Greenwood residents pack first community workshop for plan update

A meeting room at the Greenwood Public Library was packed Tuesday as officials, residents and other stakeholders took part in a community workshop for the city’s comprehensive plan update.

The city of Greenwood is in the process of creating a new comprehensive plan, a group of documents that will guide development and growth in the city for the next 10 to 20 years. The full plan was last updated in 2007, and while there have been some smaller updates since then, it does not account for all of the growth the city has seen over the last 20 years.

The updated plan is designed to address the city’s “Four Pillars” — public safety, infrastructure, economic development and quality of life. It will also prioritize the eastern corridor of the city’s sustained expansion and reinvestment in more established areas of the community, while also looking at some areas of the city’s southwest corner.

As part of the update process, the city and HWC Engineering — the firm the city is paying to help develop the plan — held a community workshop Tuesday at the Greenwood Public Library. More than 100 people attended the workshop, listened to a presentation by HWC Engineering and gave feedback on the plan — far exceeding officials’ expectations for attendance, said Gabe Nelson, the city’s planning director.

“You never know what to expect when you do a community event, but it’s pretty clear that the people in Greenwood are excited about the future of Greenwood and I’m very happy with the turnout,” Nelson said.

For the workshop, attendees walked around the room and visited various stations focused on five topics: public safety, infrastructure, economic development, quality of life and future land use. There was also a more open-ended station where residents could suggest one thing they’d like future Greenwood to have.

Feedback varied widely from station to station.

For infrastructure, residents suggested improvements to intersections like County Line Road and Emerson Avenue and Main Street and Emerson Avenue. Other suggestions were to add bike lanes on Sheek Road and Stop 18 Road, repave Pushville Road, improve Main Street and add a connection to Watson Road from County Line Road.

Suggestions for quality of life included increased shade on trails, more bike lanes and paths, replacing existing sidewalks and adding more pedestrian walkability.

Public safety suggestions included increased code enforcement, improved communication with residents, expanded presence of police and fire agencies, and addressing speeding/drag racing on U.S. 31 between Fry Road and Main Street.

Lifelong resident Brad Nemeth, the former president of Restore Old Town Greenwood, was one of the more than 100 people who participated in the workshop. Nemeth has attended planning workshops like this before, and while he’s not on the board of ROTG anymore, he’s still heavily involved in the group.

“We are one of the stakeholders with the community,” Nemeth said. We want to make sure that the voices of the citizens and the business owners in Old Town are heard for what everybody wants to see with Old Town.”

During the 2007 comprehensive plan update, there was an Old Town subcommittee. For this year’s process, Old Town representatives have already reached out about getting involved in the process and making sure everyone’s voice is heard, he said.

Nemeth would like to see continued preservation of historic buildings in Old Town, along with bringing a variety of businesses into the area and making sure that the empty Old Town commercial spaces are filled.

“There are some empty buildings right now, empty spaces, so getting those full,” he said. “And then you know, making sure that people who live in Old Town, and who can visit Old Town, have good places to shop and eat and all that.”

Nelson said residents began to show up to take part in the workshop 30 minutes before the doors opened. With a higher-than-expected turnout, he hopes residents and other stakeholders continue to have the energy to take part in the year-long update process.

Before Tuesday’s workshop, officials had already begun to receive feedback on what residents want the city’s future to be. An online survey and an online map where people can put geographic-specific input and comments have been online for a few weeks on the plan’s website, PlanGreenwood.com.

So far, officials say they have received 177 survey responses, with over 100 of them being from just the first week. The online map has had 204 comments as of Wednesday morning, and officials expect the numbers to grow higher over the next few weeks.

Tuesday’s workshop was just the first of several planned. Officials are also going to start meeting with focus groups, such as transportation, public safety, downtown business leaders and large employers, about the update, Nelson said.

Online participation through the survey and map will continue to be available through the end of November. Other online opportunities for participation may pop up after that, he said.

Nelson hopes that people continue to give feedback and share the survey with their friends and family. It’s not just adults who should take part either, he said.

“This isn’t just for adults to be a part of, we want all generations, all age groups, all ethnicities, all people of Greenwood,” Nelson said. “We’re a city for everyone in Greenwood, so we want to hear from really everyone.”

More information about the update, the online workshop and future opportunities for feedback can be found by going to PlanGreenwood.com.