FDEDC sets April 22 special work session to refine downtown project list
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Summary
Friendswood Downtown EDC agreed to schedule a special work session on April 22 at 2 p.m. for staff to present cost estimates and locations for planned downtown projects, including sidewalks, signage and lighting work, and to allow extended discussion beyond a regular meeting.
The Friendswood Downtown Economic Development Corporation agreed to hold a special work session on April 22 at 2 p.m. to continue discussion of planned and potential downtown projects.
The meeting will let staff present a compiled list of completed and potential projects with estimated costs and locations so the board can provide direction. That list, staff said, will include sidewalks to connect existing segments on FM 518, a potential branding and welcome-signage package near City Hall and Stephenson Park, and estimates for removal or burial of utility lines.
City staff member Steven Ray said, "City staff is gonna go and put together a list of projects, both completed and potential projects ... and kind of give a dollar amount if we do know of what it would take to accomplish and whether or not some of those projects have been completed." The extra session was proposed because board members said the scope of the discussion would likely exceed a normal meeting's time limits.
Rebecca Hillenburg, chair of the Friendswood Downtown Economic Development Corporation, urged maintaining momentum on the items the board has discussed. "We need to keep things in front of us so that they don't just sort of ... we walk by," she said.
Board members asked staff to collect the needed data before the April meeting; if staff can produce the information sooner a special session will proceed. The board agreed to place the April 22, 2025, 2:00 p.m. work session on the calendar and indicated the session could run past the usual end time if needed.
The session is intended as a working meeting to allow detailed review of estimates and to identify items that may require future budget amendments or separate action items. Staff said they will track which items would be immediate expenses and which could occur in the future, and will identify dependencies such as easements or third-party approvals (for example, from utility providers).
