Porch and Parish The Podcast
Our mission is to make sure every Zachary resident feels heard and engaged! Host Mike Gennaro facilitates candid conversations with local leaders, influencers and innovators in Zachary, Louisiana and beyond with the help of producer Mike Holt. New episode every Monday at noon!
Porch and Parish The Podcast
Zachary Planning & Zoning Director and Economic Development Director
Ever found yourself daydreaming about the perfect small town, where progress and charm dance in harmony? That's the spirited discussion we waltz into with Ashley McHugh and Bryant Dixon, the visionaries behind Zachary's growth. They're not just the minds shaping our economic and zoning landscapes; they're the beating heart of community spirit, weaving tales of high school days and the cheer of a band performance that'll have you rooting for hometown pride.
Strap on your walking shoes and meander with us through the master plan for a revitalized downtown Zachary, where inclusivity isn't just a buzzword, it's the pavement we tread. Ashley and Brian paint a picture of a bustling hub, balancing the cozy nooks of increased density with the breezy strides of ample parking. It's a canvas where every stroke is a step towards a destination as magnetic as Perkins Road, but with our own unique, small-town vibrancy. The storied streets of Zachary come alive, not just through plans on paper, but through the personal journeys and local lore shared by our guests.
As we round out our chat, envision a Zachary where health and wellness aren't just found in a gym but interwoven into the fabric of our daily bazaar—at the Farmers Market, no less. A town branded not by a faceless logo, but by the pulse of events like the Mind, Body, Move, Health and Wellness Expo and, dare I say, the Banana Run. It’s here, in this laughter-filled episode, that Ashley and Bryant illustrate just how a community like ours can stretch its limbs, embrace change, and still cling to the roots that make us, unmistakably, Zachary.
I'm Brian Dixon and I'm Ashley McHugh and you're listening to Porch Empowered, the Podcast.
Speaker 3:What's up, zachary? We're so glad to be able to spend the next hour with you, keeping you informed and engaged while you go about your day, doing whatever it is you do best. We had Ashley McHugh on the podcast last week in her capacity as Muscle of Dugs Volunteer extraordinaire. This week she's back in her professional role as Economic Development Director, along with the hardest working man in planning and zoning, brian Dixon. Brian has so many degrees that we're going to challenge him by asking him to list them in backwards, alphabetical order in the lightning round today. So hold on for that. The main takeaway is that, zachary, you're in good hands and we're moving in a positive direction with the help of these two individuals. Today we're going to talk events, master planning and more, partly informational, partly inspirational, and a renewed sense of loyalty towards our beloved Zachary. I'm Mike Genera, publisher of Porch Empowered. We bring you the best of Zachary in the development north region through candid conversations every Monday from our headquarters right here on Virginia Street. This is Porch Empowered, the Podcast. We'll be back with the lightning round. Stay tuned. Enjoying the family feature in the fall edition of Porch Empowered. Those were all made possible by sponsors like Godan Law Firm Looking for help in a family law matter like adoption, godan Law Group can help.
Speaker 3:Godan Law Group produces effective solutions efficiently. Each member of their team shares a professional mission to be on point in service and ethical duties. Being on point means being on top of things, on the ball on schedule, ready to perform to be excellent, and is the company's guiding principle. Godan Law Group consists of people who make a living by guiding, coaching, supporting and leading clients in situations that are often very personal and sensitive, one's that forever mark a person's life. With so much at stake for their clients, they must be on point, and that's what they aim to be. Call Godan Law Group at 225-412-8048. That's 225-412-8048. We are back with the lightning round. Last time Bryant was here, we just got a gift of song when he threw out one of his school cheers. This time, I'm asking for either a school cheer or a fight song. You got to shout out to your old alma mater, high school alma mater High school.
Speaker 1:My old high school is going to be Livonia High School, livonia, louisiana, poincapie, parish. We were the fighting Wildcats or the mighty Wildcats. I honestly can't think of our schools. I really can't. The crazy thing is that I was in the marching band too.
Speaker 3:You got anything, any cheers or anything you can remember.
Speaker 1:Marching band. We used to have this song whenever we were in stands and they would like each section would have to do like a little like dance In the crowds. We would go do it, do it, do it, do it, don't stop, don't stop, do it, do it, do it, do it, don't stop, don't stop, stop and let the trombones do it, do it, do it, do it.
Speaker 3:What did you play?
Speaker 1:I played the trombone in marching band and I played the baritone in concert band.
Speaker 3:Nice, nice.
Speaker 1:That was awesome.
Speaker 3:Tell back to Fala what you got.
Speaker 2:Just going to have to go with your standard old alma mater here.
Speaker 3:It's harder to do when the recording button is pressed.
Speaker 2:That's okay. But you know, the most important part is the ending. Though we may wander far as years pass us by, loyal will we ever be to Zachary High Nice.
Speaker 1:I like that.
Speaker 3:You know, singing is like just speaking, but you add song notes to it.
Speaker 2:You want to sing it, I can sing it. I love them to hear that beautiful voice Though we may wander far, as years pass us by loyal will we ever be to.
Speaker 4:Zachary High.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. I could not have done that in front of other people. What was that.
Speaker 2:It was like a tough note there I have a little bit of a choir history, okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:All right, well, let's y'all have a lightning round on that one. I'm sweating.
Speaker 3:All right, we'll be right back with a couple more interview questions. The Castelló Agency has provided the insurance our community needs at a price you can afford since 1982. The family owned and woman led insurance agency is ready to help you insure your home, car, boat and business. Owner Danette Castello is president and member of the professional insurance agents of Louisiana Association and a proud community partner. When you work with Castelló Agency, you're supporting a locally owned small business. Learn more about the Castello agency at CastelloAgencycom. That's C-A-S-T-E-L-L-O agencycom, or give them a call at 225-654-2313. Castello Agency ensuring our community. All right, we are back with our city economic development director, ashley Mekew, and our planning and zoning director, brian Dixon.
Speaker 3:I realize that I did not have you list your credentials in backwards alphabetical order, but just tell us what it takes to become a planning and zoning director.
Speaker 1:A lot of will grit to nasty. Honestly, planners typically have a very diverse background. My background is in anthropology and sociology. Then, after going to school for that at LSU I learned a lot about housing, economic development and realized that planning was the route I can use to navigate that and take that into going into another career path. But planners usually come from a diverse group. So architects, landscape architects, engineers, even sometimes it's a lot of people that can go into the field. That really add a lot of diversity to the field itself all the way around. Economic plays a huge part in that too, so a lot of economic work goes into that as well.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I remember attorney Steve Villavasso. I guess his official title is master planner. What is it?
Speaker 1:So Stephen Villavasso is actually an urban planner and he's actually an attorney.
Speaker 3:Right, and he was your professor.
Speaker 1:He was also my professor of zoning and law when I was in grad school.
Speaker 3:Totally unrelated from the contract that he got here.
Speaker 1:Totally unrelated. He was here before I even got here, but he called you a rock star.
Speaker 3:remember that he was like you know, do whatever you can to hold on to Bryant.
Speaker 1:And I appreciate him for saying that. Compliments are always nice. I don't get those too often.
Speaker 3:Yeah, look y'all. We're going to do a little bit of improv today here. So I have these two geniuses in one office and then me coming from the commercial real estate world. I mean we are going to talk about some exciting things for Zachary Ashley, you kind of framed the interview really well in some of our pre-conversation that you wanted to talk about a reigniting of Zachary loyalty. You know why don't we kick off with that?
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah. So new year, new us, new Zachary. You would have to be, you know, living under a rock to not realize how Zachary is growing and diversifying. Exciting things are happening.
Speaker 2:At least we consider those things exciting. Yeah, so really, what we hope to see this year, especially as we are looking at all of the new, new developments, new events bringing in, trying to get new residents involved, we just would love to emphasize our renewed love for our community. You know, instead of a spirit of turning on it when maybe it doesn't service, quite right, but just an undying loyalty for your community, standing up for your community and also being active and taking part, getting involved, is major, major. I will just be honest. I grew up here and when I was looking at moving back, I kind of fought it and I look back on that and it makes me really sad at the time that I lost fighting it. Because then, now that I'm plugged in and I know you guys can say the same thing being plugged in, you know, no matter where you go, it's not always the place, it's always going to be the people in your involvement.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that, and after she just sung that, very beautiful song being loyal to Zachary. I feel like we all owe it to her to stay in the city and stay loyal.
Speaker 2:Hey, yeah, if anything, do it for the song. If you ever need a reminder, just sing the.
Speaker 1:Zachary High School Alma Mater song.
Speaker 2:The Alma Mater song yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean to me. It reminds me of asking out what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country, right?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean unfortunately in Louisiana. I mean we can think of cities that are declining in population. I mean we definitely would not want that problem and we're glad we're not seeing that problem. Clearly we have something special that people are staying and coming here for.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're definitely blessed to see Zachary growing as much as it is growing, and I really appreciate the fact that we do have so many people wanting to move to the city and looking forward to move to the city, and I think that one thing that Ashley and I are both trying to do are just find things that will attract those people, make those people happy and keep them involved and keep them wanting to be here and love and be inspired to participate more in the city as in general.
Speaker 3:Yeah, switching up events, changing events, making things look different, making bringing in new things, unique things, things that people consider an attraction yeah, the word nostalgic is one that I meditate a lot on trying to make my life's work about creating nostalgic things for kids, teenagers, so that there is something to come back to that you remembered fondly you know, One of those big things coming up is the Musloff Dogs Parade. The branding on it is what was the name of the parade?
Speaker 2:The Musloff Marty Paws Dog Parade.
Speaker 3:Nice, february 11th Yep coming up February 11th.
Speaker 2:We are super excited to be able to put an emphasis on downtown Zachary.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's where we are right now.
Speaker 2:That's it the best place to be. So I don't know how many of you are following downtown Zachary on Facebook, but definitely do that to keep up to date with everything happening downtown, because things are really happening.
Speaker 3:They're moving, yeah, so putting an emphasis on Literally moving too, right, yeah, like the police station.
Speaker 2:Putting an emphasis on coming downtown, staying downtown, eating here, playing here, working here. We're super excited. So yeah, the Musloff Dogs Dog Parade is just one of the many events that we're going to be having in downtown Zachary this year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Brian, anything going on in your front?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, so on my end, this year is a big year for me because when I first got here in December 2021,.
Speaker 4:I was kind of tasked with Exciting year Right.
Speaker 1:I was kind of tasked with the UDC kind of being its final phases of being updated, or the unified development code in its final stages of being updated, and since then we are now working on updating our master plan to kind of make sure that it matches what is going on with the unified development code, and that master plan should be completed late spring, early summer this year. So I'm really excited for that to be in the final processes. We should be doing a few more workshops throughout the months to make sure that we get both our planning and zoning commissioners involved, our city councilors involved, as well as the public as well. So you want to make sure we get as much input as we possibly can from everybody in the city all the way around. So with that master plan we're going to be guiding out a lot of things that we're going to use basically for developments moving forward. One of those big things is that you know that we're growing, so we're looking at how we're going to label these new areas in the city, how you want these areas to grow and move forward in the city. A lot of people say smart development, so that's kind of what that is going to give us the opportunity to do is kind of see how we're going to be laying these things out in the future With that master plan.
Speaker 1:One of the biggest things is that we're looking to do kind of like a revitalization project with downtown Zachary and more so, defining what downtown is, how we want our downtown to look, what we want to include in our downtown and make sure it's a place that everybody can come. We have special features down there that make it more walkable. They make it more friendly to everybody. Just come down, walk around, see things they like, enjoy, increase shopping and just make it an all-around great experience and have it kind of be a destination for everybody in our city to participate in.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, said yeah, I mean just getting settled in over here. You know, downtown everything's a little bit of a tighter squeeze, right. So you start to think about hmm, what do I do with my one parking space? Where do I put the dumpster? How does this supposed to look?
Speaker 2:You know, like all these, these little things that you don't think about, but that closeness, I think, is so important too, because you can truly I mean we're working towards that quintessential downtown that is the heart of your, that is home to your culture and your arts, and to pack so much goodness in one spot, that's a good way of saying it. Yeah, that's what. That's what makes it so exciting.
Speaker 3:Keep listening, we'll be right back.
Speaker 4:Hello Portion Parish listeners. My name is Narissa and I'm the General Manager of the Comfort Inn Suites in Zachary, located at 1686 East Mount Pleasant Road. It is my pleasure to announce that we, as well as the best Western and New Roads, are under new ownership and management. We hope to work closely with the local businesses, contributing to the positive growth of both Zachary and New Roads. We would like to thank Portion Parish for being so welcoming and look forward to being a part of your community.
Speaker 3:All right, we're back with Bryant Dixon and Ashley McHugh talking about downtown development right now, so let's continue with that combo Sure.
Speaker 2:So Bryant actually touched on the master plan a bit, so he probably you know, if you want to kind of touch on how the master plan, what that has to do with downtown development is at the stage.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so essentially what our master plan does is it kind of like lays out the city's vision for the next five, 10, 15, maybe even 20 years and it kind of gives us a vision of how we see the city as it is now.
Speaker 1:And how we see the city growing in the future and it kind of gives us that directive of well, if we want to see development here, we need to put these things in place to kind of guide development in this area.
Speaker 1:If we need to slow down development in this area, these are some things that we can also put in place to kind of slow some development down over here, and just different things that we can do to make sure that the city is growing in a smart way and that we're not excluding anyone from it, but at the same time, we're also protecting what we do have and encouraging growth in places in which we want to see growth in the city as well.
Speaker 1:One of the major things with the master plan is that we were looking at focusing on our downtown. We are going to have a lot of changes happening next year to where you'll see a lot of things like moving in and out, as Mike Jenaero and his company has recently moved to downtown Zachary. So we're looking at using the master plan as a way to kind of trigger some revitalization efforts in downtown, most of which are going to be like redefining the boundaries of the city itself, looking at places and spaces of which we do see potential for development, as well as trying to increase the walkability moveability as a new word that I learned walkability and moveability.
Speaker 3:What's the?
Speaker 1:difference. Not everybody can walk, so moveability kind of includes the for those that may have disabilities in some way, shape or form. So creating like safer spaces for those people to navigate and be downtown, as well as creating places for people to want to be. And so, with our downtown revitalization plan, I know like Ashley recently applied for the main street, well, we're going to be applying for a main street designation and I'll let her talk a little bit more about that.
Speaker 1:But with our master plan and then combining with that effort, we're definitely making some major moves and like making sure that we can get ourselves on the map and move forward in a positive way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I mean you want to have the groundwork laid, or lay the groundwork for that kind of before you start. So you do have a plan. So you know we feel like things do need to be a little strategic and so you know we're excited for, like you said, new things to try to recruit things downtown so that downtown is viewed as a destination.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it hasn't always been so.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've been really enthused just being here at Virginia Street. When I get here in the morning I see the same guy walk past every day hey, mr Milt. And then you know, you see a couple moms walk by with their kids, and you know, baby carrier, and go to the park. And then you see kids from the neighborhood back there come, coming and going from school, and like there is a vibrancy to this already and a walkability. But then you know, I don't know what happens when they get to the road and they have to cross it. That'd be. It's a little tough even to get back and forth from Asian Pearl for me, which is my absolute favorite.
Speaker 1:They can be a little scary at times, as a person has to cross that part frequently. Yeah, definitely can be a little nerf.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's definitely work to be done to make it walkable to make it safe. Yeah, you know, mike and I had discussed previously, like the railroad track.
Speaker 3:So something as simple as that, my dad has trouble getting over the railroad tracks as an amputee.
Speaker 2:Like that's a hindrance. And so we don't want anyone to feel hindered Like. Everyone should be able to freely come downtown, and so we're definitely looking at options for that too.
Speaker 3:That's a tough one, but at the same time we have a ton of parking everywhere. I have not been dissatisfied with that, and I just so let's get into this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's get into it.
Speaker 3:Come on.
Speaker 1:So you know, one part of down, revitalizing downtown is actually increasing density. So if we do increase density and we do allow, more buildings to come in, there may be a decrease in parking, but that also goes into making spaces for people to be in, making it more accessible and more walkable and movable for those give and take that do want to be down here.
Speaker 2:So it won't be any. You know, it would not be any different than any other downtown that you have the privilege of visiting. So you know, I consider it pretty cool that us working for the city get to work downtown. And so you know, if that were in Baton Rouge we would be parking and walking and I kind of love that. I mean I love, I love the feeling of, like you said, parking in the morning and like walking and it's really nice.
Speaker 1:I always say if people don't mind Perkins Road, then they shouldn't mind like development or densifying area here because Perkins Road is literally just a fake imitated downtown. You think about it? There's off street.
Speaker 3:But it now feels real. It feels like its own vibrant little community. Yeah, and it feels like its own vibrant little community. But if you really think about it.
Speaker 1:You're driving in, you're parking off the street. At some point in time you're most likely going to be walking to the movie theater to go get something to eat to born genoves. You're walking around.
Speaker 3:But those skinny streets feel safe to cross. Oh yeah, that would, that would I am trying to get a little rude diet tea spilled.
Speaker 1:What do you all? What do you all? That might be very controversial. I don't know if you want to say that yet.
Speaker 3:No, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not pushing it, I just want to know, is it?
Speaker 2:But I mean the truth. Obviously we all know the truth, we all know the research, we all know and see what other cities are doing. And so you know, in order to travel, to walk safely that is what happens in a lot of places and to encourage people to, to drive a bit slower to notice what's new, to notice what's cool down here yeah, you know and to Kind of have to slow them down to be able to do so. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And for everybody listening that doesn't really know what a rude diet is if you've been in Baton Rouge in the last couple of years and you've driven down Government Street. Essentially what a rude diet is is when they take multiple lanes, usually four, and they decrease them down to two and within that they usually do like a median. You'll have those four lanes that go down to two. They'll include, like bike lanes, wider sidewalks usually in most places, and the the landscaping that they do actually intentionally slows down people so that it's easier and it feels safer for everybody all the way around.
Speaker 1:The reason I said it might be slightly controversial is because I know a lot of people, Very, very I know a lot of people here will go like rude diet or taken away lanes and they're going to be like traffic is going to be horrible. It's already horrible now, but the planner in me is like you know, it's not something that's going to happen immediately. That's why, as Ashile was saying, it's more of like a strategic plan. In order to do that, typically you have to find alternative routes for people to take, so that if you are going to decrease traffic here, you have to allow for traffic to be increased in other places or give people other ways to make it from one side of town to the other.
Speaker 1:So that you don't necessarily have to take that route. So you know it. It's not something that's just going to happen. Tomorrow There'll be plenty of meetings they will be pulling.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, this is no. This isn't something that is decided or even talked about yet. It's just. I feel it in the air that you know, being down here, I feel like there is a I'm anticipating that need. It's a lot of potential Putting that out there. We have a lot of potential.
Speaker 1:We have really good bones down here already. We got the high school right over there, the high school is right, there we have a park right next to city hall, the police department. Of course you know they're building a new building over by off of Montaguto, so they're going to be moving, so there's going to be more open space down here.
Speaker 1:We're looking at possibly having more events here as well and bringing more traffic. The depot we have, rolly Poli it just opened and a depot is going to be trying to do some new stuff at their place as well, so there's a lot of things like happening. You guys just moved here off of Virginia street.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's a lot of people and a lot of things are actually starting to like centralize here in main street market, which, if you guys haven't checked out, they have really good things I enjoyed that yeah, zachary Farmers Market.
Speaker 2:Zachary Farmers Market is also here too.
Speaker 1:So you know we have a lot of new development. A lot of new people are moving here, and just kind of developing an area as a whole is definitely something that the city is looking forward to. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Speaking of the Farmers Market, one of the ideas was that they would partner up with them local fitness programs for just to do different pop ups. So that actually has led us to looking at a grant for a fitness studio downtown. So that's something super exciting.
Speaker 3:Outdoor or indoor.
Speaker 2:Outdoor. Yeah, this is, yeah, it's a really cool concept, so we've been looking at that and that would allow people to just have a lot of things going on at once.
Speaker 4:So the.
Speaker 2:Farmers Market happening maybe at the fitness studio. Crossfit comes down or Spectrum comes down and does a pop up to truly have that multifaceted life happening down here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what does this even look like? I can't imagine. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You can just Google out fitness court, I believe, is what it's called the fitness court program or fitness court grant.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, I see it. I see it, it's cool.
Speaker 2:The coolest thing is they are all unique to your town because there is a wall that's required and we kind of get to choose whatartistically what happens on that wall.
Speaker 3:It looks like an adult playground. I'm seeing things to climb on, things to jump on, maybe a soft surface.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, the studio portion of that is where the pop ups can happen, so we even envision different sports programs coming and doing exhibitions. Yeah, yeah, we're excited Speaking of getting fit.
Speaker 1:I want to go ahead and plug this event kind of early. But I received the grant last year to kind of do something with Wollahead and they were looking at doing something to like for community health here and to do things to push like wellness and health in communities. Yeah, so I got a grant. So this year we're actually going to be doing a health event called Mind, Body, Move, Health and Wellness Expo downtown.
Speaker 1:So we're going to be looking to just like get more vendors and stuff involved to show what we have in the city itself to like do expos of like different types of sporting events or different types not sporting events, but different types of like sports or different types of like workout pattern that may include like Pilates or a bar or things like that, and then have vendors come out and do like natural foods or vegan options, just kind of have talking people talking about things that we can do. That would help mind, body and soul essentially.
Speaker 3:Beautiful.
Speaker 1:And then we're going to have wellness all together, all the way around.
Speaker 3:Yeah, All right, this is a fun jumping off point for the something close to my heart. I've been wanting like a city wide run for years and you know what Kudos to all those brave people who started runs. You know, like the bunny hop, the chasing Santa, it was so fun. My son geez, this guy's a ham but he won the race and all and I think he caught Santa and stuff. It was truly fun. What I'm noticing is that it's very challenging to put together a satisfying route in Zachary. Very challenging to do kind of like if you wanted to be on Main Street proper and do a run, you'd have to basically throw a parade.
Speaker 3:It's the same thing you got to get cops and shut down roads.
Speaker 2:No, we would love to figure out how to make that. I mean, runs definitely are a major attraction. Yeah, great for the economy, yeah absolutely, and you know, kind of on the heels of talking about master plan also comes rebranding or branding Zachary.
Speaker 3:Go for it, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know you're talking about the nostalgia factor, and of course, we used to have the sausage festival. Everybody loves to talk and reminisce about that but now it's figuring out. Okay, you know we have evolved, and so what is the thing? How are we branding Zachary?
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:And Brian and I have definitely talked about that and trying to figure that out. A run may definitely be part of that. I don't see why not. I mean, I see the train track here.
Speaker 3:If you started it over here by this park, this train track park, and went all the way down to that school over there, I think you could get a nice 5K. I mean, that's easy to run this service road here. Or West Central, east Central, yeah.
Speaker 2:No, for sure, we would love to see that happen.
Speaker 3:Jen would kill me if I didn't mention this. We're like what is Zachary, what is something that everybody can identify with, and we were like there was this fire, and I think it was in 1903. When was it, is it?
Speaker 4:maybe 1903?
Speaker 3:Yeah, let's just say it was that. You know. My historian's out there can correct me, but the story that we heard and read was that there was a grosser flame ripening bananas and he burnt the 10, or she might have been she or a kid, I don't know. They burnt the town down and we had bucket brigades. Some person did this and that's why we don't have many historic buildings that were, you know, predating that fire.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we wanted to call it the banana run, like with flaming bananas everybody everybody dresses up as a banana and we're all running or there's like banana related Nostalgia but you're onto something that people have sent this to Bryant, as we're in search of what this is that we're looking for. Yeah but I believe it was homa that has the weenie spaghetti festival.
Speaker 3:I love spaghetti. It's weenie spaghetti and that sausage spaghetti.
Speaker 2:No weenies like hot dog.
Speaker 3:Okay, that's something like from Kenner, but I'm like clearly they have found their.
Speaker 2:they found their weird, they found their. You need that is weird.
Speaker 4:That is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so definitely you know taking, taking the banana run isn't too far out there and you can't use angel hair pasta, you have to use spaghetti which take all of the class out of whatever class remains in spaghetti and just make it that, yeah, that I took notice. I took notice just because I'm like, I'm proud Y'all are confident in y'all's weenie spaghetti.
Speaker 2:That's your thing, I love it. I love it.
Speaker 3:Finding your weird and then owning it, and then you know what all the other people can just go. You know, twist in the wind, like what is our weird right? Can you redefine what twist in the wind means oh no, that's probably yeah. Oh, let's take out that, mike, twisting in the wind doesn't elicit good imagery, and we're back from a commercial break trying to find our nostalgia in Zachary, and we were talking about finding our weird.
Speaker 1:All right, so, like I think a banana run is actually like a really good idea, and they used to do the bed races as well. Which right.
Speaker 2:So we've talked about even just a conglomerate and two I'd definitely want to mention too. Kind of going back to the idea of community involvement, Recently the city in downtown Zachary, posted a sign up for people that want to become involved in event planning. We want people's opinions, we need people's opinions and we need a diverse group of people that can help put on and plan events in our city. So, anyway, just plug in that here if anybody is interested yeah, I mean it.
Speaker 3:Can you know anybody?
Speaker 2:that's maybe passionate about live music, great at decorating, has an experience, or just wants to get plugged in and kind of have their voice heard. If there's something that you've ever thought man, I wish we had this in Zachary. That's a possibility.
Speaker 3:It's like a free internship for those people who want to do events planning for real. Yeah, and I mean so far we've had a great response and again, the emphasis on diversifying.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of our committees have looked the same for so long and that's typical of a lot of other places.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, but getting some new events mafia kind of you know, yeah, but getting some new voices in the mix, new ideas, totally.
Speaker 2:We need that. I'll speak to that. Yeah, I mean it's definitely been.
Speaker 3:There's been some new voices in the mix, there's been some frustrations just trying to get involved and you just feel like we already tried that, we already did that and we're doing it and you're not. You know, you're welcome, but as long as you agree with everything we say kind of stuff, that whole attitude is out and it's 2024 and we're going to move forward.
Speaker 2:No, if I'm anything, I am open. Yeah, like totally wide open. Bring it to us If you have any ideas.
Speaker 1:You're also welcome to like email us or call in and just like leave messages and we will definitely do our best to get back with you as soon as we can, but thinking about just like new things that were coming to the city, the really hot air balloon festival.
Speaker 3:Oh, that was that was that came to mind. For me, too. That was incredible. Y'all pulled that off, and you had a huge role in that right.
Speaker 1:She had a huge role in it.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean just above and beyond all expectations.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, you're playing for like a thousand people at most.
Speaker 2:Who even knows, who even knows? But when people started showing up and it literally was almost like an apocalypse of people, just like no, this is the worst case scenario Thousands of people, I mean, but it's going to be fire fast If anything but ours was successful, if anything proves the power of community, of this community specifically, you know, and just of our, we have the ability to pull that many people again yeah, and it ended up somewhere like close to like 5,000. They said it's tough to estimate. I'd rather be modest.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like estimate modestly, but yeah, I mean in the heat of the summer people showed up.
Speaker 3:And that was the mega doubt that the, the balloons might not fly that day, cause if it, the wind was blowing past what six knots, you know, if we can throw that side note in here.
Speaker 2:That would actually be super helpful because there's no guarantee. I mean you could come this year in August and not see a single bullying.
Speaker 3:It could rain.
Speaker 2:It could, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Those balloons are like some divas.
Speaker 2:They are divas they have so many demands.
Speaker 1:It can't be too hot, it can't be too cold. The wind can't be blowing too fast.
Speaker 4:It can't be too close together.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So no, it was just looking.
Speaker 4:Anytime I look back.
Speaker 2:I'm just like that was so magical.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you know what I'm remembering. Tell me if I'm having a false memory, but the wind was blowing too hard that day for the balloons to really fly, but they still did kind of like a little glow. Yeah.
Speaker 2:They were able to glow and at one point the winds got a little scary and they went down, but overall it it went well. So we want to see more of that and I just want to clarify what she said.
Speaker 1:They went down. They did not like fall down. No, they were just like you know what, the winds too high, so we're just going to.
Speaker 2:They intentionally laid them down. They intentionally laid them down.
Speaker 3:Yes, Thank you.
Speaker 1:No problem.
Speaker 3:Oh man, all right, so any other, any other developments that are happening right now that we can get out there to people, cause I want our people to be informed, not scared. Fear is the thing that divides, fears the thing that gets people you know with. We just don't want to see anybody with pitchforks, right we?
Speaker 1:don't want to see anybody with pitchforks.
Speaker 3:I feel like that comes more so towards me. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Cause not a 10 times. A lot of people I get like a bad rep because people were. I have to tell people know a lot and I understand that, but you know. So don't don't fight me because the answer is no, but not at 10 times. We can also work out something that maybe you were not expecting that and maybe you haven't, you were not able to do initially, or we can modify what you were thinking on doing. Yeah, but we have seen. I will say David McDavid, the the mayor, has definitely came in with the initiative of cleaning up Zachary and he's been doing a great job of that.
Speaker 3:I want to say from trash, and or from what perspective?
Speaker 1:A lot of perspective. So he came in, he definitely wanted to. He, I would say in my mind, he came with two major goals that affected me and my department specifically, and one of them was like cleaning up, Zachary. So we went. We have so many more like violations that we're getting about just like junk properties and just cut grass, cuttings and condemning properties. Yeah, so I want to select this year like 2023. We condemned maybe like between 15 to 20 homes and had those like and most of those are being torn down or in the process of being torn down.
Speaker 1:His other big thing is like expanding the city's boundaries as well. So we had our first annexation of property being brought into city limits Then last year I want to say it was late November, early December we have a new income and in right now, with the Americana were there and next to the city For fun reasons too.
Speaker 3:We hope yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm hoping for great reasons.
Speaker 3:So, and it's you all know what we're alluding to the maybe Chick-fil-A, maybe grocery store that will all die if that doesn't happen now, because you know there's only so much I can say about that.
Speaker 1:I can't confirm or deny anything at this moment.
Speaker 3:I'm reading his eye movements. Y'all know my eyes are closed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, but there's a lot of development coming. I know that one of the big properties that we were looking at was a car dealership towards the end of 61 happening Right. It's happening yeah. So, that property is currently, to my knowledge, in the works of essentially being annexed into the city.
Speaker 3:So, oh sweet, that's beautiful, because that was always the entrance to Zachary. That was never really the entrance to Zachary, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it give. From my perspective, it gives us more to work with. It's as far as business recruitment, I'm like man, will we? I mean, we do have great space, don't get me wrong, but to have more places to place things and as our community is growing in population, I think the size should match that. And if we want cool stuff, annexing in that land will certainly be helpful Cool stuff.
Speaker 1:Cool stuff, we deserve cool things, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So hopefully, hopefully, we'll see some good things for 2024. That's another thing that I am always totally open to people's requests. There's never guarantees but, you know, in an effort for the community to feel like their voice matters, you know I have. Obviously the top requests are entertainment.
Speaker 3:Let's talk about that. Yeah, you know, there's certainly some room here for some high schoolers to come have coffee after school over here and get get some. You know treats where I can announce this now we are in official talks with Posh Pop over here.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the McAllister group.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um, yeah, so other things like that for high schoolers coming in um, all ages really, I mean.
Speaker 2:Anytime I talk with parents, their number one request is entertainment for their kids, and of course that's an area of leakage for us, obviously leakage meaning meaning they are bringing their business elsewhere.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, that's a commercial term.
Speaker 1:Right, I was like, and I'm sorry, sometimes we don't realize that we're using terms or like specific to our, our jobs, so we kind of have to be like rolled in at times.
Speaker 3:But not incontinence.
Speaker 1:Yes, so even thinking about stuff like that like last year we had the opportunity to go to Atlanta to talk with businesses about coming to Zachary. We have really strong numbers in a lot of developers we talked to told us like some ways in which we could approve or some things that they were looking for uh, consist for consistency or like traffic counts or a housing count of.
Speaker 1:some of them have very specific density counts as well. So I know, zachary, here we have a lot of a single family homes, and so he literally went and tell us while we were there. He was just like, oh yeah, you guys, his numbers are great, but like, where's your density? And so he was looking for a multifamily development, because on there in, when they see multifamily development, they see more single people and more disposable income.
Speaker 1:And so you know like different people and different uh. Different developers have different uh needs for what they want before they're even willing to invest into your city. So, uh, we are going to another conference this summer to go talk to more developers about that too oh seriously it's been super helpful to make those contacts face to face.
Speaker 2:You know, sometimes when I'm doing my job and it's, it's, it's just some person on the other side of the phone and you know you try to explain, zachary. But having the opportunity to be face to face with these people and really get to engage in conversation was super helpful. And so now it's a lot of follow ups and seeing if they're interested.
Speaker 1:Um so, yeah, it's been a great opportunity Trying to convince people to come Some some people are really interested there, some businesses that are that are really just like oh yeah, we can't wait to come to Zachary. And so some of them are just waiting on like a like a particular space is to open up Sure.
Speaker 2:Spaces to open up Um, that I think that's been a. You know, you on the commercial realty side and maybe you could speak to that Um. But you know, some of our spaces aren't maybe the nicest to right, Right Cause I didn't realize how specific some people were.
Speaker 1:They were like we want 1200 square feet of space in a building that looks like this or we want, uh, we need 12 foot ceilings over here to this and we need this type of interior. We need five.
Speaker 2:But to say that it's light me up, yeah, but to? But, on the other hand, um the spaces we do have, like picking a space and saying, okay, what's going to work for? Like almost looking at it the opposite way. Um, yeah has, has really helped.
Speaker 1:Well, we're not letting you have you're doing an amazing job, so don't think.
Speaker 3:No, it's been a fresh. I thought when I started my you know career as a commercial realtor that I would just be like bagging these great amenities left and right, bringing them to town and boom. It's so easy, but it's it. It takes rooftops first. Um, my real statement, or Randy Herring said, commercial follows rooftops, and it's, it's always been true.
Speaker 2:And there's many things that we are just right there on the cusp it's metrics.
Speaker 4:They just want the metrics. Yeah, there was one recently.
Speaker 2:well, we really, we really prefer the daytime population to be this because we really we really rely on our lunch crowd and I'm like, okay understood, Um, so there's so much that goes into it. There really is.
Speaker 1:And then sometimes that goes into looking at development, like I, like one guy came in and they were actually interested in doing like more office spaces, because they wanted more businesses to open offices here, yep, so, and that would give us a bigger daytime population.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Offices in the city where people were working. Yeah, so you know, it's a lot of things that I know both of us get a lot of random questions, a lot of reaching out, a lot of stuff just going on in general in the city.
Speaker 3:So well, if I have any budding developers out there, I would. I've been screaming this one for a few years now. I believe that you've got to get people to come out of their their barn workshop on a residential estate size lot in Zachary. Those people need a development where it's more of these 1200 to 1500 square foot metal or, however you want to say it, anodized aluminum or 360 brick light industrial building.
Speaker 1:Thanks for plugging in. Thanks for plugging in, hey I like 360 brick and that's another.
Speaker 3:other people are scared off by it, but that's a major trend.
Speaker 2:A lot of people are shying away from building, and I mean price wise, but also aesthetics. Wise people are loving the idea of repurposing, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, which we're doing a great job, a great job. I'm sorry we're doing a great job across some city hall, like that building. Uh, what is it? Main Street Market.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, the market yeah.
Speaker 3:Uh, david Gaines, oh, lee Street, lee Street, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, okay, lee.
Speaker 3:Street boutique is awesome.
Speaker 1:She just poured so much into that and it's beautiful inside and even the holistic spot that's in that same development, like absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 1:Um and that just goes into like revitalizing or repurposing an older building. So there it is. Uh, yeah, we want to see a lot more of that in the city too, in spaces that we where we can do that, and by actually doing a downtown revitalization plan, uh, we can map out where we can see in what we would consider our downtown area places that are eligible for revitalization or redevelopment, or maybe even just like a facial rehab. So you know like it's, it's very important to us basically to uh to put in that strategic strategy of like where we want to focus development and going and making sure that we have the spaces for people that do want to come to the city.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Awesome, awesome. I think Zachary gets so many things right. What, um? What I think it can get more right or in the future is, uh, catering to more single people you know, um, it gets gets families right All day.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, the entertainment stuff for for Zachary is uh, sports right now and great parks and those types of amenities, but uh, yeah, I think more beautiful multifamily amenities like Americana approved that concept. Uh, it went vacant during COVID and everybody was like we don't know if it's COVID or if it's just that nobody wants this kind of product. But you know, you see that apartment brick, 360 brick apartment complex is full now.
Speaker 1:It really well. It's beautiful. As a person that moved here and needed a place to live, you live there for a little while. I know I tried to um couldn't get in. Couldn't not get in. I was on a waiting list for, I think, like eight. They told me I would be on the waiting list for eight months and I was like I don't have eight months If you could take if someone would take that and bring it closer here.
Speaker 3:You know just it's three stories. It doesn't feel like it's going to go sideways or anything like that. It's just really good real estate with the retail amenities that's just fun for downtown retail on the bottom floor and to have, um to have, even if it's smaller, more affordable spaces, um I mean.
Speaker 2:I mean, I get people all the time that are a startup or a small business or home base and they really want that brick and mortar opportunity. It's whether to test something out or they're ready, um and and we don't have that in a lot of communities, um, that actually spoke at the main street conference. They have really benefited from, like, major stakeholders in their towns developers, builders that, yeah, maybe they're taking a little bit less in rent. Um, they can afford to do that because of the difference it's going to make in the long run.
Speaker 3:Or you can get more per square foot and do micro retail. Yeah, I see a lot of people shopping a price point rather than a rate, so it's like I just need to be at 800 to a thousand. Like I'm desperate for this. Hold on. I'm trying to think how to get back in.
Speaker 1:What I was like. Is that something that you want to talk about? Your pop up in the back.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm not doing it.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:It was 150 to do it. We're just going to use that existing building for posh pop. Okay, revitalize it.
Speaker 1:I was going to say I was going to give you a chance to plug your development back there.
Speaker 3:Sorry, no, no, it's okay. No, it was a great point. What's that? Oh?
Speaker 1:Mike Holt. Hey, mike, I'm sorry. Yeah, I know, I just have to forget.
Speaker 3:Oh, make sure he doesn't gloss over these, these little notes. Okay, um, all right, where do you want to land the plane? Last topic, I think because we're at 47 minutes.
Speaker 2:Okay, did you have anything else?
Speaker 3:Mike, we're just still um, this is a side conversation. We did unity development, community involvement in projects and planning and discussing how the city is growing and changing. I love what y'all were talking about before, where it's like you got, you got. You know, old boy over here just wants the way it was, and then you got the future.
Speaker 1:We could touch on that the future or okay?
Speaker 2:Just kind of both.
Speaker 3:Yeah, let's just see where we go with it. Okay, mike, we're jumping in, uh, and we are back with Brian Dixon, zachary planning and zoning director and economic developer, or the development director, ashley McHugh, uh, to say that properly. So I we have time for one more topic. I mean we can sit here for two hours. I love talking with y'all. It's so exciting because you guys represent all of the new things and and you represent a sense of uh control over development, which is it's just nice to let's not say control, let's just guiding hand.
Speaker 3:Hey Mike, I want to. I want to roll this whole part back. I just jumped into that in a strange way.
Speaker 1:No, no. I was like no, let's just no. I thought it was good too Well.
Speaker 3:I want to jump back. All right, we're back with Brian Dixon and Ashley McHugh. Uh, we're talking a little bit about, uh, you know, development here and anytime change happens, people get angry. People have mixed emotions, but you know, I learned in a change management class in business school that the first emotion is always anger, right, when you change something. So hello to all those Zachary people that have been here for ages. You know things are changing and I'm sure that's painful, so can y'all speak to you know how you're handling that and what do we do about it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess I'll start off.
Speaker 3:But that's a tough one yeah.
Speaker 1:I would say on my end I usually see it coming in like one or two folds or I end up seeing Zachary in one of two ways. Yeah, I either get Zachary used to be this way or like I grew up here and a lot of things are changing and you know it now takes me a lot longer to get from point A to point.
Speaker 1:B so I would say like there's an older version of Zachary and then a newer version of Zachary. So there's the people that have lived here for a long time, grew up here in their use of Zachary being a particular way, and in their people that are more recent or newer to the city or the area itself, that are moving here for specific reasons, whether it be school work or something like that, and what I feel like what they're looking for, in my opinion, are kind of like two different things.
Speaker 1:And I feel like the people that like grew up here are more so used to like a small town mentality or way of thinking and wanting things to kind of say like smallish. But in actuality, what we are now is at roughly 20,000 people. We're probably going to be at about 30,000 people in the next couple of years and, looking at how that growth is going, we're just going to keep moving forward as a city, and less so, I would say, of like a smaller town, but definitely a city, is what we are, and bringing in those amenities to make sure that we can make everyone happy is what's going to be, is what's going to be key.
Speaker 1:So still having I feel like that's part of the branding that we were talking about earlier is like still making sure that we keep it in a very like family friendly city and we're still small and quaint and we all love each other so much and also like branding off to being like a bigger city, with that like makes us special and what makes some opportunities you know, right, the next generation it goes back to, to the loyalty aspect, to remaining loyalty to your community.
Speaker 2:You know, really you can only control it to a certain point at. I look at it in a way of you know a town's going to become what it is going to become, in a way, if people show interest and express interest in your community, well, how lucky are we to have that? And that's certainly not something we're going to fight. What we're going to do is continue to meet the needs of a growing community so we don't have the leakage to other communities.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Now that's not to say that Zachary will serve every individual and that's why we have so many communities here.
Speaker 1:that that do go to other places to do things.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. There's something for everybody. There's a different type of community for everyone. I totally realize that. But I think for the maybe old Zachary that just continually harps on man, it used to be, it used to be, and I get that there's certainly a certain, there's a space and a place for the nostalgia and the reminiscing, but it can only be helpful to just jump on board and get excited about what's to come. Yeah, I think Zachary is every town really in Zachary is its own, its own beast. It's going to be what it, what it was meant to be. So to be part of the evolution is so exciting. One more point on downtown. Like a lot of growing cities, your downtown can be the hub and and the place for that smaller town feel to. Yeah. So since we're putting the emphasis on downtown revitalization, you know that's the small creative, you know quaint spaces, and so a lot of that can still remain in your downtown.
Speaker 1:And we want to make sure that we do keep the city like special for for what it is what it? Was, and we also want to expand on that too and make it to something that we, we could be whether we see it that way or not now, but like how great, how much more great the city itself could be in bringing those new opportunities here for people to participate in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would just encourage anybody to not just stop in your thinking, to not just man okay, well, it's this way and I don't like it. Yeah, just continue to, to be a part to, to provide your feedback when helpful and edifying. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, there's this amazing guy that they came to speak at the latest assembly required event. First thing was Dupau. He's the. He's the brand manager over at PJs and and Frankie's doghouse and he's like Frankie's doghouse was a really weird brand, he's like but that's what it is, it's. It's about finding the thing that is weird and then getting your core group that will stick with that weird no matter what, and just you know going to battle. You know like, well, I hate to use the word battle, but just they'll stick with you through thick and thin and you know if that hot dog for them is just like a piece of fish with like you know, on a hot dog bun.
Speaker 1:Yes, we need spaghetti. If we need spaghetti is your thing, let we need spaghetti be your thing.
Speaker 3:That's it. We need spaghetti fast, but now we can't take. It is taken.
Speaker 1:It is Sorry. You know, but we still have the bed run, the bed races, the bed races yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll get something funky going downtown.
Speaker 1:We'll definitely get some fun activities going. So we are like I said. We've always like brainstorming. We're always looking for people to come in to give us ideas, which is why we were reaching out to see who we can get involved to bring in those fresh ideas to bring in some things that they may be seeing as people that live here. We all have our, our groups.
Speaker 1:It's interesting to see how those different groups can come together and what we can produce when we do come together. Going back to the point of unity, in being one you know, we all live in the city. We're all individuals, but collectively, once we get together and we get to put all of our days together, coming from different aspects of life, I think that that really does make us a special city altogether. Yeah, look at how great the high school is doing.
Speaker 2:Right, there's something for everyone that the spirit of this, this place, is not only a place for just these few thousand, that you know, a more generous spirit is kind of what I think is like. No, this is so great and so we want to share it yeah less fear, more aspirational yeah for sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I thought when when max went into high school, we briefly felt kind of like unsurely, wait, what's this going to be like? This is, this is different, it's new and that child is flourished so much there and once you get inside of that high school you really just see how much there are. There. Is, you know, at that wonderful place?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think. Unfortunately, some people have maybe forgotten how lucky we are just because yeah we've been. I don't know. I don't know if it's just the closeness, but if you sit down, ever have the pleasure of sitting down with Ben Nikkei or hearing him speak he spoke at a Chamber lunch and learn recently and I mean the facts, the data, the offerings that they have, it just is incredible, truly a full time weight trainer and coach little, I mean, just like full time this and that it's incredible.
Speaker 2:Coach think is a full time running academic certifications, the, you know, associate's degrees and things like that. Yeah that's yeah. I'm glad you mentioned that.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and I think that no matter how we rebrand or think about this city, it will always be about those columns out there in front of that school. Like that, the schools are always going to be important, you know it is a foundation, they're a staple. Yeah, yeah, we build around it and hopefully we can tie them all into the downtown redevelopment and many more great things to come, guys. I think we leave it there for now and see at the dog parade huh, the must love dogs event coming up.
Speaker 3:February 11th. Give us the times again on that actually.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sunday, february 11th, 11am to 3pm. The parade rolls at 2pm. You can register your dog to participate. There will also be some awesome prizes, but register your dog at mustloveluvdogsorg.
Speaker 3:Yeah, awesome. I'm gonna ask you one question as we go out about quality of life, but that is it for this week's episode of Portion Paris, the podcast with Ashley McHugh and Bryant Dixon. It's been a pleasure to have you both here today and I hope you know you're always welcome here, right, and we're neighbors. You're right over there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you should pop on over.
Speaker 3:Huge shout out to our community partners, like the Zachary Community School District, who stand with us in our mission to make Zachary a place where every resident feels heard and engaged, thanks to generosity and support of our community partners, y'all. If you had to sum up in three words what quality of life would be? I'm gonna let y'all work as a team. What would it be?
Speaker 2:Here specifically.
Speaker 3:Anywhere. Quality of life. What are what three words would you use to create quality of life on a planet in Mars?
Speaker 1:Or that sounds crazy. Oh for a planet for Zachary now For anywhere in the world. Oh, I would say quality of life. I was gonna say for Zachary, right now I would say work in progress, because we are working to improve what we already have. So I would say currently I would say work in progress. So, you went with a phrase.
Speaker 3:You went with a phrase. Can you go with adjectives?
Speaker 2:Okay, inclusion voice and maybe help me out on that third one.
Speaker 3:Inclusion, voice and diversity All right, we'll leave it there guys. Catch y'all next time. Thank you so much for being here.
