A massive effort to reshape downtown Waco is on the fast track, and it’s not too late to give your input.
The city of Waco’s Downtown Waco Redevelopment Project is set to begin next year with the groundbreaking for the Barron’s Branch District, a “live-work-play” development along a manmade creek and plaza between Jefferson and Washington avenues.
It is the first of four planned districts spanning more than a 100 downtown acres with an estimated public and private investment of $2.8 billion over the next two decades.
A new draft document offers the most detailed picture yet of how the redevelopment will transform the use, look and feel of downtown.
The draft includes a set of “form-based codes” intended to guide developers toward that vision. It also includes renderings of live-work townhomes with ground-floor retail, as well as elaborate public spaces and practical design touches plucked from cities across the country, presenting Waco as a city on the move.
Form-based code also allows the city to bake in design and style touches in service of the project’s overall vision of a “vibrant, walkable downtown space,” said Tom Balk, the city’s director of strategic initiatives.
Some of those design details include stoops and shaded porches for residential building types such as townhomes. Arched passageways known as arcades make an appearance in the draft code, as do elevated decks or galleries one might associate with Jefferson, Texas; or New Orleans. Shaded common areas is a theme running through many of the proposed frontage types.
City officials are seeking public comment by Sept. 1 on the documents. Comments can be sent to info@wacodowntownredevelopment.com.
Here are a few key takeaways from that plan to get you started.
A vertical future
Project officials say buildings have to get taller if downtown Waco is to see a significant increase in housing, office space and the foot traffic that comes with that increased density.
That’s why high-rises are sketched in for several areas across the redevelopment, said Matt Goebel of Goebel Partners, who presented the draft code to the city’s plan commission last month.
How high could those high-rises be? “Around 150 feet or so,” Goebel said. For reference, that’s about half as high as the ALICO building, or nine to 12 stories.
High-rises would anchor the Barron’s Branch District between Fourth Street and the Brazos River, including the former Indian Spring Middle School track. The planned Barron’s Branch creek walk would snake between multistory buildings on its way toward the Brazos River.
Similar to the San Antonio Riverwalk, the creek would feature a recirculating water feature atop a hidden drainage tunnel.
In a subsequent phase, the Waco Square District, the Heritage Plaza parking lot at the corner of Washington Avenue and Fourth Street also would allow for high-rises, though the plan for that area also puts emphasis on “places for gathering, ceremony and public life.”
Rethinking streets
The code also sketches out updated street designs to support what will likely be a busier, more populated downtown.
One of the street changes proposed is to University Parks Drive. Goebel said to expect the section between Jackson Avenue to Washington Avenue to become a “green boulevard” that extends the previous streetscaping by the Riverfront Lofts several more blocks. Residents can likely expect a slimmer road with a landscaped medium, but the final engineering details have yet to be hammered out.
As the road moves up toward Barron’s Branch and farther toward the proposed “ballpark district” at Waco Drive, it would taper and become a “local entertainment street,” Goebel said.
“These are intended to be much more pedestrian-friendly, much less car-focused, smaller scale, where you’re sitting outside of the restaurant and there’s patios, shops, shop fronts, things like that.”
Other streets in downtown could also get the “local entertainment street” treatment, including parts of Jefferson and Mary avenues, and occasionally see car traffic closed for special events.
Meanwhile, Waco Drive, Washington Avenue, Franklin Avenue and Fourth Street would continue to move cars quickly in and out of the city center.
Standardizing style
A new zoning concept would help shape all phases of the development.
Most cities in the U.S. divvy land into a rigid set of zones, prescribing a single use for the area, be it single-family homes, multi-family apartments or commercial and retail business.
“Form-based code” takes a step back from defining how every individual property must be used and harmonizes development by giving buildings shared traits, shapes and sizes.
In other words, “we don’t care as much about what you do within the building as long you get the form right,” Goebel said.
The idea is to make permitting straightforward for developers and the city by giving developers a clear “toolkit” to work off of before submitting plans for approval, said Tom Balk, Waco’s director of strategic initiatives.
Form-based code also allows the city to bake in design and style touches in service of the project’s overall vision: “A vibrant, walkable downtown space,” Balk said.
Some of those design details include stoops and shaded porches for residential building types such as townhomes. Arched passageways known as “arcades” make an appearance in the draft code, as do elevated decks or “galleries” one might associate with Jefferson, Texas; or New Orleans. Shaded common areas is a theme running through many of the proposed frontage types.
The form-based code has a separate function as well. It makes it easier for the city to abide by a recent law passed by the Legislature which prevents many commercial zones from prohibiting housing.
“Senate Bill 840 was kind of like taking the handcuffs off residential and saying, if it can be office or retail, it can be residential,” said Rodney Moss, senior vice president at the Hunt Development Group, the lead developer for the project.
Plan Commission queries
The Waco Plan Commission had plenty of questions after Goebel presented the draft code at a July 29 meeting.
Commission member Taylor Allen worried that the combination of form-based code and Senate Bill 840 might make it difficult to achieve the proper mix of businesses. “Is there a scenario in which we end up with 100 hotels?” he asked.
Goebel responded that designing flexibility into the building types would allow individual properties to adapt to changing needs, or evolve to reflect the character of the district if they don’t to begin with. The draft code also sets out a list of approved uses based on the district’s character, which could be adjusted in future drafts.
Member Thomas Ellis fretted about the potential loss of parking as lots are developed.
“The last thing I’d like to do is go down to Austin or Dallas and spend 30 or 40 minutes looking for parking,” he said.
Moss, the Hunt Development VP, responded that “surface parking is never the best use of land and to densify downtown and make it a creative place, surface parking is antithetical to that.”
However, he said three garages are planned for the perimeter of the downtown project area to supplement parking lost to development.
Residents weigh in
Before the Plan Commission convened in the Waco Convention Center’s Bosque Theater, community members milled about the lobby where digital renderings of the project were arrayed on display stands. City officials filtered through the crowd taking questions.
“Development in Waco is an exciting prospect insofar as it’s driven by the needs and the desires and the visions of the community,” said Lee Scheffe, a community organizer with Grassroots Waco who was attending out of personal interest.
He found the Barron’s Branch district intriguing because it promised to resurrect the long-buried creek for which the district owes its name.
“In that way, it’s actually a light on the history and people of Waco,” Scheffe said.
Heaven Diaz, a member of the city’s Sustainable Resource Practices Advisory Board, worried about the inverse happening: New developments leading to the erasure of Waco history. “I just want to find out where we’re looking to redevelop, what’s going to be removed and what’s going to be in place of that removal.”
Bill Collins, who owns Mama and Papa B’s BBQ at 525 S. Eighth St., felt the redevelopment project represented a healthy risk.
“We could come in and have all types of reasons why we shouldn’t do something, but I see this as movement, as growth … and it’s better than sitting around doing nothing,” Collins said.
He encouraged other residents to participate in future public information events to help shape the outcome.
“We’re bringing people together, bringing the community together to have input on what’s going to be the future Waco,” he said.
