16 - Downtown Plan PresentationItem No. 16
TO: Mayor & City Council
FROM: John Godwin, City Manager
SUBJECT: DOWNTOWN PLAN
DATE: December 27, 2018
BACKGROUND: Last spring the staff presented to the council a plan we devised to redevelop
many aspects of downtown. We were subsequently fortunate enough to work with the Toole
Design Group, which conducted a number of public input sessions in which they confirmed
many of our findings and considerations. More importantly, they developed an innovative traffic
and parking plan that has the potential to change the function of our downtown. Much of this
latter change will necessarily involve TXDOT, because they own and operate so many of our
major downtown streets.
STATUS OF ISSUE: We have begun developing a plan to complete most of the planned
changes to downtown in a ten-year span. That may feel slow, but based on the significant
changes and costs thereof, it is actually relatively aggressive. In order to achieve our overall
goals, we must break the very many tasks into smaller, achievable groupings. The attached list
shows 23 projects/tasks we hope to at least begin in 2019, and if successful finish most of them.
There were a number of additional items we had in other iterations of this list, but because of
timing, funding, and the requirements to involve many others we think the attached list of 23 is
achievable but still optimistic.
BUDGET: Most of this work remains unfunded.
RECOMMENDATION: Presentation and discussion only.
DOWNTOWN ITEMS FOR 2019
1. Traffic impact analysis (TIA) for inside of plaza
2. Plaza expanded 20' east & north; angle parking converted to parallel
3. Plaza lawn leveling, steps extended, etc.
4. TIA to remove Lamar signal @ 1St
5. TIA to remove Lamar signal @ 2nd
6. 2nd SW/NW to two-way
7. Church Street reconstruction, including rerouting @ Hearne
8. Kid features at Market Square; decorative fence
9. Passive park on lot west of courthouse
10. Tree planting plan
11. City hall exterior
12. Pave lot at northeast corner, Kaufman @ 2nd (with Church Street paving)
13. Add public parking signage on city parking areas on south side of Kaufman
14. Add light on annex lot
15. Improve, landscape, sign and light new parking lot
16. Sidewalks & bump -outs on North Main
17. 1St SE CDBG sidewalk application
18. Replace bad sidewalk sections on 11, Kaufman, in Bywaters
19. Miscellaneous repairs, painting, improved maintenance @ city buildings
20. TIRZ created
21. Revolving loan program created
22. Empowerment zone; development fund created
23. TXDOT funding requested