Lewisville City Council met on Monday, Jan. 23 to go over the SH 121 Business Corridor Plan Scope, which identifies issues and opportunities for the city in the area.
Business 121 was originally a part of SH 121, but in 1999, SH 121 was rerouted and SH 121 Business was created. With the opening of DFW International Airport in 1974, growth along the corridor took off in the 1970s and 1980s, but the city didn’t adopt a General Development Ordinance until 1989. Most of the commercial development is legal-nonconforming based on the city’s current ordinances as they have adapted over time.
Some of the issues that have been identified include lack of bike and pedestrian infrastructure and safety, safety for vehicle traffic, higher rates or crime, perception of the corridor as unsafe and undesirable, legal non-comforming structures and uses, lack of lighting, and lack of maintenance.
“We do have heavy trucking traffic that comes through the corridor so we want to be aware of that,” said Michele Berry, Planning Manager for the City of Lewisville’s Planning and Zoning Department. “We also want to be aware of all the lights and the signals, the timing, the traffic flows because that still is important.”
SH Business 121 also has been designated as a recognized food desert, there are drainage maintenance issues, property maintenance issues, aesthetic issues, and excess pavement.
Potential opportunities for SH Business 121 include creating a visual entry to the Green Centerpiece, changing traffic patterns with Corporate Drive Extension, establishing and building partnerships with TxDOT, Lewisville ISD, the Denton County Transit Authority, and apartment communities, beautifying the city and changing the perception of Lewisville for visitors, and positioning for federal and state funding opportunities.
“In 2013, we did our first assessment,” Berry said. “In 2018, we went back and looked at that again and updated it. We found a lot of properties were legal non-comforming. They had just been approved at a time when they didn’t have to meet our current landscaping standards and there weren’t any building material standards.”
The current proposed plan goals is to develop action steps to improve the safety for all users, encourage reinvestment and redevelopment, and beautify the corridor. The proposed plan scope is the entire length of the 121 corridor within city limits, which is over eight miles and staff is proposing to break the corridor down into at least three subareas.
The anticipated plan timeline is for planning staff to publish the Request For Qualifications (RFQ) in February, select a consultant and sign a contract in March, and kick-off the project in the spring around May. The project is anticipated to take 12 to 18 months.
Proposed plan deliverables include actionable short and long term steps for physical changes and policies, one or two catalytic sites for reinvestment analyzed, concepts for pedestrian, bike, and traffic safety improvements, the possibility of an ArcGIS Urban model of corridor to allow for modeling visualizations for attracting redevelopment, and funding and grant strategies.
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Arianna Morrison is a reporter for Star Local Media, covering the communities of The Colony, Little Elm, Carrollton, Lewisville, Flower Mound and Coppell. Email her with story ideas and more at amorrison@starlocalmedia.com.
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