Anyone who remembers the heyday of the old Skyline Cafe in Grantsville can’t help but shed a tear when they pass by the building now. Not that there’s much wrong with the structure itself — it still appears relatively functional — but the vitality that once came with it is long gone. What was perhaps the Tooele Valley’s most popular local eatery is just another abandoned building along Main Street today.

The sad story of the Skyline is one that’s being repeated up and down Grantsville’s Main Street. Despite a decade of rampant residential growth — mainly on the outer edges of the town — and the construction of new strip malls, downtown has been left to fall into disuse and disrepair. It’s become a neglected area of abandoned buildings, boarded-up shops and faded signage. In the worst cases, such as with the old United Drugs store, beautiful historic buildings that were once gathering places for the entire community are being left to crumble.

It’s time for Grantsville City to emulate the recent example of Tooele City and take a proactive approach to revitalizing its downtown.

Grantsville should look into setting up a downtown redevelopment agency (RDA), which allows for any property taxes collected above a certain level to be reinvested in the area. This arrangement has helped Tooele spruce up downtown store facades, and even supported the new Sostanza restaurant project — expected to be a linchpin in future revitalization efforts — to the tune of $130,000 this year. In fact, RDA money also helped Tooele restore the old Bevan Drugs store (the current location of Homebodies), a two-story shophouse that resembles Grantsville’s United Drugs store.

Grantsville City should also create incentives for business owners to reuse existing buildings rather than build cheap new ones. It makes no sense for perfectly functional buildings, many of which have tremendous character, to sit abandoned while new strip malls go up right next door. The city should also work to ensure downtown’s vitality and viability before it considers creating other commercial districts on the outskirts of town.

Perhaps the newly formed Grantsville Business Alliance can also champion the cause of downtown revitalization the way Tooele’s Downtown Alliance has. Grantsville City needs strong support from local merchants who want to see downtown spruced up in order to make any revitalization movement a reality.

Individual investors can also make a difference by realizing the potential of older buildings. Witness the example of developer Josh Henwood, who has injected life into the northern side of Main Street near the fire station by setting up two new restaurants, Zoolander’s and Taco Man, in existing buildings.

Grantsville can reverse the trend of abandoned buildings but it will require a concerted public-private effort. It’s worth starting on that effort now, before too much of the history of Grantsville’s downtown is lost to neglect.