Council briefed on 'Brighten Up the Boulevard' matching grant to encourage commercial holiday lights

City staff on Sept. 3 presented a proposed grant program to help Colleyville businesses add commercial‑grade holiday lighting along the city’s main commercial corridor, with staff asking the council to approve a consent resolution later in the evening to authorize marketing of the program.

Assistant City Manager Adrienne Lothree described the “Brighten Up the Boulevard” proposal as a two-to-one matching grant that would reimburse participating businesses for eligible lighting purchases. Lothree said staff proposed seeding the program with $50,000 for its first year, offering up to $5,000 per shopping center and up to $2,000 per individual business.

Lothree said the program would focus on a consistent, warm‑white commercial look designed to complement the city’s median tree lights along the corridor. She told the council the program’s scoring would favor installations that outline rooflines and building façades with commercial‑grade bulbs rather than small residential strands, and that supplemental landscape or pole wraps could be considered but would not be the primary focus.

Administration and eligibility: Staff proposed that the city’s existing Beautification Committee vet applications and that grant awards operate on a reimbursement basis—applicants would buy eligible materials, submit documentation and then be reimbursed after staff verification. Lothree said staff would try to turn applications around quickly, given the seasonal timing for holiday installation.

Council questions and constraints: Council members asked whether funds would be better split into smaller increments to assist more small businesses and whether the program can accommodate tenant-level installations where the building owner does not want to participate. Lothree said the program was intended to incentivize full building outlines and therefore would generally require building-owner agreement; staff said the city would not fund installations that create a dispute between tenant and landlord and that the program requires a multiyear commitment by recipients to purchase, store and reuse lights in future seasons.

Scope and next steps: Lothree said the initial program would concentrate on the city’s Route 26 commercial corridor (referred to in the presentation as the “26 Corridor”), while noting existing holiday lighting takes place downtown and in the Village. She said staff would bring the consent resolution later in the evening to authorize marketing and application intake and that the council could expand funding or change parameters in subsequent years if demand warrants it.