Public invited to help plan unique Center Grove-area gathering space

The tight-knit communities around the world offered a template.

Sarah and Josh Brown have seen the impact of connection in their travels. Small villages featuring businesses and housing brought together around shared common spaces. People walk or bicycle most places; cars are kept to the outskirts. People of all ages can play, gather and live in these town centers.

The Browns want to bring that to Johnson County.

“What we hope to do is build a town center. It will look like you’re walking into a village in Switzerland or Austria, where everything is organized around pedestrian areas. The buildings will face a village green or a piazza or a courtyard, instead of having cars flying through them,” Sarah Brown said.

The Center Grove-area couple is hoping to turn their 23-acre farm into a community gathering place featuring opportunities for education, recreation, and celebration. Josh and Sarah Brown have a vision for a unique neighborhood hub they’re calling the Center at Olive Branch Farm. Inside the Alpine village-themed space, people can find a park-like setting with centers for special events, small businesses and learning spaces.

The goal is to provide a place for learning, wellness, and community connection in a part of the county that is often disjointed and separated.

In the early planning stages of their idea, the Browns are hosting a series of public meetings to get input from the community, provide information and form a concrete proposal to bring to government officials. The first meeting will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Aberdeen Event Barn, 5028 Abbeygate Blvd., Bargersville.

“This a collaboration between the vision Sarah and I have and inviting our neighbors to actually watch and collaborate on this vision take shape,” Josh Brown said.

Josh and Sarah Brown live on a working farm they call Olive Branch Farm. They have 15 children, ages 9 to 25, and the family is involved in mission work in their free time. For years, they’ve welcomed friends and neighbors to their property for events like homeschooling co-ops, community-supported agriculture, cooking classes and a community garden.

Those visitors frequently rave about the uniqueness of their property. The Browns, inspired by their enthusiasm and suggestions, as well as their own experience traveling, decided to build on this foundation to create a permanent gathering space.

“There are some roots to what we’re talking about — really thinking about what our built environment makes it pleasant to just live life. Sometimes you need to step back and think about the culture, ask what are we doing? Why are we doing what we’re doing?” Josh Brown said.

Olive Branch Farm abuts two existing neighborhoods, with stub roads already existing that could connect to the farm. Their new town center would serve as a way to link some of the isolated developments that exist in the northwest part of the county.

“What we’re wanting to show is that we can take an area that currently has no connections and be the connection for the immediate surrounding neighborhoods,” Josh Brown said. “This is offering a place where all of those touching neighborhoods could walk to.”

Though planning is in the early stages, the Browns have clear ideas about what they hope to include in their gathering space. They see a place where students and community members could engage in hand-on learning, such as a teaching restaurant, bakery, café, and fermentation workshop.

The space could offer cooking and baking classes, as well as host special events, giving students an opportunity to gain practical experience while serving the community.

They hope to include an educational greenhouse, demonstration garden, interactive small livestock experiences and forest gardening areas, where visitors can learn about conservation, gardening, and homesteading practices. The Browns plan to continue living on the farm and keeping it going, they said.

They space will feature picnic areas as well as walking and bike-friendly paths, that will allow the surrounding neighborhoods to access the Center and enjoy outdoor activities without having to get in their car.

Other concepts being explored include a neighborhood library and book exchange as well as arts and crafts studios where local artisans can teach classes, host events, and showcase their work. Event spaces could offer a location for local performances, recitals and small weddings.

A tea room and creative arts center would offer additional spaces for learning and gathering, with an emphasis on multigenerational programs that cater to all ages, from young children to seniors. The multigenerational connection is a big point of emphasis, Josh Brown said.

“What is the thing we see in culture that’s missing? In our culture now, we separate all of the generations,” he said. “We think there’s value in bringing the generation together.”

To start the process of creating their vision, the Browns have hired TPUDC, or Town Planning and Urban Design Collaborative. The national community design firm from Franklin, Tennessee, is known for their expertise in sustainable, rural community design and placemaking. They have helped create private developments in communities such as Monroe, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida and Nassau County, Florida, as well as Michigan City, Indiana.

The community-focused nature of the Center means the Browns want the public’s input in the planning process. That’s the reason behind the multi-day series of planning and design workshop. The workshop will allow community members to share their ideas and feedback directly with the design team and play an active role in shaping the future of the Center.

Brian Wright, a town planner with TPUDC, will help lead the workshop.

The opening presentation for the Center will be Wednesday, with open studio sessions planned from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, 9 to 11 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Olive Branch Farm. Wright and the project’s community planning team will then take the ideas presented during the sessions and craft a proposal to bring before the county planning department to address zoning and other issues.

A closing presentation will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 20 at Aberdeen Event Barn.

“The whole experience is public. We’re going to set up 10 tables with the designers are working. It will be an open invitation to anyone in the community who wants to see the process or have opinions, ideas about what should be done,” Sarah Brown said.

IF YOU GO

Olive Branch Farm community planning workshops

What: An opportunity for the public, business owners and local officials to come help plan the transformation of Josh and Sarah Brown’s 23-acre farm into a community gathering place featuring opportunities for education, recreation, and celebration.

Opening presentation: 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aberdeen Event Barn, 5028 Abbeygate Blvd., Bargersville

Open Design Studio: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday, 9-11 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Olive Branch Farm, 5720 Olive Branch Road, Greenwood

Closing Presentation: 6 p.m. Nov. 20, Aberdeen Event Barn