College Station City Council formalized an updated strategic plan

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – College Station City Council updated its strategic plan.

Back in February, they held a retreat to talk about improving the strategic plan for 2024. The city council then updated the plan during a council meeting on March 28th.

Vibrant-forward thinking and knowledge-based are words the city council wants people to associate with College Station. By adding and subtracting some items on their strategic plan they’re hoping to get closer to achieving that goal. The updated plan is looking at some projects that didn’t get off the ground last year.

After soil issues forced the original plan for baseball fields to be scrapped, College Station City Council member Place 1, Mark Smith, says they’re reevaluating.

“Let’s not let that just sit there. Let’s look at options, let’s look at keeping some momentum behind that project. Since the ball fields had to be scrapped, do we have some alternatives that we need to look at,” said Smith.

“We want to definitely make a point to reiterate how committed to the baseball fields we are because that fell through. With that falling through, we added the Southeast Park on Rock Prairie because that is a park space that we needed to develop, that’s where the baseball fields were going to go. But we also wanted to recognize and to let the baseball community know we are still planning on putting the baseball fields somewhere, it’s now just a matter of where,” said College Station City Council member Place 2, William Wright.

Revitalizing is a theme for the City Council as they’re looking into redeveloping the Wolf Pen Creek corridor and reviving Post Oak Mall.

“It’s got so much potential and it’s just not using all of that potential and so I would like to see the city put some resources in there to help spark some interest, make that become more of a destination. And also to link that with Post Oak Mall and make Post Oak Mall alive again,” said Smith.

The plan for a combined Rec Center and Convention Center is now in limbo.

“Last year, we had the thought that it would be a combined conference and convention center and kill two birds with one stone or get a bigger building that would have multi-purpose. As of right now, because of the studies we are doing, that idea is off the table so we decided to update the strategic plan to reflect that,” said Wright.

While the city has long been on the hunt for a convention center, Smith says they want to be sure the money is there before moving forward.

“We have a consultant that’s looking into that topic. Is a Conference Center something that’s financially feasible in College Station?” said Smith. “I’d like to see whether or not that kind of project is feasible in College Station, and if so, I do think that there’s room for that here,” said Smith.

The City Council also highlighted bringing more high-quality, stable jobs.

“That’s something that our community could really use and that’s just the idea of getting with our economic development folks and doing some hard looks and what kind of industries, and businesses should we target our efforts on that can bring that kind of job,” said Smith.

While the strategic plan always aimed to promote pedestrian and bicycle safety, the updated plan includes making sure sidewalks contribute to that goal.

“Sidewalks are always something that we want. We talked about particular older parts of town that have no sidewalks, we’re looking for opportunity there and sidewalks are one of those things that can just make the quality of life better,” said Smith.

The strategic plan outlines what the council wants to focus on for the year, but they also say they value the public’s voice and encourage the public to give their input.

“One person’s voice can alter the strategic plan. If there’s a person in the community that feels strongly about, they should come to talk to us because we take those into account,” said Wright. “The strategic plan is like a living document, it is very changeable and it’s very influential so I’d like people to tell us our thoughts and what they’d like to see for the future.”

Cs Coun 032824 Coun Strat Plan by KBTX on Scribd

CScoun032824CounStratPlanPrez by KBTX on Scribd