Design Downtown Denton

Our City Council has appointed a diverse and talented group of Downtown Denton stakeholders (see list below) to the Advisory Group to help guide the Design Downtown Denton plan update process.

On September 14^th, the Advisory Group met for the first time with Staff and the City's consultants from Mend Collaborative. The first discussion covered roles and responsibilities, a project overview, developing the vision and “Case for Action” for Downtown Denton, the plan for public engagement, and ways that the Advisory Group can participate in and assist with public engagement. Advisory Group members provided extensive feedback to help guide Staff and consultants as we move forward with public engagement, data gathering, and setting the initial vision for the plan.

The Advisory Group will be holding their second meeting in late November.

On August 15, 2023, the City Council approved a resolution authorizing the creation of an Advisory Group to provide feedback and to participate in the public engagement for the Design Downtown Denton plan. With the same resolution the City Council approved the following individuals to serve on the Advisory Group:

On July 19, 2023, the project team (staff and consultant team) kicked off the project with a Site Visit of Downtown in the morning. After the Site Visit, the project team hosted a kickoff meeting with key staff members representing various City departments. The kickoff meeting included a project overview presentation to inform attendees the purpose, scope and schedule of the project. Attendees then participated in a vision setting exercise that required participants to use their phone to answer questions - with the results being presented live for everyone to see. A summary of the Site Visit and vision setting exercise is being prepared by the consultant team and will be shared with the staff at a later date. Later in the afternoon, the consultant team began a series of stakeholder interviews, followed by conducting fieldwork and door-to-door business owner surveys.

On July 20, 2023, the consultant team continued their stakeholder interviews, fieldwork and door-to-door business owner surveys. In the afternoon, the project team held a recap meeting to discuss what heard and observed so far. In the evening, the staff led a walking tour around the Downtown. The intent was to share with the consultant teams a personal tour of areas within Downtown from a pedestrian perspective. Key members of the business community, residents, and Police Officers joined in the walking tour.

On July 21, 2023, the consultant team conducted more stakeholder interviews in the morning before concluding their visit to Denton.

Following the consultant's visit, several team management meetings have been held and data collection is currently in progress.