Douglas Downtown Revitalization

The Downtown Streetscape project represents a strong collaborative effort between the City of Douglas, J2 Design, downtown business owners, and community members. The City has hosted two open houses, performed online, paper, and in-person surveys, and held public meetings to seek community input. This synergy ensures a well-rounded approach, reflecting the needs, values, and aspirations of the community.

The City of Douglas has expended $80,035.22, to date, toward the 30% design of this project. J2 presented four design concepts to the Mayor and Council, incorporating feedback gathered from the community. During a Special Meeting held on May 1, 2024, the Mayor and Council selected a final concept and directed staff to proceed with obtaining a 30% Design Concept Report from J2.

The final concept contains the following improvements:

The main configuration of the street would include 15-foot-0-inches Northbound and Southbound lanes and 17-foot-6-inches angled parking on both sides of the street. Included in the on-street angled parking is a minimum of (3) three accessible parking spaces per block, including 1 dedicated purple heart reserved parking space. The angled parking on the west side of the street is replaced with 3 parallel parking spaces in front of the Hotel Gadsden property to facilitate a drop-off and pick-up zone. The final concept does not include a center turn lane, the space previously allocated to the center turn lane was instead distributed between the travel lanes and the sidewalk zones. The 17-foot-6-inch sidewalk zones represented in the final concept are just wide enough to support possible on-street dining patios and still maintain an accessible sidewalk. Enhanced hardscape treatments would only occur in the crosswalk and driveway zones. Each corner would include pedestrian bump-outs to achieve a shorter and safer crosswalk. The final concept also features bump-outs at existing fire hydrant locations which correlate to where accessible parking stalls would be located. The final concept would preserve the existing street tree system and introduce no additional trees to the streetscape. A new 1-inch water meter and backflow preventer would be installed on each side of the roadway for the landscape irrigation system.

At the July Regular Council Meeting, the Mayor and Council reviewed the final draft of the City of Douglas Downtown Streetscape Master Plan Design Concept Report. They directed staff to proceed with the project to 100% design and awarded J2 the contract for full engineering and design completion.

The project limits encompass G Avenue from 9th Street to 12th Street and 10th Street from G Avenue to D Avenue.

Initiated by a 2008 University of Arizona connectivity study at the request of our city, the recommendations of this study revealed that our historic downtown was due for a much-needed enhancement. Calling for improvements for safety, economic, and accessibility reasons. As time progressed and different administration priorities were met, a 2011 Downtown Douglas Revitalization Plan was created. This plan lays out the steps needed to make this community dream come to fruition.

Fast forward to October 2019, the City of Douglas held a community workshop where participants were asked to provide their opinions on a range of streetscape design elements and relevant considerations within a visual preference survey. The purpose of the workshop was to help guide the direction of design elements into one that is supported by the community. Meeting participants were asked to rank their preferences regarding thirteen different streetscape elements. In total, thirty surveys were completed and submitted for analysis. View Survey Results from the October 2019 Community Workshop (PDF).

The subsequent survey results and analysis were used to publish a Requested for Proposal for Downtown Streetscape Design Build in March 2020. The contract was then awarded to J2 Engineering and Environmental Design (J2 Design) in September 2020.

In March 2022, the City of Douglas, with J2 Design, hosted a public input meeting to gather feedback from the community on a conceptual design created through a collaborative public participation and outreach process through community stakeholder meetings. In addition to the public meeting, the City of Douglas published a community survey with the intent of receiving commentary on the conceptual streetscape design from residents unable to attend the public input meeting. The responses from the event and survey were used to assess the applicability of innovations in urban design and potential streetscape improvements. See Survey responses (PDF).

The results from the public input meeting were later presented to the Mayor & Council. Mayor and Council requested alternative designs for the streetscape before giving direction to proceed. The design team worked to develop alternatives to then seek direction from the Mayor and Council direction.

In September 2022, two more concepts were brought to the Mayor and Council, and public input was sought and received. The Mayor and Council stated they would continue to study the concepts and review public commentary, while staff worked toward funding plans and strategies. The final quarter of 2022 was the time staff focused on project budgeting and preparation of grants and funding packages.

In May 2023, staff submitted a $2.9 million funding request under the Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) program for the Downtown Streetscape Project.

In December 2023, the Mayor and Council met in a retreat setting to discuss the Downtown Streetscape Project. Everything was reviewed starting with the 2008 and 2011 studies and the recent design concepts with J2. Also reviewed was the community's input gathered through social media, in-person meetings, town halls, and survey results. Consensus was gathered on various key aspects of the design concepts and direction was provided to staff to work with J2 on a modified design that incorporated improved disabled parking, purple heart reserved parking spaces, expanded sidewalks but modified to a lesser expansion, and many of the other proposed features. Staff will return to the Mayor and Council with a final recommendation, based on their direction at the retreat.

In March of 2024, the City was notified that the House and Senate Appropriations Committee released and passed the nearly $500 billion bill which was signed by President Biden and included the $2.9 million for the Douglas Streetscape Project request.

Staff will return to the Mayor and Council with a final proposed design concept in May 2024 and begin the engineering phase of the project.

2008 Initial UofA Connectivity Study

• At the request of our city.
• The study called for improvements for safety, economic, and accessibility reasons.

2019

October - Community workshop with assistance from Cochise County

2020

• February - Resolution adopting 2010-2011 study
• March - RFP issued for Design Build
• November - RFP bid award to J2 (scope of work 30% design Pan Am to 5th Street)

2021

• January - Douglas Infill and Downtown Revitalization Strategy (City, GSA and EPA) Internal meetings with J2
• November - Virtual stakeholder meetings

2022

• March - Public Meeting at the Gov't Center, Community Survey, CDS Funding Request
• September- Streetscape Update Presentation to Council (request to seek alternative designs)
  • Fall - Alternative design, project budgeting

2023

• March - CDS Funding Request (pending)
• April - Public Input Survey on design concepts
• June/July - Meetings with Downtown Businesses

2024

• March - Senate Appropriations Committee passes bill including $2.9 million for the Douglas Streetscape Project
• May - Mayor and Council final proposed design concept meeting