By the time the 2000 holiday season rolls around, shoppers in Newnan's historic downtown will notice a drastic change in the town's look.

Noted landscape architect Nimrod Long told the Coweta County commissioners Tuesday evening that he was in the preliminary stages of designing the streetscape for the nine blocks of Newnan's downtown. The city received a $1 million grant to redo its downtown and the city of Newnan is matching the grant with $1.1 million.

Since Coweta County is the owner of the courthouse in the middle of the design area, Long wanted the county's assessment of the proposal.

Commission Chairman Lawrence Nelms said the county wants to be included in the proposal and said it would make sense to have one designer for the entire project, instead of hiring a separate one for the county's part of the project.

Long explained the design work was still in the preliminary phases and no cost estimate had been established. He expects construction to start in January, with the project being completed by September.

His initial vision for the area includes widening the sidewalks and adding brick pavers. Long also believes an additional 15 percent capacity could be added for parking in the downtown area simply by re-striping the existing parking areas and creating parking spaces out of some unused space in the downtown area.

When the design is final, Long will make another presentation to the commission and seek its approval. In the meantime, he is soliciting suggestions for making the downtown even more workable.

“We want to make sure that both pedestrians and traffic can move around the area,” he said.

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