 |
The City of Goldsboro agreed to fund a study to create a
Master Plan of the Greater Downtown Goldsboro
area April 13, 2006. The intent of the process and document was to develop
a plan and vision for the commercial district of downtown and its surrounding historic
residential neighborhoods. The City hired Allison Platt & Associates to
prepare the Master Plan. The City and the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corporation
Board of Directors (DGDC) worked together with Ms. Platt to complete the project
and to guide its development with the assistance of public input from four public
forums and numerous personal stakeholder interviews. From beginning to end,
the process to complete the Plan took fourteen months.
Highlights
of the Planinclude the following: A need to address: 1) appearance of the
approaches into downtown and the scope of work created by the Plan identifies a
need for both public and private investments within the area identified. Through
this collective partnership, it is estimated that once the Plan is implemented to
its fullest potential, an estimated $178 million of investment will be realized.
It is important to note that the Plan has a 10-year horizon and will take time and
cooperation to achieve the goals identified in the Plan. The overall vision
of the Plan is ambitious yet achievable with committed community leaders, persistence
and a continued interest to keep our standards elevated. ck of adequate wayfinding
signs, 2) erosion of downtown edges into the historic residential neighborhoods,
3) more residential and mixed uses in the downtown core, 4) the continued consideration
of potential sites of catalyst uses and their potential major impacts to downtown
and the city at-large, 5) attention to open space hierarchy and streetscapes, 6)
concentrate on character and image.
Ms.
Platt stated that the downtown streets have an attractive urban feel but contain
few amenities, especially those devoted to pedestrians. She further stated
that we have many attractive historic buildings and that we have a very strong commercial
core that is luckily surrounded by historic residential neighborhoods. However,
Ms. Platt warned that it is these neighborhoods that need attention as their restoration
is essential to downtown’s revitalization. Noted were the infringement of
industrial uses in these neighborhoods as well as permitted deterioration, alterations
and non-contributing new buildings and demolitions that collectively and individually
have deteriorated these neighborhoods.
Therefore, one of the main premises and concepts of the Master Plan is the work
and attention needed to support the strengthening of the historic neighborhoods
that surround downtown and activities that will support the ongoing Comprehensive
Historic Neighborhood Revitalization Plan adopted by the City in 2006. Two other
major components of the Plan include market analyses and strategies to support current
plans for downtown anchors; including the Paramount Theater, community recreation
center and train station, and identification and recommendations for streetscape
improvements. Ms. Platt stated that streetscape improvements will create confidence
and help bring people downtown as well as make it more pedestrian friendly, aesthetically
pleasing and strengthen downtown businesses ability to be accessible and visible.
Specific
observations of the current Center Street design stated that the sidewalks are too
narrow, head-in parking is dangerous and the center median landscaping blocks views
and prevents movement along median. With these observations in mind, the Master
Plan recommends several major streetscape improvements that will widen Center Street
sidewalks, remove head-in parking and include a parallel parking lane along the
sidewalk edge and increase the width of the center median to allow for a center
walkway and two rows of large canopy type trees. It also states the need to
go underground with all of the overhead service lines. Noting that this plan
will decrease the on-street parking units, it specifically identifies locations
for new and expanded parking lots and further states that some can eventually be
constructed as parking garages. Other important plan recommendations include
the creation and adoption of design guidelines to ensure quality development in
the commercial core area, the historic neighborhoods and the transitional area between
the two.
Essentially,
no substantial changes have been made to the Final Plan from its draft form presented
to the public at the last series of public forums and as presented to Council with
the exception of some minor alterations as suggested by staff and Council.
Therefore, knowing that the City Council is in support of the Plan’s agenda and
is very committed to affecting positive change to the commercial center of downtown
as well as the integral surrounding historic neighborhoods, staff is requesting
that the Council officially adopt the Plan as a tool to guide downtown development
over the course of the next ten years. |
|
|