BLOOMINGTON - Nancy Isaacson wants to see downtown Bloomington continue to be vibrant and grow. And she is not alone. | Interactive graphic: Coliseum finances, attendance | Interactive graphic: Uptown Normal, then and now

Isaacson, a downtown resident, was one of roughly 200 people who met Thursday to share their ideas about the future of the city's central business district.

Farr Associates started its work on a $200,000 redevelopment plan for downtown during the planning session at State Farm Insurance Cos. downtown building.

The Downtown Bloomington Association and the city of Bloomington partnered to hire Farr, a Chicago-based architectural and urban planning firm.

"There is a lot of ownership and interest in getting the downtown to move in a positive direction," Isaacson said. "There seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm for downtown."

For the first 30 minutes of the meeting, Doug Farr and Kristin Ihnchak reviewed how they create redevelopment plans and the areas of study that will be part of the plan for downtown. Those areas include a market study to determine what kinds of businesses the downtown could support along with retail development strategies, transportation ideas, a parking policy and zoning codes.

The study also will include an implementation strategy so the plan can be used by the city and DBA instead of sitting on a shelf, Farr said.

Planners spent the remaining hour and a half of the meeting listening to the ideas and frustrations people have with downtown.

"The breadth of knowledge everyone here brought about downtown and the passion about it made for a tremendous flow of ideas," said DBA President Greg Koos. "The city should be proud that 200 people cared enough about downtown to not only attend the meeting but they participated and are willing to be involved."

The downtown study area is roughly bounded by Locust, Lee, Olive and Prairie streets. A second area included in the study is commonly referred to as the warehouse district, just south of downtown.

Completion of the study likely will be in October 2009.