04-10-10 Special Called City Council Retreat Meeting

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Northside Neighborhood Plan Update - 2010 Background: The Northside neighborhood is part of the original Town of La Porte founded in 1892. The neighborhood is laid out in the typical grid pattern streets. The Northside neighborhood is surrounded on four sides by commercial properties and various businesses that are commercial and industrial in nature. To the north is Barbour's Cut Boulevard, a major truck route within the City for truck traffic headed towards Port of Houston's Barbour's Cut Terminal. The main activities along Barbour's Cut Boulevard are shipping container storage areas, trucking dispatch, maintenance and other port related activities. The western border is North 8th Street, which abuts State Highway 146 and its frontage road. On the eastern side is North Broadway Street. Both Broadway and 8th Streets display a mixture of residential and business uses along with scattered parcels of vacant land. The southern boundary of the neighborhood comprises La Porte's historic Main Street District, which offers a variety of retail stores, antique shops, restaurants, and other small businesses. The social fabric of the Northside neighborhood is strong. Residents share a pride in the accomplishment of community facilities such as Jennie Riley Center, De Walt School, and other recreational indoor and outdoor activities. Despite its relatively small size, the Northside neighborhood has several churches indicating a firm spiritual foundation in the community. The neighborhood is also a home of the La Porte Community Civic Club, an all-volunteer grassroots association that has organized regular clean up campaigns, Juneteenth Celebrations, ball games in the park, and other social recreational activities that have enriched the lives of many residents. The Northside neighborhood possesses an abundance of assets that can serve as the basis for renewal and revitalization of this neighborhood. Northside Neighborhood Plan: The plan serves as the officially adopted guide for City policy decisions relating to the physical growth and neighborhood revitalization of North side community. A visioning process was conducted to develop community consensus on the goals and objectives that form the framework for the Northside Neighborhood Plan. City Council appointed a committee, whose members comprised Northside neighborhood residents and representatives from the nearby business community. The committee members reviewed various concerns and issues faced by the community. The community leaders discussed to identify issues, determine the assets and challenges of the community, and prepare goals, objectives and list recommended actions anticipated to shape and define the future and quality of life in the Northside neighborhood.