City of Nacogdoches takes first steps on studies to transform downtown area

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - The City of Nacogdoches is planning four studies to look at transforming its downtown area. City leaders met with a design team for the first time Wednesday to begin the first steps in outreach.

Jessica Sowell, the community services assistant director, said the downtown master plan will look at scenarios to enhance the downtown environment.

“We have a 1974 downtown master plan that’s a little out of date. So what this plan is going to look at is how people travel downtown, how they live downtown, and how they experience our historic downtown square,” Sowell said.

Alaina Helton, the director of planning and neighborhood services for the city said they hired DTJ Design to conduct four studies.

They include the comprehensive plan, an I-69 corridor plan, a housing needs assessment, and a downtown master plan.

“So they’re going to be an existing conditions report. Really, it’s a background report on where the city is at in regards to our infrastructure, our facilities, and our amenities and things like that. So really capturing the environment of the city,” Helton said.

Sowell said the goal is to lay the groundwork for the next 20 years by providing a blueprint on how to move forward, but the city hopes to hear from the community.

“All of our meeting notifications, as well as the recordings for all of these meetings, are on Nacogdochesplans.com, so if you’d like to come to meetings we have it listed there,” Sowell said.

Helton said DTJ Design’s involvement with steering committees will help the city to be more strategic in the decision-making process.

“It helps us be more competitive whenever we’re looking at pursuing grants for quality of life amenities and when we’re pursuing jobs to improve the quality of life for our community,” Helton said.

The City of Nacogdoches estimates this research and outreach stage will take about 15 to 18 months. The plans will then be presented to the city council for approval.