DECATUR, Ala (WHNT) — The City of Decatur and engineering teams held a public input meeting on Tuesday for the 6th Avenue Corridor Revitalization Project.

Some people have been excited about the project, while others had questions about the remodeling of the historic downtown district. 

On Tuesday, the city said comments from the public were needed to beautify the main vein of Decatur. However, some residents are saying that their concerns are not being heard. 

The project is part of the city’s “One Decatur” long-term planning initiative. Plans for the project were released by the city in February of 2021, showing a lot of reconstruction to the busy roadway. Residents say that the project may disrupt the historic Albany district and they may want to see more from developers before moving forward. 

“Albany has houses on the east side of 6th Avenue and on the west side of 6th Avenue,” Decatur resident Jay Clark told News 19. “Now there’s not going to be any connection between the two because you can’t drive across or you can’t walk across.”

“I think that’s going to bring more of a separation of the community than it already has,” Clark continued. “I also think it’s going to hinder those people that like to walk from that residential area to downtown.”

Developers say that they are considering all the public input before proceeding with the redevelopment plan. 

“Hopefully a year or two from now when this is all done, we look back and say we really did this well, and we did this right. That’s why we have events like this tonight,” said Stratton Orr, the project’s developer.

The city’s director of development says this project will be at no cost to Decatur taxpayers. The project is expected to break ground in March in consideration of the public’s comments.