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encourages, coupled with the food and drink available,visitors can find themselves in a <br /> bind if public restrooms are not available.The Chamber of Commerce Welcome Center <br /> in Trailside Park provides facilities to the public,and is located in a key location:just off <br /> of the Paul Bunyan Trail and in the center of Downtown. Some business owners offer <br /> their restrooms to the public,without requiring them to be patrons, - Deleted:,but shier people may still <br /> feel pressured to patronize the <br /> business to'repay the owner for use <br /> Helping people to find their way is also important in adding comfort for visitors. The oftherestrooms. <br /> Welcome Center currently provides information to visitors about local businesses and is <br /> helpful for those new to the area. Business owners are also friendly and helpful in <br /> directing those looking for a particular establishment or just finding their way to their <br /> ultimate destination. All these things add to Downtown's small town appeal, but <br /> outdoor bulletin boards and information kiosks can also be helpful by providing maps <br /> and other community information. <br /> Because so many visitors reach downtown by car, parking is an important aspect of <br /> relaying comfort to visitors. Downtown, like many central commercial districts, suffers <br /> for a lack of parking.Visitors often park their cars on the grass or on the sides of roads <br /> when they cannot find a marked parking space. Because many existing parking spaces <br /> are not well demarcated,visitors often park their cars outside of the parking space itself. <br /> While parking on the grass may seem quaint and charming, it is not appealing to many <br /> visitors, especially if it has rained or snowed recently. Paved, clean parking spaces <br /> should be provided in the Downtown to accommodate visitors. Care should be taken to <br /> not supply too much parking,which may be fully used during peak events,but otherwise <br /> sits empty from day to day, detracting for the character of Downtown and creating an Deleted:on <br /> ---------- ------- -- <br /> image of underuse. <br /> Access and Linkages <br /> Downtown Pequot was developed on a traditional grid pattern of streets, with State <br /> Highway 371 ultimately running right through the middle.The presence of the highway <br /> has both advantages and disadvantages. First, having the highly traveled roadway <br /> running through the Downtown gives travelers and potential visitors at least a partial <br /> view of Downtown and can enticgthem to stop and explore.The highway helps to attract - - Deleted:s <br /> visitors that might otherwise just be passing through. 0--n the other hand, the highway <br /> divides Downtown and makes it difficult for pedestrians to cross from one side of <br /> Downtown to the other. It also induces traffic to drive through at highway speeds, Deleted:Because of increasing travel <br /> making stopping inconvenient or impractical. demands on this highway,public <br /> officials and agencies have been <br /> ;'he traditional street grid in Downtown facilitates the movement of visitors from store Bening of wing <br /> — ----------------- ---------------------- -- <br /> working pl <br /> widening the road.Crow <br /> to store. Because of the lack of sidewalks however, visitors often drive or walk on the County and Mn/noT are concerned <br /> > > with moving traffic efficiently and <br /> sides of the streets. In the summer months, pedestrians have more room and can co- safely along this route,while local <br /> exist with vehicular traffic but snow and ice in the winter months limits the available public officials ain't°retain the Small <br /> , town character of their communities <br /> space for pedestrian use. without cutting themselves off from <br /> highway travelers.Expanding the <br /> highway in a manner that meets both <br /> The Paul Bunyan Trail provides yet another means of accessing Downtown to which of these objectives can be a seemingly <br /> man communities do not benefit from. The trail runs directly through Downtown paradoxical task,but it is one that has <br /> y Y b++ been successfully undertaken by small <br /> parallel to State Highway 371,with open views of Downtown and the businesses located communities before.l <br /> there. Many trail users in the summer months stop at the local restaurants for 1 <br /> Deleted:makes <br /> Pequot Lakes Downtown Plan—Updated December 2007 12 <br />