Shuffle Board

Center City studies plan for downtown

By Greg Rohloff
Business Correspondent

The board of Center City of Amarillo has tabled a vote until the end of this month on a proposal for a board to succeed the downtown development task force.

The Center City board will receive a recommendation from its executive committee, said William Ware, president of the Center City board.

The action was taken in a closed board meeting on Jan. 17.

The proposal, presented by Richard Brown, calls for the new board to succeed the Center City of Amarillo Fund Inc., task force, which sunsets in March, having fulfilled setting priorities for downtown projects aimed at revitalizing it as a business and residential district.

Brown is a member of the downtown task force and the head of the TIRZ Board.

Establishing the new entity requires approval from the boards of Center City and the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, the task force and the Amarillo City Commission.

So far, the TIRZ board has discussed the proposal without taking a vote on it, and task force members have received a copy of the proposal for review.

In its proposed state, the board would be smaller than the task force and would employ an executive director to guide the city's downtown development.

It also would be a private entity even though its director would be paid with money from TIRZ, Center City and the city budget.

In explaining the Center City board's actions, Ware said that the board had given positive feedback to the proposal and did not raise any dissent.

The Center City executive commission includes Ware; Executive Director Beth Duke; Past President Jake Sadler; President-elect Billy Krause; Secretary Linda Vaughn; Treasurer and Rico Soto.

The City Commission has retained a consultant to guide the first priority, the development of a downtown convention hotel.

That action, both Ware and Brown agreed in an interview after the Center City board meeting, does not mean that the new board and a development officer are not needed. Instead, both commented on how pleased they were that the Commission was acting now to move forward with the downtown development plan rather than waiting.

The downtown revitalization plan prepared by architectural consultant James Toal of Fort Worth is on the city of Amarillo's Web site and can be accessed at http://www.ci.amarillo.tx.us/departments/planning/pdf/DowntownActionPlan.pdf.

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Posted: January 24, 2008