(Seguin) — What would you like Seguin to look like in the future? You will soon be given an opportunity to answer that question. The Seguin City Council on Tuesday approved a more than $300,000 expenditure that would allow the city to hire a consultant to help create a new comprehensive plan for the city, as well as a master plan for the downtown area.
The San Marcos based engineering consulting firm of Freese and Nichols is being hired to conduct the plan. Staff used a process to screen each firm, and Freese and Nichols was the top choice. City Manager Steve Parker says cost is a little higher than what they had anticipated, but he says they thought it was the best proposal based on what was being offered.
“(It) was $26,000 above budget. We did work very hard on making sure that we got that down as low as possible, but I think the reason that we were bringing it back is because we feel comfortable with the additional money being allocated. There are some things that I think we are going to do some deeper analysis on related to economics – if you put in a certain boulevard in your downtown, you know your payback is going to be x versus y. We also are looking for some direct code recommendations that wasn’t probably in the original scope of making direct recommendations of how we achieve these things,” said Parker.
Parker says the enhanced outreach that’s being offered by Freese and Nichols is also a big part of why they were selected. He says they have to reach as many people as possible as part of this process.
“With COVID, we are still trying to make sure that we are reaching as many people as possible because this comprehensive plan or this downtown plan do not work if you do not have input from your community and that’s one of the things that really stood out from the proposal with Freese and Nichols is the outreach they do but we want to make sure with people coming back from COVID, that we have a lot of different options but these plans if done properly can be game changers for your community,” said Parker.
If done properly, may be the key words in that statement. City officials say these kinds of plans shouldn’t just sit on a shelf collecting dust. Parker says getting community support and input are crucial to making sure that the plans become a reality.
“We have to have that input because we really want to know how we are going to grow, where we are going to grow and what things we want to see in our community in making sure that we are preserving those things like our history and those types of things. All those things will come into play. Where we want our industrial property? Where we want our commercial property? So, those types of things need a lot of community input because if this doesn’t work, we don’t have it so I am really excited about the team we chose and the future of this project so I’m really excited that it is going to go well,” said Parker.
The downtown master plan will focus on the future of the downtown historic district and how the city can continue to enhance that area, which serves as the city’s hub. The comprehensive plan is a major undertaking that takes a look at every potential aspect of the city’s future. Freese and Nichols is being hired to complete both the downtown master plan and the larger comprehensive plan for the city.
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