Draft Old Town Revitalization plan offers five catalytic projects; adoption pushed to August

City staff and consultants presented the draft Old Town Revitalization Plan at a June 30 joint workshop of the Pearland City Council and Planning & Zoning Commission, describing a package of policy recommendations, mobility improvements, utilities upgrades and five catalytic redevelopment concepts intended to revive the city’s Old Town district.

The city’s director of community development, Vance Wiley, opened the Old Town portion of the workshop and said staff had decided to push formal adoption to August to give council and the community more time to review the draft. “We have opted to push adoption to the August,” Wiley said, explaining the extra digesting time for elected officials and staff.

Nut graf: The draft plan combines place‑making, land‑use guidance, mobility changes and infrastructure upgrades to make Old Town more walkable and economically active. The plan identifies priority redevelopment sites, recommends streetscape and trail connections, proposes a pedestrian overpass across the active railroad at Jasmine, and lays out five “big ideas” that range from low‑cost public‑space changes to long‑term mixed‑use redevelopment requiring partnerships and possible property assembly.

Outreach and context

Consultants from Olsen said outreach included a project website, an online survey, stakeholder meetings and pop‑ups; the consultant reported roughly 2,800 online survey responses. Wiley said the city had put the draft in front of about 33,000 people but the transcript did not specify the exact number of direct responses that came from city outreach lists. The presentation described work by planning, transportation and engineering subconsultants and noted coordination with utility and stormwater studies.

Recommended frameworks and big ideas

The plan is organized into six frameworks: land use and character; mobility and connectivity; utilities and infrastructure; placemaking and public spaces; development and redevelopment; and implementation. Key technical recommendations included 7.8 miles of sidewalk replacement or new sidewalks, new shared‑use paths on Grand, Orange, Makawa and Main, and a proposed pedestrian overpass at Jasmine across the railroad tracks to link neighborhoods to proposed activity centers.

The draft lays out five catalytic “big ideas”: - Depot district (Big Idea 1): Reinvigorate a rail‑adjacent site with a relocated depot feature or interpretation, a multi‑use welcome/event center, flexible office/tech space, a small amphitheater and family amenities such as a splash pad and playground. - Grand Boulevard festival street (Big Idea 2): Reconstruct Grand Boulevard to create a festival street and pedestrian spine with widened sidewalks, landscaping and the ability to convert the roadway for events; include a centrally located parking area and pedestrian amenities. - Southeast mixed‑use site (Big Idea 3): Private‑led mixed‑use development adjacent to the post office with trail connections, playfields and active‑use amenities for residents. - Reimagined Broadway/Main Street (Big Idea 4): Convert Broadway into a pedestrian‑oriented main street (one or two travel lanes, on‑street parking, cycle track and storefront activation) while widening Walnut to a five‑lane urban cross section to handle through traffic. Consultants described this as a long‑term option intended to prioritize pedestrian activity in Old Town. - South Junction (Big Idea 5): A family‑oriented public realm south of Broadway with parks and programming to attract regular visitation.

Consultants emphasized that the Broadway/Main Street vision is a long‑term, people‑first redevelopment approach with analogues such as Lancaster Boulevard (CA) that showed major public and private reinvestment after conversion.

Council and public questions

Councilmembers and commissioners raised questions about right‑of‑way needs, potential property acquisition, utility capacity and stormwater, emergency‑services access and the effects on businesses and residents. Staff noted Baxter & Woodman completed utility and stormwater assessments and recommended measures including closing water‑system dead ends and considering regional detention in some locations. Asked whether Walnut would be turned over to TxDOT if its function changed, staff said that would require a separate negotiation with TxDOT and is not automatic.

A member of the public, Roy Johnson, introduced himself as a property owner in Old Town and asked about opportunities for Q&A; staff told him they would meet after the presentation to discuss his questions.

Implementation guidance

The draft recommends a mix of strategies to implement the plan: targeted public investments to catalyze private redevelopment, use of Chapter 380 economic incentives or other PEDC tools, exploration of public‑private partnerships for parking and amenities, and the creation of a dedicated management entity to oversee streetscape and public‑space maintenance. Consultants recommended staging projects so near‑term pedestrian and streetscape improvements support longer‑term redevelopment.

Ending: Staff said adoption would be delayed to August to give council and the public more time to review the draft and to permit additional outreach and financial/engineering follow‑up on high‑impact projects.