin 2023 include their annual golf tournament in June, Trunk or Treat in November, the parade in December and they are currently looking at putting on a Fall Festival for all families to enjoy in downtown Parker.
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