During a meeting held on Tuesday, August 15th, the EP City Council approved to allow administration to move forward with the planning of 5 Main Street Master Plan Projects including the design phase for a Downtown Central Plaza, revitalizing the city's Riverwalk, Additional Lighting along Main St., and Parking Meter System.
During the meeting, Economic Development Director Arturo Marquez presented a request to proceed with these projects as soon as possible; to have them ready before April of 2024.
Marquez explained that the Central Plaza project has been in the works for sometime and that negotiations with IBC Bank to acquire their parking lot have been ongoing and are near completion. As far as the design concept, the City and IBC Bank will be involved in deciding.
"I am all for these projects. Let's get them all done, if possible before April 2024," said Mayor Rolando Salinas.
The city council and administration including City Manager Ivan Morua discussed the ideas and agreed that if they wanted to see these projects done, they must move on the design and planning phase immediately.
As far as the Riverwalk, a community gem that has not been fully utilized for decades, a water pump system will be installed and beautification of the area will also be initiated.
The City will also be adding more hanging lights along the 300 and 400 block of Main St. as part of the beautification project. This area has become extremely popular with people who use it for nighttime photographs.
For year's, the city has recognized that an upgrade in the parking meter system downtown is much needed. The Eagle Pass City Council and administration has agreed that they must begin the process to change into a more modern system and will begin exploring it in the coming months.
The revitalization of our downtown area is a concept that began several years ago and is now taking shape.
The city's heart in the past was the downtown area with businesses such as the Aztec Theatre, Newberrys, Riskinds, Mundens, Kress and many other local shops that made it the place to shop.
Arturo Marquez and the City Council are now focused in bringing that concept back, but with a tourist attraction feel to it.
"This is just the beginning of what we have planned for the downtown area and our commnunity," Mayor Salinas said.