PART THREE · PHASES & YOUR VOICE
Six phases. Each requires written City authorization before the next begins.
Work does not proceed automatically. There are multiple points where the community can influence the direction — and the earlier you raise it, the more weight it carries.
PHASE ONE
Environmental clearance
Prior to design. Federal grant coordination by The Goodman Corporation. Cultural resources survey by Cypress Environmental with the Texas Historical Commission. NEPA Categorical Exclusion clearance.
PHASE TWO
Preliminary Design
Site visits, initial concepts, cost estimates, phasing plan. Preliminary Design Booklet (11×17″) with rendered plans, elevations, sections, and perspectives. Up to 26 weekly progress meetings.
PHASE THREE
Design Development
Begins only after City approval of Preliminary Design. Scope trimmed to items the City accepts within available funding. Material selection, detailed specs, refined budgets. Includes a presentation to the Industrial Development Corporation.
PHASE FOUR
Construction Documents
Begins only after City approval of Design Development. Signed and sealed construction documents at 1″ = 20′ scale on 22×34 sheets. Three packages. TDLR submission. Up to 16 biweekly meetings.
PHASE FIVE
Bidding
Three separate public bid packages. Up to three pre-bid conferences (one per package). Addenda, bid review, contract recommendation. Closing addendum for each package incorporates Value Engineering and cost-saving items.
PHASE SIX
Construction
For each of the three bid packages: pre-construction meeting, approximately 72 biweekly construction meetings, approximately 72 site visits, submittal and RFI management, substantial completion walkthrough, punch list, final completion.
WHERE YOUR VOICE SHAPES IT

The Stakeholder Engagement meetings will be as strong as the people sitting in them.

The design team’s scope currently defines the Bid Package B stakeholder group as “downtown property owners.” The City provides the list, sets the dates, notifies participants.

A streetscape designed only with input from property owners will look different from one informed by the full downtown stakeholder family. The complete group should include residents, merchants, property owners, community and arts organizations, and workforce representatives.

Advocating for this broader definition, through the City, is how the community shapes the stakeholder process itself.

Add Your Voice
THREE STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS — BID PACKAGE B

Three formal windows where Stakeholder Engagement input shapes the design.

MEETING ONE
Onset of design.
Gathering information and input from the stakeholder group to guide the design process. The earliest moment to shape what gets built.
MEETING TWO
End of Design Development.
Presenting what’s moving forward into Construction Documentation. Schedule update. Last meaningful chance to influence direction before construction starts.
MEETING THREE
Pre-construction.
Project update and a chance for business owners to ask questions and understand how construction will affect their properties.
STUDIED BUT NOT BUILT
Two categories are being investigated under this contract — but are not funded for implementation.
Seven additional trolley switch locations

HDR will conduct a State of Good Repair assessment on seven non-powered switches beyond the three being repaired:

1. Strand at 13th Street (previously powered)
2. Strand at 12th Street
3. 25th / Santa Fe to Maintenance Facility
4. 25th / Mechanic to Seawall (previously powered)
5. 25th onto Mechanic
6. Strand / 21st to Harborside
7. Strand / 22nd from Harborside

Written report and cost estimate delivered. Repair requires separate funding.

Stakeholder Recommendations Beyond Scope

The contract commits that “all recommendations emerging from stakeholder meetings beyond the scope of work will be incorporated into the design deliverables… subject to feasibility, budgetary considerations, and applicable regulatory requirements.”

That “subject to” language matters. Recommendations are taken seriously, but the final form depends on what’s buildable within the grant and the law.

The room in those meetings — and what gets said in them — shapes the project’s direction more than almost anything else.

THE DESIGN TEAM
Six firms collaborating on the project.
Landscape Architect (lead) Clark Condon
Federal grant administration The Goodman Corporation
Cultural resources survey Cypress Environmental
Trolley track & signal HDR
Topographic survey Kuo & Associates
Geotechnical report Terracon
WHAT TO WATCH
Decision points where attention matters.

Stakeholders Meeting group composition. Currently framed as property owners. Whether residents, merchants, and community reps are included is a City decision.

Meeting dates and locations. Set by the City; shapes who can attend.

Gas-to-electric lighting conversion. Under study.

Seven supplemental trolley switches. Assessment only — repair requires new funding.

Preliminary → Design Development gate. The City chooses what survives into the buildable list.

OPEN QUESTIONS
Questions the early months need to resolve.

Who is currently on the stakeholder list?

When will the first stakeholder meeting be scheduled?

Will residents, merchants, and community organizations be formally included — not only property owners?

Is a funding source being pursued for Bid Package C?

What is the schedule for the Preliminary Design booklet?

Which blocks will receive “extensive renovation” versus “minimal improvement”?

What are the proposed paving alternatives for Strand intersections?

What does the “study of gas lighting to electric” recommend?

How will downtown events and active businesses be protected during construction across three overlapping bid packages?

CONTINUE READING
Next: Outside This Scope.

Two priorities the neighborhood has raised — public restrooms and derelict building — are being addressed on parallel tracks. Both are moving.

Read Part Four