City of Ennis, Texas

The City of Ennis, located along IH-45 just south of the DFW Metroplex, emphasized industrial economic development over the past 15 years, and thus has stagnated in new residential and retail development in comparison to its peercities. As a result, the City has had limited resources to invest in quality of lif eamenities such as parks, trails, and other community facilities due to its focus on attracting industrial development. In order for Ennis to be able to take advantage of the regional growth opportunities, the city will to take on a more balanced approach rather than its focus on industrial-only development.

The key to this Comprehensive Plan Update has been to identify the quality of life outcomes for the citizens of Ennis:

1. Diversified employment base (including expanding higher educational opportunities)
2. Increased housing options; including quality and range
3. More shopping, dining and entertainment options
4. Access to a variety of recreation amenities
5. Access to and the enjoyment of natural areas including wildflowers

In order to direct the City’s limited resources to implement these quality of life outcomes, the planning process identified goals for three focus areas given current momentum (Downtown) and potential opportunities to leverage natural and man-made elements such as Lake Bardwell and US 287 Highway improvements. In addition,it aligns the quality of life goals with the focus area approach to optimize the city’s implementation capacity. To this end, the plan update identifies key implementation steps to turn it into reality.Ms. Narayana led the focus area approach and implementations recommendations of the 2015 Comprehensive Plan Update. The Plan Update was adopted unanimously by the Ennis City Commission in January 2016.

This project was undertaken with Halff Associates as the prime firm. Images courtesy of Halff Associates.