Downtown La Grange Plan Gets a Lukewarm Welcome

The La Grange City Council held a lengthy discussion Monday night over the City’s application for a Downtown Revitalization Grant through the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). TDA has set aside $1 million for the downtown La Grange project, which is aimed at reducing “slum and blight” conditions that the Council has identified around the Courthouse Square. The project unveiled Monday night calls for a reduction in parking spaces around the Square to make way for fire lanes that meet modern fire code.

Plans also call for new curbing around the Square to improve traffic flow, along with amenities like lighting improvements and an area for food trucks. The plan would also reduce the number of parking spaces around the Square from 197 to 160.

“There’s a multitude of reasons why we’re taking on this project downtown,” said City Manager Jack Thompson. “First off, our current configuration of the Square does not meet the 2018 International Fire Code.”

Thompson said the code requires a 20-foot fire lane for the businesses around the Square. The current fire lane is only 16 feet. Moreover, he said the three-story courthouse needs a 26-foot fire lane in order for a ladder truck to set up in the event of a fire.

Thompson said City Main Street Director Caleb Parks conducted a parking survey and found that only 64.5 percent of parking spots are utilitized on average during regular business hours.

“We still remain overparked even though we do lose 37 spots,” Thompson said.

He said the proposed curbing will improve traffic flow as well.

“This does create a safer pedestrian experience and also creates a safer motorist experience,” he said. “Right now, it’s kind of Wild West as far as how people navigate the parking. This would control the flow of parking.

“It would also give us the opportunity to allow food trucks to park in the parallel parking spots,” Thompson added. We’d be looking at adding plugs so that food trucks could plug in to an outlet rather than have to use a generator, which makes a lot of noise.”

Thompson said other cities in Texas have benefited greatly from similar downtown revitalization projects.

“If you go to Granbury, Texas, or Lockhart, Texas, they’ve already done stuff like this,” Thompson said. “It’s been proven to be very fruitful for those communities. It’s helped their businesses. It’s helped grow their downtown. Those are two of the best small town downtowns in the state, and they have something very similar to what we’ve designed.”

Councilwoman Pam Giese questioned the need for a 26foot fire lane when the La Grange Fire Department does not currently have a ladder truck. City Fire Marshal Frank Rodriguez said the Fire Department could request mutual aid from neighboring departments for a ladder truck.

Councilman Dylan Schlotterbeck asked whether the current configuration could be “grandfathered-in” in regard to the fire code.

“That would be an attorney question,” Rodriguez said.

Giese asked whether the parking survey included busy court days.

“I’ll have to go back and look,” Thompson said. “I know he did take that into account on some of the high peak days. He did hit courthouse days. Out of how many of those, I can’t answer that directly, but I do know he did hit days that the County was in full session.”

Councilman Ken Taylor spoke out strongly against the project.

“I think we need to focus on the projects we have in front of us,” Taylor said. “Drainage, the FEC property, Fayette Community Theater building, the Rohan Meadery building, the building that’s vacant behind the Rohan Meadery, sewer and water lines that we’re going to talk about here in a little bit – it’s a bunch of money. We’ve got a police station issue, we’ve got a Rec Center issue, we’ve got a City Hall issue. And then this hasn’t gotten to the Council yet but we’ve got a warehouse remodeling issue, an issue that the Fairgrounds and Round Up Hall.

“The council’s up to 13 items that we’re going to solve, and we want to add another one,” Taylor continued. “And we haven’t finished. The only one that’s close is the Little Einstein, and that was part of an EDC project that hopefully will come true here in the middle of August. But again, we want to add some more wood to the fire. And we only haven’t done – excuse my language – a damn thing on these 13. Even if it was the best thing to do, I can’t agree, because we’ve got way too much on our plate.”

Councilman Bryan Kerr said he was open to applying for the grant. However, he shared Taylor’s concern about taking on another project.

“If there’s money available, I feel like as a small town, it’s kind of how we have to do it sometimes,” Kerr said. “But I do share (Taylor’s) concern about taking on another project, and having the bandwidth to complete it. But I would rather try to figure out a way to make this work than to find reasons why for it not to work.”

Kerr asked whether the City could change the design of the project after applying for the grant. Thompson said changes to the design are possible.

Taylor questioned whether the City has control over the property around the Square. Taylor said he was trying to locate the plat that shows who owns what in regard to the parking area around the Courthouse. He said the County might actually own the property. In that case, he said the City would need the County’s permission to move forward with the project, and he doubted the Commissioners Court would agree to the project.

Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom spoke at the meeting. McBroom questioned why the City has not coordinated with the County about this project.

“I don’t know why it’s so hard to communicate with the County,” McBroom said.

He expressed concerns about how the changes would affect the County government, especially on busy court days.

“If you really get down and talk to the County, where the prisoners enter the courthouse will kind of be locked in now because there’s going to be a curb,” he said. “The functionality of it to me does not make sense. I think it functions very good the way it is now.”

“This is a conceptual plan,” Thompson said. “This is not set in stone. This is something that we’re trying to get people to give us input in.”

Thompson urged businesses and the public to contribute input to the plan. Members of the public can view the plan and provide input in person at Casino Hall.

The item concerning the grant at Monday’s meeting was for discussion only. Council did not take any votes concerning the project.