Tracy group meets with SRDC to continue work on comprehensive plan for City
By Per Peterson
Tracy EDA members, business owners and those from the newly-formed Retail Committee took part in some grassroots brainstorming last Wednesday in an effort to develop an overdue comprehensive plan for the City.
Meeting with Rosemary Bruce-White, development planner from the Southwest Regional Development Commission, the group went over the current state of the City of Tracy, assessing needs and wants in areas ranging from U.S. Hwy. 14, downtown Tracy and current and potential policies.
“This is a great opportunity to get together — not only the business community, but also people who help support that community,” Bruce-White said. “We need to think of Tracy’s economy as a whole — a healthy business community, money being spent and earned in Tracy — but we’ve also got to remember the households that provide that labor and help support the business community in Tracy.”
Bruce-White asked the group to list some strengths Tracy can build off of; feedback included amenities like restaurants, a lumberyard, doctors, a dentist and chiropractor, as well as a grocery store, gas station, expanding retail and a strong school system. It was agreed that this diverse business community meets most people’s needs.
Another advantage listed was the Hwy. 14 frontage. However, pitfalls within the community were also discussed, and a number of those revolved around that corridor, including empty lots and buildings — the Red Rooster lot, and the former Dairy Queen building and old A&W building. Similar concerns were raised in the downtown area with the Enderson building, the old bakery, the former liquor store building and the old gas station at Morgan and 4th, which has undergone some renovation over the past two years.
See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.