Five Points Alliance to release new master plan for Five Points South this fall

The nonprofit Five Points Alliance, a non-profit collective of property and business owners and other stakeholders in Five Points South, will release the final draft of a master plan for the area early this fall, according to Steve Alexander, an attorney and the group’s chairman.

The plan is the result of about 18 months of work, including extensive research and analysis, meetings with stakeholders and two large public workshops conducted by planning firm KPS in July and October 2017.

Alliance members have worked on the plan in small groups since January, according to Alexander.

Alexander also thanked Fondren and KPS for their work on the plan in 2017.

“They did a fantastic job facilitating all of our needs and producing all this wealth of information that we have to work with,” he said.

The plan is guided by 10 goals in four categories, according to a document Alexander supplied to Iron City Ink.

The goals -- based heavily on public input -- include increasing safety, improving parking, making it easier for people to walk and bike, preserving historic buildings, encouraging of sustainable design, revitalizing area parks and promoting full occupancy in the commercial district.

“The final product will include action items for achieving those goals in both short-term and long-term stages,” Alexander said.

The Alliance board will be presented with a draft of the master plan at its monthly meeting on July 25, according to Alexander.

The members will have until their meeting in late August to make suggestions or comments before the document’s release.

The audience for the plan will include “the public and interested parties and even some interested parties who might want to do some of the work by the beginning of the fall,” Alexander said.

The Alliance has already begun to act on some of the plan’s priorities, according to Alexander.

For example, they are already working to improve the parks in the area, including Brother Bryan Park, and to increase the visibility of the police in the center of the business district near the fountain.

He said that 10 new leases have been signed within a block of the fountain since the controversial Skyy Lounge was closed the city last fall.