During the course of the presentation
questions arose about the medians recently installed on
Colleyville Boulevard. Barry LeBaron, Colleyville's Community
Development Manager, halted the presentation and suggested that an
overview of the plan be presented and allowed attendees to ask
questions and make comments. Several property owners complained
that the medians have been detrimental to their businesses, and
also questioned the notification procedures used by the city.
Barry Labaron, City of
Colleyville |
A crowd of about 50 citizens
attended the meeting.
Former Mayor Newton, (far
right) attended the meeting and will be reporting to the
citizens on his observations with LNO. |
Newton
|
The Corridor Design Committee was
established by the city council in anticipation of the State
Highway 26 widening project that will begin construction in 2005.
That construction is expected to take two and one-half years. The
committee's job is to make recommendations to improve the visual
quality of buildings and public elements along Colleyville
Boulevard. It is chaired by Larry Midtbo and has a total of 18
members. The committee has been working for approximately one year
developing recommendations for regulatory changes that would apply
to all property along Colleyville Boulevard. The draft report
dated August 2001 lists the following summary of primary
recommendations:
- Place all electrical utilities
underground, eliminating above ground poles
- Provide a landscape setback along
the front of all properties along the
corridor
- Promote a continuous tree line
along the corridor to achieve a consistent
"formal" look to the
boulevard
- Require additional landscaping
and open space along the property frontage
and within parking areas
- Promote additional architectural
enhancements through upgraded building
design requirements
- Provide additional site
amenities, such as public art, within each
development
- Reduce the overall size of
advertising signage and require architectural
enhancements to all signs
- Reduce the amount of overall
parking required for large commercial
buildings
Several property owners present
expressed agreement with the desire to enhance the appearance of
the roadway, but questioned why more business owners were not
included in the planning process. They pointed out that the
current market for properties is being impacted by the proposed
changes to State Highway 26, and urged the city to be more
sensitive to the burden placed on the local businesses to
accomplish these changes.
Former Mayor Richard Newton
attended the meeting as a representative of a Colleyville
Boulevard property owner and has agreed to provide LNO with his
account of the meeting. That report will be posted within the next
few days.
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