Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Downtown Activation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Staff outlines Oxford downtown activation lessons; council urges quick, visible steps and parking solutions
Summary
City development staff presented lessons from Oxford, Mississippi, showing how balconies, expanded outdoor dining, consolidated trash enclosures and metered parking helped downtown activation; councilmembers emphasized parking and quick ‘low-hanging fruit’ projects to maintain momentum.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Murfreesboro staff briefed the City Council on findings from a visit to Oxford, Mississippi, that showed how physical changes — balconies, expanded outdoor dining, alley trash enclosures and parking meters funding a parking garage — helped downtown activation in that city.
A staff presenter opened by asking the council about the city’s highest revenue-per-acre district and said the historic downtown generates more revenue per acre than retail chains. He highlighted several Oxford approaches: adding porches and balconies that expand usable square footage, licensing balconies in public rights-of-way with structural checks, converting curb parking into outdoor dining and leasing the improved sidewalks back to tenants, and creating zone-based trash enclosures with compaction and wash-down capability.
Staff noted Oxford financed a parking garage using meter revenue collected downtown. “They had already generated about $800,000 year to date,” a presenter said, describing meter collections used to finance a garage that addressed increased parking demand.
Council discussion focused on parking as a central constraint to downtown activation. Several members stressed that relocating some government services off the square could free space for private downtown activity and make parking a more viable solution. Councilmembers suggested town halls for downtown stakeholders, using the KDGI downtown study as a roadmap, and identifying quick, visible projects to “keep the ball rolling.”
Staff said next steps include using the KDGI downtown study as a road map, meeting business owners and stakeholders, and forming needs assessments for buildings (egress, sprinklers, shared egress, parking and safety). Staff emphasized they were not asking for council decisions at the workshop and sought to plant ideas for future actions.
No formal council action or funding decision was taken at the meeting; the presentation was informational and councilmembers asked staff to return with more targeted options and implementation steps.
