Building a better Main Street?

The consensus of people at an urban planning workshop on the Main Street corridor Monday? In short: It needs to be more urban.

The Planning Partnership, a Toronto firm hired to create a development plan for Main Street, held the workshop, which was meant to get the public's input on how to guide future construction along the corridor. Because the MetroRail line is already in place and major buildings already stand along Main, planning will focus more on infill development, TPP partner Rick Merrill said. "We're always looking for continuity and consistency along the rail," he said. "The density here is already mid- to high-rise, so we're not dealing with the situation that we are in other corridors where there is more single-family housing. We can reach higher density here." Not that that'll be easy: As Robert Eury, president of Central Houston Inc. and executive director of the Downtown Houston Management District, said, it'll take patience. "What's happening here is the shape of the city is changing in general. There is more interest in inner-city living because of sprawl," Eury said. "That is a great situation for high capacity transit — these things feed on themselves."

Among the things on the workshoppers' wish list: better signage pointing the way to the rail line, more bike paths along Main Street, improved sidewalks and crosswalks, and better traffic coordination in the Medical Center, Hermann Park and the Museum District. And then there's the actual real-estate development: Basically, people want more retail along Main Street, which would enhance the walk from near-Main neighborhoods to the light rail line. "You would have fun while you were walking," Doreen Stoller, executive director of the Hermann Park Conservancy, said. "Now you're looking at parking lots and hubcaps on the street. If the walk is pleasant and it's easy to get to the trains, you'll be more likely to take transit than if it's desolate and unsafe."

The workshops will now focus on the Uptown corridor; meetings will be held at 6 p.m. today and Thursday at The Pavilion at Post Oak, 1800 Post Oak Blvd. A presentation of preliminary findings will be presented May 23, with the intent of using them to create city ordinances to guide future growth.