Waco rolling out Beautification, Arts, Culture Program with mowing, decorative lighting

Waco will have more right-of-way mowed along roads leading into town and start a maintenance program for public sculptures in the coming year, part of the new Beautification, Arts and Culture Program.

Amanda Dyer, who is leading the program, told the city council Tuesday that plans for 2025 include mowing in several areas near major roadways, synchronizing lighting along Interstate 35 bridges and other bridges over the Brazos River, and performing regular cleaning and maintenance for public sculptures.

The city started mowing this past summer next to three major roadways, in areas Dyer referred to as priority gateway corridors. The city will continue mowing there next summer and add more areas.

Mowing began with East Lakeshore Drive between 19th Street and Gholson Road, North I-35 at Forest Street and I-35 at Valley Mills Drive, Dyer said. Next summer mowing will start in the area of Franklin Avenue at New Road, North I-35 at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and South I-35 at University Parks Drive. Also, the mowing plan for I-35 at Valley Mills will be split to account for construction, Dyer said.

The city also will program decorative lighting already in place under several Interstate 35 bridges with special colors and shifting patterns for holidays and events, including the bridges at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, University Parks Drive, Fourth and Fifth streets, 11th and 12th streets, and 17th and 18th streets, Dyer said. The I-35 frontage road bridges over the Brazos will get updated decorative lighting that will be synchronized with the other I-35 bridges.

Dyer said the cleaning and maintenance of public sculptures will be according to best practices for different material types. Trained professionals will observe each piece of public art quarterly and recommend maintenance and cleaning as needed. In future years, neighborhood beautification plans will also be created, she said.

In other business Tuesday, the council voted against a plan by developer Jerry Dyer and landowner Kyle Weslier to bring apartment zoning into a South Waco neighborhood with a public housing apartment complex nearby. Dyer and Weslier requested to have 1.5 acres on 15th Street near Primrose Drive rezoned from single-family residential to a multifamily residential category allowing 25 units per acre.

Council Member Andrea Barefield proposed a motion to disapprove the change. She said residents of the single-family part of the neighborhood had contacted her and do not want rental housing or 25 units per acre.

"We stood together as a council on what we said we would do to bring more low- and moderate-income housing to our city, but we cannot do that without support of the communities and neighborhoods involved," Barefield said. "Mr. Dyer and Mr. Weslier, I hope that you will continue your conversations with the community and bring us back a plan you all can agree on."

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