February 6, 2025

Abilene City Council Retreat: Paid parking, street improvements, Heritage Square & Lake Fort Phantom Hill upgrades

Abilene City Council Retreat: Paid parking, street improvements, Heritage Square & Lake Fort Phantom Hill upgrades
ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – On Friday, the Abilene City Council held its annual retreat, brainstorming ideas for the year ahead and providing updates on ongoing projects. Some of the key topics discussed included downtown paid parking, street improvement projects, an update on Heritage Square and upgrades to the Lake Fort Phantom Hill boat ramps.

Downtown Paid Parking

Downtown paid parking was on the agenda as a potential new revenue stream for the city and a way to prevent local business vehicles and trailers from occupying public spaces, according to City Manager Robert Hanna.

The parking would only impact two lots at the intersections of Pine and North 6th Street, and Pine and North 1st Street. The meters would be managed through the Park Mobile app, already used in larger cities like Austin and Fort Worth. Hanna noted that one of the challenges, should the city move forward with this service, would be ensuring effective enforcement.

“We’d still have to have a person to issue tickets… they have to go back into the software. They can go, okay, this person’s here… This person is not here; they’re not paying; they’re squatting on the lot, so okay, they get a ticket. So we still have to have that enforcement side of it,” Hanna said.

If implemented, Abilene would need to fund the labor and poles for the signage, although Park Mobile would provide the signs at no cost.

Heritage Square Update

Construction for Heritage Square is progressing, with the foundation now being laid where the new library will be. The city will review the project later this year to allocate a change in funding, as the costs have exceeded the original budget, according to Hanna.

“We need to incorporate those new dollar amounts into the agreement, and we need to recognize that the labor is bigger than what we originally planned for. It’s within 250 square feet of what the target was, so they did a really good job of hitting those numbers. It’s just a little bigger,” Hanna said.

The library section of the building is set to feature a grand staircase with three floors, highlighted by a glass-blown sculpture extending from the ceiling to the floor. While the city manager has noted a substantial completion date of March 13, 2026, with a grand opening planned for April 24, 2026, he emphasized that, like with any construction project, no completion date is guaranteed.

“It is a construction project… If you want to mark your calendar for March 16th [the move-in date], do it. But if it moves a week or two or maybe a month, that also wouldn’t be unusual,” Hanna said.

Street Improvement Projects

Through the past year, the city has completed several street improvement projects and plans to continue expanding these efforts. So far, the city has invested $140 million in street maintenance, funded through grants, bonds, and street maintenance funds. For 2025, planned street maintenance projects include Rebecca Lane, South 14th Street, North 18th Street, the Lytle Estates neighborhood, and the C.W. Gill Park area.

This year, Director of Public Works Max Johnson said they added a new maintenance category to help achieve long-lasting results.

“We’ve added another one for preventative maintenance, and this is a way that we will extend the life of our roads and what we haven’t done in the past. We haven’t focused on the preventative maintenance, and that’s what’s led us to some of the conditions of the streets today,” Johnson said.

Johnson recommends that any residents who notice problem areas in their neighborhoods submit them to the council for consideration.

Lake Fort Phantom Hill Boat Ramps

The city has assessed the northwest and southeast boat ramps, both of which are showing signs of wear and are in need of a refresh. The estimated cost to refurbish the northwest ramp is $2.275 million, while the southeast ramp would cost $1.871 million. This includes expanding the parking lot to accommodate larger vehicles more comfortably.

Leslie Andrews, Abilene’s Parks and Recreation Director, mentioned that grants are available to help fund the project.

“There is a boat access grant that is a reimbursable 75/25 match. I will say those are federal dollars that flow through the state. So, in the world we’re living in right now, this grant opportunity is still open for us to apply for through April, but we will have to see if those funds are available,” Andrews explained.

The ramps would be extended to the lowest tide level on record, which dates back to 2014.


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