Perry DDA discusses revising downtown boundaries

Perry Downtown Development Authority met at the Perry Arts Center on Monday to discuss revising the boundaries of the city of Perry’s downtown area. Along with Board Chairman Dey Palmer, other members of the board who were present were Directors Kelly Gordon, Dawn Jerles, Marlon Rhodes, Tyler Medlin, and Economic Development Manager Ashley Hardin. The guest speakers in attendance, representing the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, were Director of Public Administration Greg Boike and Senior Government Services Specialist Susan Landfried.

Distributed by Landfried to the board members, were printed documents that Boike explained showed the current boundaries of Perry’s downtown area, and also included two different proposals to discuss regarding the recommended potential changes.

Hardin shared City Manager Lee Gilmour’s suggestions for taking out East Gate and the property behind it, due to the fact that East Gate is a new opportunity zone and may limit the possibilities for development because of particular growth restrictions that come with an opportunity zone. According to Hardin, Gilmour also suggested adding in Andrew Heights.

“I did speak with a property owner there that has three acres and some development plans, whether it’s commercial or residential,” Hardin reported to the board. “He’s redone several houses there and has an office there; so that’s something to consider if you guys do want to put Andrew Heights in.” Additionally, Hardin mentioned having a conversation with a DCA staff member last week and getting their thoughts on the matter of including residential properties in the downtown area. That DCA representative came to the conclusion that the consideration of residential properties could be a part of the overall plan.

Jerles stated that she was fine with taking out East Gate so as not to limit the development of the downtown district. “As for Andrew Heights,” she added, “I’m open to either way. We would want to schedule a meeting with property owners. We could probably meet here at the Arts Center during a two-hour lunch hour, and we could move forward that route to get feedback.”

A recommendation from Palmer was that the board members look at the plans, start at Macon Road, and discuss how boundary revisions might be drawn. “Let’s just talk about the areas where we want to adjust, divide, draw lines, etc.,” he suggested.

Lengthy dialogue followed in which a number of streets, businesses, churches and landmarks, such as railroad tracks, parks and the water treatment plant, were all considered as the plans for the revised downtown boundaries were thrashed out.

The topic of landmarks drew feedback from Main Street Coordinator Haley Bryant, who suggested that the cemetery be included in what was considered to be the downtown district. “So, the use of our downtown is also historic preservation,” Bryant pointed out. “Keeping in mind that partners like the Perry Historical Society might utilize [the cemetery] in a tourism aspect when we start to do the historical tourism and what not, we may also want to offer that as a part of the downtown district. That might be something to think about,” she expressed. “From a historic preservation outlook and perspective, I would recommend keeping it in there for that tourism piece. That’s just a Main Street recommendation.”

Following more discussion, ideas were captured, but no final plans were set in place. Hardin later told Houston Home Journal, “This was just for planning purposes. We will go through a public input session before there’s a final vote and take it before the planning commission. This isn’t official,” she reiterated. “We now want to go ahead and give the public a voice in the matter. We will move forward once we gather community feedback.”

The meeting with the public has not yet been scheduled. Hardin assured that information would be publicized as soon as it became available.

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