LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Little Rock is one step closer to finalizing its downtown master plan.
On Wednesday, city officials released a 250-page first draft, which lays out all the ideas in detail.
"We went over a lot of these items from a very high level," said Gabe Holmstrom, executive director of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership. "[We] then presented a bunch of pictures and posters for people to see [and] ask questions about."
Holmstrom and others behind the downtown master plan released the draft, which consists of four big ideas: support residential growth, create an interconnected trail network, reposition transit and transportation networks, and utilize cultural and historical assets.
"The biggest issue is how we attract more people and get more people living downtown," Holmstrom said. "When we look at where Little Rock is compared to a lot of our peer cities, the density of people living in their downtown is a lot higher than what we have here."
Holmstrom said the ultimate goal is to double Little Rock's downtown population by 2035.
"That's by adding about 200 housing units a year," Holmstrom said. "We're going to have to get to work and get aggressive if we want to accomplish that, but as the data shows, there's a need [and] people do want to live downtown."
Holmstrom also hopes more people will utilize the Arkansas River.
"When my colleagues around the country come to our city and see this amazing asset, the number one question I get is, 'Why is there not a restaurant on the river? Why are all the buildings facing away from the river?" Holmstrom said. "I don't have a good answer for that."
Vice Mayor Kathy Webb said bringing more people downtown is one of her top priorities. She has had that conversation with other community members.
"I choose to go to church downtown, and I drive past a lot of other churches to get there," Webb said. "That's something that we talked about at church... to be thriving and growing, our part of town and downtown really need that residential density that we don't have."
The public can give feedback for the next 30 days, and then the plan will go to the city board for approval. Click here to share your thoughts.