GrantWorks is committed to helping Texas communities preserve their heritage, improve their economic vitality and maintain their livability.
The Planning Services we provide are tailored to fit the capabilities of residents and officials in small towns while taking their specific challenges of location, size and staffing into account:
Comprehensive Planning
GrantWorks has created more than 150 comprehensive plans for Texas communities. We employ our experience in leading citizens, staff, and elected officials through Needs Assessment and Community Visioning. The planning process yields studies that consider population, housing, recreation, land use, and economic development. Major emphasis is placed on water, sewer, streets, and drainage infrastructure, incorporated into a 20-year Comprehensive Plan. Clients find that the planning process provides them with clear and useful updated and digitized maps; a system for gathering input from residents and businesses; a prioritized list of improvement projects, their costs, and suggestions for financing them; and a fresh look at ways to resolve long-running community problems.
Colonia Planning
GrantWorks staff has offered colonia planning services since 1995, creating maps of the identified neighborhoods and assisting counties with addressing infrastructure and housing needs. GrantWorks has completed 32 Colonia Plans. They are used to help counties within 150 miles of the Texas –Mexico border obtain grant funds to improve the colonias in their jurisdiction. Our experience in this type of work is unmatched by any planning firm in the state
Planning Grants
The Texas Department of Agriculture, through its Community Development Block Grant program, offers grant funding for Small Town Comprehensive Planning every two years through a statewide competition. GrantWorks staff assists communities with writing competitive applications for the available funds and administering the planning grants once awarded. In 2011, 15 of the 16 total Planning Grants awarded statewide went to GrantWorks’ clients. Grant amounts range from $20,000 to $55,000 and require a small cash match from the community.
Other Planning Services
The Planning department also works with communities to provide focused studies on single planning elements, or a variety of specific elements. GIS Mapping is a part of all of these projects. Types of studies include:
- Capital Improvements Plans (5-year infrastructure plans looking at water, wastewater, drainage and street facilities)
- Economic Development Plans
- Downtown Revitalization Plans
- Ordinance Reviews (Zoning and Subdivision)
- Housing Plans
GIS Mapping
We create or update maps using Geographic Information Systems software of corporate limits, land uses, zoning, and existing infrastructure. GrantWorks uses the latest GIS and other mapping software to provide quality mapping services using on-site fieldwork where necessary to update land uses, digitizing paper maps, updating existing maps, and establishment of databases that put all of the city’s spatial information into one system.
Team Work
At GrantWorks, planning is a core service, not an afterthought. Our Planning team includes four full-time planners, two GIS specialists, and a professional engineer. The team is augmented by GrantWorks staff in other company divisions, including four other AICP certified planners. The Division has also established a relationship with the University of Texas School of Architecture Community and Regional Planning program to employ student interns on an as-needed basis. Our Planning team members are:
- Marilyn Shashoua, Director of Planning Services
- Charlie Davis, Director of Engineering Services
- Carlos Beceiro, Senior Planner
- Denman Glober, Senior Planner
- Anjali Naini, Associate Planner
- Simon Doty, GIS Analyst
- Raquel Aguirre, GIS Analyst
- Lucy Elder, Intern
