DUNCANVILLE—Thirteen North Texas cities were recently recognized as 2018 Certified Scenic City award recipients. The Scenic City Certification program is a project of Scenic Texas and and recognizes cities for their demonstrated commitment to high-quality scenic standards for public roadways and public spaces.
Locally, Duncanville came in with a Bronze Award for 2018. It is the first instance of the city winning an award of this kind.
“Duncanville is a new Scenic City,” says Blanca Ortega, Office Manager at Scenic Houston. “This was their first time applying to our Program.”
Duncanville applied to the Scenic City Certification Program and received its detailed assessment. Overall, the program reviews and assesses cities based on their official ordinance language as compared to the Scenic City model.
“The Program is designed to give credit to what the cities are doing well and after full review, Duncanville received its Bronze certification,” Ortega explained. “When cities receive certification and score in the upper range of available points, cities land in one of five levels. Those levels are Recognized, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. In order to receive the first level of recognition, cities must receive at least 50% of possible points.”
Assessment Process
Any Texas city may apply to the Scenic City Certification Program for an objective review of its existing municipal infrastructure ordinances as they relate to the model standards. The assessment is points-based, and every city applicant receives a detailed, scored evaluation that identifies both strengths and areas for improvement.
“The ‘top level’ of our certification program is Platinum,” Ortega says. “These cities received at least 90% of possible points in the application, thus awarding them their Platinum designation. Because every city goes through the exact same application process, we recognize all cities with the same enthusiasm. Every city that applies is important to our Program and its success, regardless of certification level.”
Four cities have earned certification for the first time and nine are re-certifying or upgrading existing certification status, bringing the total number of certified cities across Texas to 75.
The Scenic City Certification Program will host its awards reception in conjunction with the Texas Municipal League Conference. This year the conference takes place in Fort Worth and the awards reception is Thursday, October 11, from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. at the Omni Hotel Fort Worth.
The Scenic City Certification Program is the only program of its kind in the United States.
“Through the Scenic City Certification Program, cities access a low cost, high rate-of-return diagnostic tool,” said Anne Culver, executive vice president of Scenic Texas. “The 360° evaluation of existing infrastructure standards each applicant city receives is a roadmap for future growth and development. It pleases us Duncanville is among so many municipalities in the Program this year.”
Honored Cities
Cities earning first-time certification or recertification in 2018 and their rankings are:
Bee Cave (Ranked Up) – Platinum
Corinth (Ranked Up) – Silver
Duncanville (First-Time) – Bronze
Fort Worth (Re-Certified) – Gold
Little Elm (First-Time) – Silver
Manor (First-Time) – Bronze
McKinney (Re-Certified) – Platinum
Nacogdoches (First-Time) – Recognized
Pharr (Ranked Up) – Silver
Prosper (Ranked Up) – Silver
Rockwall (Re-Certified) – Platinum
Seabrook (Re-Certified) – Recognized
West University Place (Re-Certified) – Silve
