DENISON, Texas (KTEN) -- The Denison City Council has agreed to provide $18 million in funding toward the Designing Downtown Denison project.

The money will finance the first phase of the streetscape project; $4 million will go toward the utilities inside the project area, with another $13.5 million for general construction.

"In 2016, we created a tax increment reinvestment zone, and this is called TERZ 3 for the City of Denison," explained city spokesperson Aaron Werner. "It encompasses downtown and a few of the surrounding areas. That TERZ actually collects some of the rising property tax values and puts it into a fund that can then be used into projects like this."

Werner said work on Phase One of the D3 project is expected to start any day now.