City of Hearne looking for residents to help revitalize downtown

HEARNE, Texas (KBTX) – As the City of Hearne continues to grow, city leaders hope revitalizations will entice new businesses and create a more vibrant area.

The city held a public hearing on Thursday to tell residents about some of its plans and see if they would be willing to help. Plans include beautifying public and empty spaces, adding murals, working on parking, business incentives, diversifying economic uses, creating living spaces, and more.

City Manager Alonzo Echavarria said this could also include expanding the downtown area.

The public hearing allowed the city to start getting people together who want to help get that plan together, Echavarria said. He added that the city will have to move fast.

“Right now, it’s critical because businesses are coming in like never before, new businesses are opening and it’s critical because if we don’t take care of these items right now, downtown isn’t going to develop the way we want it,” Echavarria said.

One resident who is on the business standard committee, Allen Wilkerson, said a large priority is blighted buildings.

“Abandoned buildings, businesses that aren’t doing anything just storage facilities and trying to get people to get things going fixing things up, cleaning it up,” Wilkerson said.

On top of revitalization efforts, Echavarria said the city is also looking at holding monthly events. One event could be similar to Bryan’s First Friday.

“We don’t have an official name for it, but we do plan to have a monthly event like what other cities have. I think this is something that is going to help us develop downtown even more,” Echavarria said.

Echavarria said feedback is going to be very important to the city when it comes to making decisions.

“They are going to let us know what kind of downtown they want, what kind of businesses they want in town and they’re going to help us develop this plan. This is a big project and it usually requires surveys and the feedback of so many members,” Echavarria said.

Wilkerson said he knows a lot of people have ideas, however, they don’t know how to go about it, but he hopes these new committees will be able to help with that.

“It’s a growing place we had a lot of business come in, we’re looking for more, we’re looking for more investors there’s housing being built here, there’s plans for multiple housing and units being built so we’re just cruising along keeping business going,” Wilkerson said.

A date for the first official meeting has not been set.