KALAMAZOO — In the 1980s, a situation was evolving in downtown Kalamazoo. As industry moved out of the city’s center, its absence gave way to blighted buildings, drugs and crime.

“From an economic perspective, we needed to change that perspective,” Ken Nacci, president of Downtown Kalamazoo Incorporated (DKI) told TBL.

But a roadblock stood in the way of transforming its image — flooding. The flooding problem stemmed from Arcadia Creek, once a provider of water for drinking and washing of clothes in the city’s early history. As Kalamazoo grew, Arcadia Creek — which runs from Drake Road, under Stadium Drive and eventually ending in the Kalamazoo River — was eventually moved underground more than a century ago. But the culvert through which it flowed wasn’t large enough to handle increased runoffs caused by years of development.

Over time, the west end of Kalamazoo became built up, including at the site of the Western Michigan University campus. Nacci said by the 1980s, most people didn’t even know the creek existed. But Arcadia Creek did exist, and before getting businesses back into downtown, the creek’s flood plain had to be eliminated.

“No one would build in a flood zone,” said Nacci, who served as project manager on Arcadia Creek.

Kalamazoo had a big decision to make. “We can do this underground or open it to the sky,” he said of the options the officials weighed.

• While the then-buried Arcadia Creek and the flooding it caused served as a roadblock to development, a Kalamazoo project to unearth the waterway not only helped alleviate flooding problems and the need for businesses to buy flood insurance, it also provided the city a chance to create a new venue for the community to use as a gathering spot at Arcadia Creek Festival Place near downtown. PHOTO: NATHAN PECK

The city opted for the latter, returning the creek to a more natural, open environment — referred to as “daylighting.” Around the same time, San Antonio had just completed its River Walk, he said. While he’s clear that Arcadia Creek is no comparison to the River Walk, Nacci said people regardless of location like being around and hearing water, and Arcadia Creek has since become such an amenity. Kalamazoo wasn’t the earliest pioneer in its daylighting endeavor, but not many communities at the time had taken on such a project.

“We certainly weren’t the first, but we’ve gotten a lot of calls since,” said Nacci, noting those inquiries have come from every state in the country, ranging from universities to urban planners.

He said the public didn’t immediately embrace the Arcadia Creek project. Skepticism existed with people wondering why money was being spent on opening up a creek. A large campaign called “Free the Creek” ensued. Nacci thinks most citizens now feel that daylighting Arcadia Creek was the right decision.

To communities embarking on their own daylighting project, Nacci offered this: It takes time. Nacci advised making solid plans, acquiring properties, having strong coordination and gaining the willingness of private developers. In 1982, Kalamazoo started working on the Arcadia Creek project.

“No shovel was in the ground until 1992,” said Nacci, demonstrating the length of time it took to put together a successful project.

And nearly ten years later, the fruits of labor keep blossoming.

“Now you can see development all around it,” he said.

To make Arcadia Creek a reality, a strong partnership developed between the public and private sector. Nacci said at the time, Kalamazoo Valley Community College needed a satellite campus, First of America wanted a new headquarters, and Borgess Hospital and Bronson Hospital decided to pursue a joint venture with the West Michigan Cancer Center. He said those plans all fueled commitments to build downtown, a plan aided by philanthropy.

Kalamazoo daylighted a five-block length of Arcadia Creek. The Downtown Development Association (DDA) purchased the land, cleaned it up and got it out of the flood plain. Pollution became an issue for the DDA because a change in title meant the purchaser took responsibility for any existing contamination. Dealing with that contamination led to a significant portion of the cost of the project.

“We took that risk,” he said, noting they spent millions cleaning up the contamination.

A federal grant for $1 million helped kick off the $7.5 million creek construction project, which has a culvert, or open channel, approximately 20 feet wide by 10 feet deep and a large retention pond approximately 3 feet deep and very wide. He said the pond in part controls the velocity of the water flow.

The culvert system is enough to protect the community from a 500-year flood, and that allowed the floodplains to be redrawn, eliminating the need for property owners to buy flood insurance, a major stumbling block to development.

Nacci said the economic benefits of daylighting the creek have been “almost immeasurable.” Buildings have risen from the ashes of former decay, and new housing, restaurants, and entertainment has revitalized the downtown. Currently, more than 26 residential units abut Arcadia Creek. He said at the start of the Arcadia Creek project, they estimated it would create 200 jobs, but that number has now grown to 1,800.

A 2000 study by the Rocky Mountain Institute stated that the overall $18 million public investment leveraged more than $200 million in adjacent private investments. It found that property taxes paid to the city in the redeveloped area increased from $60,000 to $400,000 annually.

Marc Hatton, redevelopment project manager at the City of Kalamazoo, said the buildings and spaces springing up around the creek have increased activity in the downtown area.

“When you have activity in the downtown core, you have services that those people desire,” said Hatton, noting all of those elements feed off one another.

Vicky Kettner, community relations director at DKI, said the Arcadia Creek Festival Place, part of the original project, hosted 22 events with over 40 days of programming and had an attendance of 131,850 people in 2010.

Kettner said that in 2010, the festival site generated over $747,000 for non-charitable events; the 2011 season to date looks strong.

“Three of the festivals this year had record-breaking attendance,” she said.

The project has had a social impact too, providing a meeting place and instilling vibrancy. A testimony of social impact can be seen in the recent replacement of the Arcadia Creek Festival Site playground floor. After having been in place since the playground opened in 2004, Kettner said the wear and tear demonstrates how the site has become a popular destination for families. Not only does it serve festivals trying to attract families, it provides a passive use before and after events, as well as for schools and groups.

“We can’t be successful with economic development tools if we aren’t creating a sense of belonging,” Kettner said.

She said Arcadia Creek Festival Place serves as an antidote to people gripped by a technology-induced isolation, and added that Kalamazoo has created an environment where people are becoming the fabric of a community.

Environmentally speaking, Nacci said the contamination from “past sins” has been removed. Moreover, the above-ground creek can now also more naturally handle stormwater and runoff.