Residents are invited to comment on the initial recommendations for improving Division Street at a Public Open House on Thursday, June 21, at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be conducted in the Council Briefing Room, 3^rd Floor, City Hall, 101 W. Abram St.

The Discover Division project is an effort to identify action steps to support private investment in the corridor that will provide jobs, increase property values and provide an important link between UTA, Downtown and the Entertainment District. The study area runs along Division Street, between Cooper and Collins streets.

The public open house will allow citizens an opportunity to voice their opinion on initial recommendations incorporating suggestions made at project's first public open house on March 29.

Lyndsay Mitchell, planning project manager for the city's Community Development and Planning Department, said the Division corridor has a prime location that makes it a unique opportunity.

"We want to hear what people have to say about the initial recommendations for the corridor," she said. "We have some exciting ideas to share."

As part of State Highway 180, Division Street carried drivers between Dallas and Fort Worth before freeways took over. The vehicular travel established there, Mitchell said, resulted in motor courts, gas stations and automobile sales lots cropping up.

"The businesses along there are viable. The market is working for them," she said. "We want to find ways to complement and diversify current economic activity in the corridor to ensure long-term stability."

City leaders are consulting with Freese and Nichols and Catalyst Urban Development, which also worked with Fort Worth and Weatherford on redeveloping their portions of Highway 180.

The Discover Division effort began earlier this year with an advisory committee analyzing conditions and meeting with stakeholders. The meeting on the June 21 is the second of several public meetings scheduled in 2012. The effort could be completed and taken to the City Council by the end of the year.

For more information, please visit Discover Division online.