week of 1/29/03
 
 
 
  Keeping the momentum
Downtown Waynesville leaders continue to reshape, adapt vision for Main Street area
By Scott McLeod

When Waynesville Town Manager Lee Galloway started reeling off the list of “best” and “top “ picks that the town of Waynesville has been included in, a smile just kept spreading across his face.

“I hope you all realize,” Galloway told the executive board of the Downtown Waynesville Association, “that if you continue to succeed in making downtown so attractive and desirable, we will be overrun by people.”

Galloway was speaking at the DWA’s annual strategic planning session, and he was only half-joking. The town and the DWA have worked closely since the organization’s inception in 1985, helping to spark one of Western North Carolina’s most notable downtown renaissances.

Jeff Fischbach works out of Asheville for the Department of Commerce’s Division of Community Assistance. He helped lead the strategic planning session last week, and he was highly complimentary of what the DWA has accomplished.

“The heart of the Main Street program is that it looks for long-term, incremental improvements. Part of the reason you are so successful is because you have these sessions and keep a long-term agenda,” said Fischbach.

Ron Huelster, the first and only executive director for DWA, does not want the organization to rest on its laurels. He sees challenges ahead as officials try to expand the Central Business District, a move that would relieve some of the pressure Main Street is facing, pressure that could drive rents so high that businesses would have trouble remaining profitable. Finding a way to attract residential development - either condominiums or apartments - remains key to expanding the CBD and continued success of Main Street and the growing downtown business district, he says.

“The only way to take pressure off Main Street is to have some infill development, some residential and mixed use,” says Huelster. “If we can get residential development, then we could tie in the greenway along Richland Creek. If you could walk to shops, walk to the greenway, have access of coffee shops and restaurants, then we could get specialty food stores and more development along those lines. It all ties together.”


One step at a time

While the DWA’s executive board spent a lot of time at its planning session talking about long-term projects like the infill development and attracting residential developers, it also focused on the nuts and bolts. As Fischbach pointed out, those incremental improvements are what lead to larger successes. This year for the DWA, the immediate priorities are now set: finally redesigning Wall Street, developing a plan to handle parking while the courthouse is being built, continuing the Main Street flower planter program, and improving the looks of its street light posts.

“We’ve got $60,000 in the budget for Wall Street,” Galloway told the DWA board. “The landscape committee has met with (town engineer) Fred Baker to discuss it. The first effort will be at that disaster of an intersection.”

The plan is to slow traffic on the street that Main Street merchants depend on for parking. Stamped concrete crossings will be installed, and the intersection behind The Enterprise Mountaineer and Cedar Hill Studios will be re-designed.

A committee was also established to discuss parking with the county, and Teresa Pennington agreed to take over the committee that will make sure the planters remain a Main Street fixture.

DWA President Mark Clasby expressed the importance of taking care of the parking situation. The fear is that courthouse employees and courthouse customers may flood Main Street parking areas.

“Every day is important, so we need to meet with the county now,” said Clasby.

Huelster, who many credit as instrumental in what has happened over the years in downtown Waynesville, said the annual planning sessions are vital to DWA’s success.

“It helps establish priorities and gets everyone focused. Any successful organization needs to sit down and look at what it needs to do,” said Huelster. “Like the parking issue. It’s important for the businesses that make up our organization.”


Looking ahead

Downtown Waynesville’s success did not happen overnight. When the DWA was created in 1985 and the special taxing district established, about 25 percent of the buildings on Main Street were empty. Now, of the buildings that can be rented, there is a 3 percent vacancy rate.

Since 1985 the public-private partnerships have led to about $31.5 million in investments in downtown, with $29 million of that coming from private sources. There has been a net gain of 91 new businesses and net job creation of 365.

“Because we have the taxing district and are not a volunteer business organization, people can’t just back out if they don’t like what happens,” said Pennington. “That helps build the spirit of camaraderie and teamwork that helps us all.”

When the town board finally gets its new land-use plan on the books - which is expected to happen in May - the DWA and town planners hope to actively pursue “infill development.”

“We should form a committee, start talking with the town board and town staff to come up with redevelopment plan and infill areas,” Huelster told the executive board last week.

The goal is to get more people living in the downtown area, which is the only way to attract a more diverse array of businesses. The joint goals of expanding the CBD to Frog Level and pursuing infill development have a goal of expanding the downtown area from Main Street all the way to Frog Level.

“It’s always been my dream to create a residential development area, and I hope we can see that happen,” said Pennington. “I’ve visited other towns who have done it, and it is great to get those other type businesses downtown.”

Executive board members said last week they hope to work with architects to provide a visual illustration of what could happen with this type of development.