Beautification

Decatur's City Center is the heart and cornerstone of our community. The vitality of our downtown business district and its appearance should offer a favorable impression to visitors and residents alike. After all, it is the "front door" of our community. Many good programs have been proposed or are underway to improve the appearance of the Decatur area. The following projects and programs will form the nucleus of a Beautification strategy for Decatur's City Center in the coming years.

Goals for this project as outlined in the strategic plan are:

  • Complete the Streetscape Plan for the City Center through appropriations requests, grant writing and lobbying for city/county participation
  • Develop and implement a landscape plan for 6th Avenue from the river bridge to 11th Street
  • Develop and implement park-like landscaping plans for all the city and county parking lots in the City Center. Pocket Parks
  • Establish permanent markers at each of the five entranceways into Decatur
  • Support the arts in public places program in the City Center including restoring historic painted advertising on buildings, and promotion of the downtown mural project
  • Support completion of the Bicycle Trail

Streetscape

The Streetscape Project is a detailed plan for enhancing the beauty of historic downtown Decatur, Alabama, with the goal of increasing interest and attracting development. Early in 2008, work on the Streetscape plan began with the removal of several old crepe myrtles in a parking lot on Lee Street. The trees, which have been replaced by new white Natchez crepe myrtles, were instrumental to the Downtown Redevelopment Authority's Streetscape Plan because of their location between the two main downtown districts.

Other proposed elements of the Streetscape project include:

  • Extensive landscaping and street improvements along a corridor that runs through Decatur's two downtown districts
  • Develop and provide conceptual drawings of building facades and landscaping plans for empty lots in order to encourage interest by developers
PHASE 1: Second Avenue
  • Expand angled parking
  • Add trees and landscaping
  • Benches, planters, lighting, trash receptacles
  • Enhanced pavement features
  • Pocket Parks
PHASE 2: Lower Bank Street
  • Convert lower Bank Street from four lanes to two lanes, add a brick median, and widen the sidewalks
  • Convert parallel parking spaces into angled parking
  • Add trees and landscaping
  • Benches, planters, lighting, trash receptacles
PHASE 3: Lee Street and Lower Bank Street
  • Add trees and landscaping
  • Benches, planters, lighting, trash receptacles
  • Pocket Park

Members of the Authority, as well as other city officials, chamber members, and residents, were able to see first-hand the impact that streetscape projects can have on a downtown area. In 2007, the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce sponsored a trip to Greenville, S.C., a city similar to Decatur. Greenville's long-term downtown redevelopment plan also began with streetscape projects, such as planting new trees and widening the sidewalks. In the past 10 years, Greenville's downtown area has been transformed into a bustling retail, arts and hospitality hub.