An expanded Fort Conde Village as the result of a reconfigured Interstate 10 interchange? A pedestrian plaza, boat slip and performance venue at a newly constructed Dauphin landing along the Mobile River? A renovated Civic Center surrounded by an entertainment and shopping village at Spanish Plaza?

These, and many other projects, all within a 10 square mile area in and around downtown and midtown Mobile, will soon officially become our newest “String of Pearls,” Mayor Sam Jones announced earlier this week at the regularly scheduled meeting of the Mobile City Council.

A little more than a year after the strategic planning of the “New Plan for Mobile” was commissioned to urban development firm EDSA for the sum of roughly $400,000, the plan was revealed. Jones said the city would begin the early stages of implementation within the month.

The “New Plan for Mobile” will head through a battery of formal approvals as public hearings are held before the city’s planning commission and the Mobile City Council in the coming month, according to Jones.

“Before that effort begins, I have asked our department heads to review the report’s recommendations, to identify those which have been accomplished or are in process, and also to identify those which can be initiated in the next six-to-12 months, given existing budgets and staffing,” Jones said.

Jones might experience trouble getting some of the larger projects off the ground, given existing budgets and staffing. The plan’s implementation initiative announcement also comes exactly a week after City Finance Director Barbara Malkove warned the city council of possible spending cuts in the very near future. City revenue is roughly $3.6 million under budget, while the city’s expenditures are only $1.8 million under budget, Malkove said. The numbers provided pertain to the current fiscal year-to-date.

Mobile officials are looking closely at other cities around the country to see how they’re cutting costs, Jones said. Some cities are cutting trash pickup from two times per week to just once a week, he added. That’s a service that’s already been scaled back here, but Jones didn’t offer other examples of potential cuts.

But, while Jones said last week that the administration would do everything it can to avoid making personnel cuts, this week was a different tune as the ball has already begun rolling with some of the projects included in the “New Plan for Mobile.”

The GulfQuest Maritime Museum, two new hotels in downtown including the Hampton Inn and soon-to-be-constructed Candlewood Suites, as well as signalization changes to make a portion of Washington Avenue open to two-way traffic, have all been initiated. Various beautification efforts executed by Keep Mobile Beautiful and other private entities have begun as well, Jones added.

“We have some limitations based on our economy,” Jones said, before stating the need to beautify and grow our city.

One example of the city’s cost cutting efforts will run its course during Mobile’s Mardi Gras celebration. During parades, city officials said, the Mobile Police Department’s patrol schedule will be altered to reduce the amount of overtime paid to officers.

For the more immediate future, the “New Plan for Mobile” holds several projects in store that will be implemented with current city finding, private development funding and through the aide of state- and federally funded governmental entities, according to the document.

For just one example of a project that is hoped to manifest itself physically in the next one to three years, one can look toward the previously mentioned Dauphin Street Landing, which is expected to provide space for a water taxi and visiting ships. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department is spearheading the project’s implementation. It is projected to cost anywhere between $1 and $5 million and the accompanying pedestrian avenue at Dauphin Street Landing is also projected to take off in the next one to three years at a cost of $500,000 to $1 million.

Other projects that speak to economic and commercial development Mobilians can expect to see in the next one to three years, according to the plan, are the adoption of design guidelines, business incentives and a marketing strategy for the downtown “LoDa District buildings.” That effort is expected to cost very little, at under $25,000, according to the plan, and will be handled by the Downtown Mobile Alliance.

The responsibility of redeveloping the current Civic Center site for mixed-use and medium density residential development on the open sites around Spanish Plaza and the site of the current Civic Center parking lot will be implemented by the Mobile Downtown Redevelopment Partnership. That is expected to occur over the next three-to-10 years at an unknown cost, the plan states.

Besides the projects just described, which all fall under the plan’s “Zone 1” or the “Downtown Core Waterfront & Midtown West Corridors,” are projects in “Zone 2,” which consists of Midtown North and “Zone 3,” which refers to Midtown South.

The plan is not divided by current city council district borders because it caters largely to the areas located in City Council Districts 1, 2 and 3.

For a more detailed look at the extensive strategic plan, its associated costs and accompanying objectives, visit the city’s “New Plan for Mobile” Web site at www.newmobileplan.com