Over 60 people showed up Tuesday evening at Mid Plains Community College in Valentine to hear a final report from 9 UNL School of landscape architecture students on ideas for the Valentine Community. Topics included Main Street renovation, Trails and City Park, Highway 20 corridor and housing. The crowd split into 4 groups and rotated through the 4 presentations by the students. The information will be available to the public later this spring. The students wrap up their work in Valentine with a trip down the Niobrara River today with local river outfitter, Little Outlaw and Supertubes.
Cristen Witte reported on progress begin made on the issues of affordable, quality Daycare and pre-schools. There will be a meeting on this topic on Monday May 7th at Mid Plains College.
It was also announced that the Valentine Community has received a $10,000 stipend from the Citizens Institute for Rural Design to hold a workshop in Valentine this fall. The workshop will focus on rebuilding Main Street in 2021 and 2022 when Highway 83 is redone. The public will play a critical roll in helping to design the new Main Street look. Valentine Economic Development will direct the effort along with local residents.
The announcement was also made that the community was awarded a Rural Workforce Housing grant from the State of Nebraska to address a shortage of affordable housing. This grant is a cooperative effort with Central Nebraska Economic Development District and Valentine Economic Development.