LG Council Talks 20-Year Plan, Redistricting, Bikes

The La Grange City Council heard a report on progress made in the City’s 20-year comprehensive plan at a meeting Monday, Dec. 13.

The City teamed up with Texas A&M University in 2017 to develop the plan, which outlines over 120 project recommendations for the City to accomplish over two decades. Those projects involve everything from drainage to economic development, downtown revitalization and transportation. City Council officially adopted the plan in 2018.

“Since then, staff has been working to check off the boxes on our program of work,” Norris said.

La Grange Community Development Director Stacey Norris said the City has already completed about 15 percent of the projects recommended in the plan. Some of those projects included the wayfinding signage that the City erected around town, efforts to increase affordable housing such as the Hope Hill development and Fayette County Habitat for Humanity’s senior living project, the partnership with the County to build public restrooms downtown, library upgrades and utility improvements, especially the new 14-inch water lines between well stations that improves system pressure and reliability.

In other business, the La Grange City Council reviewed a redistricting plan for the City’s four council wards at Monday’s meeting.

Attorney Rezzin Pullum from the Bojorquez Law Firm presented the plan. The City Charter and various state and federal election laws call for each ward to be roughly equal in population. The 2020 Census revealed population imbalances among the four wards, which triggered the redistricting process.

La Grange’s population in the 2020 Census was 4,350. Accordingly, each of the four wards should have a population of about 1,088. The plan developed by Pullum changed the lines of all four council wards. Pullum was able to redraw the ward lines without leaving any of the Council members out of their old wards.

Also on Monday, the Council voted unanimously to donate 25 abandoned bicycles to Second Chance Emporium. The bicycles were found abandoned around the City over the past year and have been sitting in storage.