East Texas

UPDATE: The meeting scheduled for tonight has been postponed until Monday, Sept. 15, Whitehouse Community Development Director Mike Peterson told the Tyler Paper this afternoon.

By KELLY GOOCH
Staff Writer

WHITEHOUSE -- City planners will meet with citizens Thursday to discuss the development of the "town center."

Community Development Director Mike Peterson said there will be a presentation at the meeting on what downtown would eventually look like under the master plan, which includes the "town center" development.

However, he said the plan, often called the 2020 plan, is behind schedule, noting there have been more meetings than anticipated and much citizen input.

Although there have been other meetings, City Manager Ronny Fite said the purpose of Thursday's meeting is to discuss specific art design for the development area and what requirements the city would have for future structures that are built.

Fite said the area, which already has some development on it, probably spans 100 acres and is two blocks wide and four to five blocks long.

It reaches east on Farm-to-Market Road 346 from State Highway 110 until Bascom Road.

Citizens in Whitehouse have previously lobbied for more parks and sidewalks to be developed.

Planning consultant Chris Butler is scheduled to be at Thursday's meeting and has previously told the Tyler Morning Telegraph that the city has 1.77 acres of community parks, which is below what is recommended by planners nationwide.

Currently, the city's business zoning is broad, so they are working to re-write ordinances that would detail specific zoning requirements for potential developers, Fite said.

He said Whitehouse itself is not investing money to develop the site.

Talk of the development of the "town center" has been in the works for more than a year and Fite said the 2020 plan is now complete.

Peterson said construction on the "town center" development is probably a year out.

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the city council chambers, 311 E. Main St.