Georgetown updating downtown master plan for the first time in a decade
GEORGETOWN, Texas - The City of Georgetown plans to release a new draft for its downtown improvements in April following a boom in the area’s population.
"As you’ve probably seen in a lot of headlines, Georgetown is growing like crazy," said Kim Mcauliffe, the Georgetown downtown and tourism director.
Downtown Georgetown is the heart of the city.
"We’ve really seen Georgetown become that destination," said Mcauliffe.
The city wants to keep it that way.
It's pitching a few revisions to the historic downtown, including wider sidewalks, more outdoor cafes, retail space, and more trees.
It's also looking at adding an art walk on 9th Street connecting to city hall.
"It will be multi-million dollars worth of investment, but it will be over time," said Mcauliffe. "It’s not going to happen all at once, and most of that will come through different funding sources. We always try to go for grants when we can."
A few streets north, it wants to improve Blue Hole Park.
"I'm excited because I just think that the San Gabriel River is such an asset to our community, and to be able to do something that makes it even more emphasized will be a really great thing for the community," said Mcauliffe.
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These ideas are the first time the city has tinkered with the downtown master plan in a decade.
The original plan was published in 2003.
Mcauliffe thinks there’s no better time than now to readdress it.
"To be able to meet the demands of the growth and really get us to where we need to be, we needed to go back and make this update, so that we could start looking at what’s coming next," said Mcauliffe.
The rough draft will be available to the public for feedback April 1-15.
Then it will head to the council for approval later that month.