By LYNETTE SOWELL-STEVENS
Cove Leader-Press
John Roberts and Alexis Angelo, with Austin-based TIP Strategies, facilitated three community sessions last week at the Copperas Cove Civic Center.
The pair was on an information-gathering mission: to get answers from business owners, nonprofits, civic organizations, and residents about what they believed about the City, how they see it, and what they would like to see from it and its leadership.
Roberts started with three points to consider, the first that growth is going to happen in Copperas Cove, and that it is in the middle of the growth that is occurring from Dallas to San Antonio, and eastward to Houston.
“The way the city responds to growth makes all the difference. Are you overrun by the growth, meaning no new opportunities? You’re just a throughway, or bedroom community, or side stop, or do you really take advantage of it?” he asked. “The third point is that the image of the city influences that. You need to absorb the fact that you are going to grow, that you can influence that growth, and the way people see you matters.”
Angelo shared that back in June she and Roberts had a similar session with the city council and EDC board members. She shared information from that session and pointed out one of the things that stood out – the alignment of the city with its residents.
While it aligned with staff and with other organizations, its alignment score with residents was 2.6 out of five.
“There’s a disconnect with the citizens of Copperas Cove, and so that’s a big part of what’s driving these conversations – it’s finding out from residents, from organization leaders, what investments need to happen in the community, and for us to then take that back to council and the EDC,” Angelo said.
It was also stated that downtown Copperas Cove was named as the top underused asset, as well as Ogletree Gap Park, as well as the ethnic diversity and cultural position of the City because of its proximity to Fort Hood.
One challenge mentioned Copperas Cove being seen as just an extension of Fort Hood rather than having its own identity, and being seen as a community where people may reside, but whose residents go elsewhere for activities.
Attendees were then given a series of questions via a “mentimeter” that they scanned through a QR code and responded to via phone, and the answers were anonymously lined up on the screen.
Downtown revitalization is the community’s highest redevelopment priority. Roads and infrastructure remain the top citywide concern. Residents want more entertainment, restaurants, and shopping options. The community values being family-friendly, veteran-friendly, and welcoming. There is strong support for investments that improve quality of life rather than simply attracting growth.
To answer the question as to what is missing in Copperas Cove, common responses included missing entertainment, such as live music, entertainment venues, theater and the arts, and concerts. For shopping, residents are looking for more grocery choices, large retail stores, something like Lowe’s, and more shopping variety.
As far as dining, residents are looking for more food options, healthy restaurants, and a steakhouse.
For recreation, residents were looking for a splash pad and/or indoor community pool, and an active arts community.
Respondents noted they currently travel to Killeen, Harker Heights, Belton, and as far as Round Rock and Austin to find these amenities.
Participants also emphasized the need for major industry to attract young professionals, better family spaces, and improved infrastructure. They also stressed the importance of civic engagement, transparency, and addressing code compliance issues for business owners. The session aimed to gather community input for strategic investment and branding.
One of the questions had to do with the development, or redevelopment, of downtown Copperas Cove, and what attendees saw as a priority, such as the downtown streetscape, downtown business recruitment, downtown programming and events, marketing the downtown to residents, or whether a different area of town should be developed.
Attendee Teresa Chavez said that along with streetscape, it would make downtown look so much prettier is if it had some real landscaping that was taken care of.
“Because we don’t really have any of that. It’s just brick and mortar really. Sometimes they have a little scrubby little plant out in front, but it’s pretty much an afterthought,” she said. “Business accessibility, sidewalks and infrastructure, green space. Improvements in the downtown and incentives for building owners to modernize.”
One individual asked if the city ever receives federal grants for businesses or awards any grants for business owners to fix up their buildings.
City Manager Ryan Haverlah said that the city does not receive any grants for that nor has allocated any funding for that. The Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation for the first year did a facade grant, and that’s been pretty successful, Haverlah said. He confirmed that the city does not have nor has tried to hire a grant writer.
“I think grant writers in the communities we work in have been very, very effective. They easily pay for their way because even if they hit a 10 percent success rate, that can that can turn into millions of dollars. So, I think that’s a good suggestion for us to consider,” said Roberts. “The other thing that came up in the earlier group, was a downtown development association or something similar because that takes the burden off the city, not having to communicate with individual business owners. It is people who care about the downtown and feel like they have a group to go to in order to address some of these concerns.”
Angelo said TIP Strategies is going to share the findings with council and with the EDC, and publish a report on the findings from the civic engagement. The brand direction and final deliverables will be delivered in roughly 90 days.
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