South Ankeny Boulevard needs to feature more sit-down restaurants, mixed-use development and retail, and multifamily residential development, according to public input shared during this week’s Ankeny City Council meeting.

Christopher Shires, principal with Des Moines-based consulting firm Confluence, presented the results of public input sessions, stakeholder interviews and an online survey with council members during their meeting on Monday.

It was the latest step in the city’s efforts to revitalize the South Ankeny Boulevard corridor from Oralabor Road to First Street.

In his presentation, Shires said members of the public and stakeholders in the area described the corridor as tired, busy and crowded.

“That’s OK,” he said. “That means we have an opportunity for improvement.”

Key words used by the public for what the future could look like were cohesive, attractive, and well planned.

“When we talk about the biggest strengths of the corridor, we heard about the unique businesses, the diversity of ownership, that there is traffic, and then some of those nearby activities and things going on, such as DMACC, the trail and the highway,” Shires said.

Things people would like to see changed are more trees and consistent landscaping, more mixed-use development and addressing traffic issues.

“Folks in the area, there’s a lot of pride in the corridor and a lot of desire for it to continue to improve and get better,” Shires said. “They do have a lot of excitement for its potential, so they do want to see it improve and thrive.”

Shires said a “good mix of land use is important — multifamily, retail, office, industrial, a need for beautification and revitalization of some of the older properties.”

People also expressed a need to improve pedestrian and bicycle access in the area.

The South Ankeny Boulevard corridor drew 2.6 million visitors over the past 12 months. More than a half million of those were unique visits, Shires said.

He also said visitors spend an average of 84 minutes in the corridor area.

“So it’s more than just traffic driving through it; people are spending time here, visiting here and shopping here,” Shires said.

He said there were also questions about branding the corridor.

Shires’ presentation followed the collection of input from an online survey, a public input meeting last fall and stakeholder interviews. The next steps, he said, will be for Confluence to develop recommendations for improvements and the collection of additional public input. Recommendations to the council are expected this spring.

The city launched the study of the South Ankeny Boulevard corridor last fall in hopes of creating a commercial district that will be sustainable and complement the vibrant shopping areas on Delaware Avenue and the District at Prairie Trail.

Council member Kelly Stearns asked Shires if there was consideration to create a planned urban development to encourage “cohesive looks” to the corridor.

Shires said that could be considered.

“Something like that is potentially in our recommendation, whether it’s the next step of a zoning overlay with design recommendations,” he said. “We also heard concern over cost, the concern of not pricing the area out from being advantageous for development and redevelopment. So I think what we’ll try to do is bring you that balance of good cohesive design, some upgrading to the existing and future sites, consistency on that streetscaping but not being too heavy-handed as well.”

That review includes an evaluation of current market conditions, traffic patterns, visitor data and how the corridor is currently used.

“The reason we’re looking at this corridor is it was a very traditional highway-oriented commercial development area,” Derek Lord, the city’s economic development director, said last fall. “It was kind of the center of the city’s commercial area in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. As the interstate was developed, a lot of that activity moved east, and more recently the District at Prairie Trail has attracted significant consumer retail investment to the west. This corridor is uniquely positioned 1 mile west of Delaware and 1 mile east of the District, and we want to do our part to identify what the vision for this area should be and work to attract new investment to make sure this corridor remains a viable commercial shopping district in our community.”