DOUGLAS, Ariz. (KGUN) — The city of Douglas is moving forward with a plan to revitalize three blocks of its historic downtown district, but business owners are pushing back over design concerns — and the project faces further delays after bids came in too expensive.
The project would change the appearance of G Avenue in Douglas's Historic District, including narrowing the streets. The plan also calls for fixing infrastructure needs such as streets and uneven sidewalks, along with beautification efforts including landscaping, benches, and lights. The Douglas City Council voted on a design during a special meeting in 2024, but the chosen design was not shown to the public before the vote.
The city has more than $4 million to spend on the project, including COVID relief money it received in 2021.
Ida Ann Pedrego, owner of Illusions Boutique — a business that has been on G Avenue for over 30 years — is among those opposing the current design. She has collected more than 350 signatures on a petition to stop the project, surpassing the number of responses the city received from its own design surveys.
"We should be working on growing our historical value, not taking away," Pedrego said.
Pedrego said she wants the city to pause and reconsider the scope of the project.
"I'm petitioning that we stop at this point and reevaluate how much of this is needed," Pedrego said.
She said business owners are not asking for the project to be scrapped entirely, but they should be included in the conversation.
"We're not saying, Hey, throw the whole dish panel out. We're not saying that. We're saying that, sit down. Let's discuss it, especially with the people, the people that is going to affect the business owners, we the business owners, should have a voice," Pedrego said. "We’re your taxpayers. We’re your constituents and we weren’t included.”
She says some of the money could be used to help business owners fix the facades of the building since some of them are over 100 years old.
Zayla Baltierrez, owner of Vestirse Bene, echoed that sentiment, saying she supports improving the area but has concerns about the current plan.
"We do want to beautify it. We do want to make it look better. However, there's things that are not feasible," Baltierrez said.
She says she likes the idea of bumpers in the sidewalks and adding lights, but says narrowing the street will affect how they get deliveries, and the number of parking spaces will go down.
During the last council meeting, city staff and council members spoke in favor of continuing the project. Douglas Mayor Jose Grijalva said the decision ultimately rests with the council as a whole.
"Unless there's a majority vote to change the direction. It's not Mayor runs, so I can't do anything by myself," Grijalva said.
The city must now put the project out to bid again after the previous round produced a price tag too high for the city to afford. Grijalva said he hopes the process allows for broader input.
"We need to go and go back to the drawing board. Hear everybody out, hear everybody's arguments for and against, and see how we can work together," Grijalva said.
KGUN reached out to the city manager, who was unavailable for an interview. KGUN also reached out to all six council members and only heard back from two — one deciding not to comment, and the other who said they were unavailable to talk.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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