The City of Chattahoochee, in partnership with the Apalachee Regional Planning Council (ARPC), is currently in the final stages of developing a new streetscape improvement concept plan for U.S. 90 (Washington Street) in downtown Chattahoochee. Development of this concept plan, which is an established goal of Chattahoochee’s Strategic Community Vision Plan, is funded through a Community Planning Technical Assistance Grant awarded by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO).
Two public Chattahoochee City Council workshops were held on November 19 (2019) and February 18 (2020) to elicit community input regarding desired streetscape elements to be included in the concept plan. Initially, two alternative concepts were prepared following public comments provided at the November 19 workshop. These two alternative concepts were developed and then presented at the February 17 public workshop. During this second workshop, the two alternatives were narrowed down to one preferred concept.
On Tuesday, April 7, the preferred concept plan was presented to the City Council. The preferred concept is based on all community input received since inception of the project, as well as guidance from the Florida Department of Transportation, Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency (CRTPA), the Florida Dept. of State’s Division of Historical Resources, and other federal, state, and local organizations.
The new streetscape concept plan will serve to calm traffic, slow large trucks, naturally enforce the posted 25 mph speed limit, significantly increase on-street parking, widen sidewalks on both sides, provide for safer pedestrian crossings, enhance pedestrian-scale street lighting, improve traffic circulation and aesthetically beautify Chattahoochee’s downtown. An enhanced streetscape will also further the established Strategic Community Vision Plan goal to foster an 18-hour active downtown encouraging shops to stay open longer, promoting economic development and creating new opportunities for citizens to spend time in local businesses throughout the evening.
The presentation materials from the April 7 City Council meeting are available to the public for download on the City of Chattahoochee’s website chattgov.org.
Any questions or comments on the presentation materials can be sent directly to Ben Chandler at the Apalachee Regional Planning Council. The deadline for comments is April 24, 2020. Submit your questions and comments by email to bchandler@arpc.org.
Once all comments are received, they will be appropriately incorporated into the preferred design and presented to the City Council for adoption on May 5, 2020. Once adopted, the concept plan will serve as the foundation of future engineering design plans suitable for construction.
Digital renderings of the proposed streetscape plan below – click thumbnail to enlarge.
