After three days of gathering community input and ideas, the Toole Design Group team spent last night and will spend today working on a redesign plan for Downtown West, the City of Sulphur Springs‘ latest downtown improvement project. Tonight, Ian Lockwood and the Toole Design team will reveal their Downtown West redesign concept.
Lockwood too came to town several years back to help with the original downtown redesign, which included Connally and Main Streets with Celebration Plaza as the crowning jewel of the project. The Toole Design Group gave a presentation Monday evening with some ideas and guidance to begin the process for the area from the police department to Mulberry, Van Sickle and Rogers Streets to the railroad tracks near the Brewery.
Community members spent about 30 minutes planning in small groups of 3-6 and talking with Toole team members. Then, a spokesperson from each of at least a dozen tables was asked to share the values they came up with as well as ideas and things they think the projects needs or that they would like to see in the redesign.
Several community members signed up ahead of time for appointments over the last two days to speak with the team of designers. Open studio time was also offered for two hours each day for anyone to stop by and talk with the designers and share their ideas, concerns and vision for Downtown West. Toole Design Group members reported more people attended the Wednesday open studio than on Tuesday. Shortly before the end of the open session July 21 the design crew was excited to begin really working on a design presentation.
Lockwood and the Toole Design Group’s big unveiling of the proposed Downtown West redesign will begin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 22, 2021, inside the HW Grays Building in Pacific Park. All are invited to attend. The session is expected to last until around 7 p.m.
