Thursday, September 19, 2024
AZLE — The City of Azle, partnering with Halff Associates, presented on the community’s future and received feedback from locals at a public meeting Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Community Planner Whitney Linder and Brad Johnson, team leader and director of planning for Halff, answered questions and presented the draft for the city’s next comprehensive master plan.
The plan will cover land use, developments on Azle’s Main Street, thoroughfares, parks and more. Using the plan as a guideline, the City of Azle hopes to establish goals and strategies that guide the city’s growth and development over the next 20 years.
More than 20 local residents, public officials and business owners attended with several speaking about concerns they had with the plan or development in general.
One major subject of discussion for the evening was Azle’s Main Street area. The guiding principles laid out by Halff, who the city has hired as advisors on the project, for Azle’s downtown include making Main Street safe and walkable, creating a robust pedestrian and cycling network, creating a new mixed use neighborhood district that compliments existing businesses and creating a climate for investment.
Johnson reassured residents who had concerns about a lack of room for expansion on Main Street and a fear that historic buildings might be lost.
“You got a lot of width right there,” Johnson said. “From power line to power line within that right of way I don't know if you guys know what it is on the top of your head, it's over 100 (feet). It's pretty big. You’ve got two lanes, and you've got one of the biggest center turn lanes I've seen a long time, that could be reduced. That space could be used in a very safe way, it’d probably make it safer. Honestly, that's what studies would show you. That gives an opportunity to give that space to sidewalk needs, to street trees, to on-street parking, much in the way that it's functioning right now.”
Johnson said a future where Azle owns Main Street, not TxDOT, could be the most conducive option under the current vision.
Morgan Frazier recently moved to Azle from Pennsylvania and felt positive after attending the meeting.
“It's going to change a little bit of what Azle looks like right now but I think for the better,” Frazier said. “I think they did a good job of presenting it, and they're looking for community input as well. So that's a positive thing. I've been around the country and seen a lot of really nice main streets, and I'm glad they're focusing on that, because there's a lot of potential on this main street. Where I lived for the past 20 years, there wasn't a lot of width on the main street. These guys got a lot of distance between businesses on either side of the road, where they could actually make large sidewalks and wider roads and better parking and bring a lot of businesses in and community into that area. So, I think it was a good representation of what could be of Main Street.”
