Officials pursue image upgrade for community
Published 5:00 am Tuesday, March 13, 2007
In conjunction with a recent grant Wesson has received to revampits sidewalks, town officials are working toward updating the restof the downtown aesthetically.
The overall look will be determined by a device that takesphotos of the town and digitally morphs them to show theimprovements suggested. Currently the town has constructed a teamof Jeff Knight of Williford Gearheart & Knight, Town Planningand Development Director Wayne Mansfield and architect Sam Kaye ofMississippi Main Street to brainstorm and construct the plans.
All the long-term goals are in order to accommodate Wesson andits marked growth in recent years.
“They’re going to do the digital part but coordinate between theengineer and the city planner to make sure that everything fitswith the design,” said Mayor Alton Shaw. “Some of it they’re goingto do now, some will be postponed. A lot is going to be designedaround the sidewalk grant.”
Shaw said the team of Kaye, Mansfield and Knight will be workingon time frames as they fit into the town budget.
“Of course it depends on money. A lot of initial stuff is goingto be in association with the recent grant because we already havethat money for the sidewalks,” said Shaw. “When the three of themcoordinate, they’ll come up with the base foundation of how to dothat.”
Town officials are trying to coordinate ideas so that theindividual projects the town puts into place all fit together inthe projected new look for the city.
“We want to make sure the overall concept will be oneconglomeration of everything needed,” he said. “We’re workingtoward an end goal in steps and pieces, and this way we’ll be doingit all right and have an end picture to work towards. I didn’t wantus to start doing stuff then scratch our heads and say, ‘Oh, weshouldn’t have done that.'”
Wesson is a Mississippi Main Street member town, and that ishelping in the planning. Kaye is the official architect for MainStreet, and has extensive experience in downtown areas. He isspearheading the efforts for downtown Wesson.
City officials feel that at the rate Wesson is growing, it isimportant to plan for the growth that will inevitably come in thenear future.
“My theory is that if you don’t continue to grow eventually youstart to die,” said Shaw. “Everything has a growth stage, a plateauand a death.”
Shaw said part of the growth and beautification process isrestoring the history of town, both aesthetically andotherwise.
“Basically we want to refresh the downtown to create a betteratmosphere by rebuilding a lot of things of the past. At the sametime, we want to build them in the way that is conducive toWesson,” said Shaw. “The exteriors will be historically accurate,but interiors will be up to date and architecturallyappealing.”
Another plan town officials have in the works is developinghistoric walking tours to showcase not only the historic houses andother buildings, but also to focus on the cemeteries.
“It’s about making Wesson the best place it can be — a placewhere people will want to live,” said Shaw.