CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The city of Aransas Pass is hoping to make changes to the area, but they want to hear from locals before making any moves.
Aransas Pass city officials will be holding their second of four meetings of their Navigate 2044 plan on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Aransas Pass Civic Center. The plan is a vision for future development in the area, including housing, transportation, parks and infrastructure in the city.
At the first meeting, locals shared they would like to see more businesses downtown.
Steve Martin, who owns Rialto Theater downtown, said he hopes to see the neighboring vacancies filled up soon.
"We would love to have more businesses downtown. That’s why we bought the Rialto Theater; to help liven up downtown and make people want to invest in a business down here," Martin said.
Conn Brown Harbor was another popular topic of discussion at the first meeting. Aransas Pass City Manager Gary Edwards said it’s the last undeveloped public space in the Coastal Bend.
Many years ago, Aransas Pass was known as the shrimping capital of the world, but now that the shrimping business has gone to other countries, the city hopes to concentrate on a new emphasis for Aransas Pass.
"Tourism is a big part of that, and people coming to Aransas Pass as a destination. Fishing is something that attracts hundreds of people every weekend, sometimes more than hundreds," Edwards said.
In 2015, a developer was interested in bringing in more business to the area, but the city and developer were not able to work out negotiations.
In 2020, with a $5 million dollar Economic Development Administration grant, the city added new roads, street lights, and walking and bike paths at Conn Brown Harbor.
In hopes of bringing in tourists, the city is already meeting with new interested developers to build hotels in the Conn Brown Harbor area. They also want to add retail shops and restaurants.
"We need places for people to stay and honestly something for people to do on the harbor," Martin said.
There will also be two more public meetings for locals to share their thoughts on changes they hope to see in their community. Those dates are not set up yet.
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