Giddings Downtown Economic Development Strategic Plan & Funding

Amid COVID-19, TGC was tasked with the creation of an Economic Development Strategic Plan for Downtown Giddings, TX. The planning process involved a robust stakeholder engagement process which included phone and web-based interviews with over 20 stakeholders over a period of several weeks. In addition to individual interviews, TGC utilized a survey effort which exceeded the response target by 100%.

In addition to stakeholder engagement, the planning process involved detailed preliminary engineering work to identify workable bicycle and pedestrian improvements for Downtown Giddings, the completion of a detailed market analysis, and a high level housing assessment to align with Housing and Urban Development (HUD) oriented objectives which were a component of the project scope.

The process culminated in the development of a clear mission statement, defined goals, and achievable objectives with delineated funding strategies. During the planning process, the TGC team was able to develop an Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant submittal aimed to implement several of the plan’s recommendations.

TGC completed the project’s planning elements, project renderings, cost estimates, economic benefits quantification, job creation/attraction metrics, and project support documentation in approximately 30 days for a submission to the EDA. TGC coordinated closely with the Capital Area Council of Governments and the Austin Regional Office of the Economic Development Administration to ensure a complete and thorough response.

In September 2020, we learned this application for $1.8M, to help implement the plan, was funded.