NORTH AUGUSTA TODAY

North Augusta looking for ways to improve its downtown

Sarah LeBlanc
sarah.leblanc@augustachronicle.com
Mary Haley Thompson, project manager at the City of Anderson in South Carolina and part of the Main Street Resource team, speaks to a crowd gathered in North Augusta’s City Council Chambers Wednesday on ways to improve North Augusta. The meeting was hosted by North Augusta Forward. [Sarah LeBlanc/The Augusta Chronicle]

North Augusta’s population is growing, and so should the downtown.

That was the pitch community and council members alike heard during a meeting Wednesday hosted by North Augusta Forward that highlighted ways to improve downtown.

Giving the pitch was a resource team compiled by Main Street South Carolina, which selected North Augusta Forward to participate in its revitalization program in 2018. The organization provides support and training to help restore downtowns across the state.

In a crowded Council Chambers, the team's six members focused on strategies to refine downtown North Augusta. Their recommendations included improving streetscapes by adding more flowers and trees, renovating old buildings like the Marrh Theater in North Augusta into a winery and brewery, and installing art pieces along Center Street, which leads down to SRP Park.

But the number one thing people want downtown, according to a survey the group posted online, is restaurants.

Following restaurants, people said they want meeting and event space, as well as live music and more events.

Those needs are important to know, since North Augusta is projected to grow about 4 percent in the next five years to about 24,000 people. That’s about 950 new households, Muldrow said in his report.

The team also presented ways to drive visitors downtown and create a unified brand for groups and attractions around the city. That includes the North Augusta Greeneway, North Augusta Forward and North Augusta downtown.

Muldrow also said the city exports about 8,000 white collar professionals across the river, so increasing the amount of restaurants and attractions could create economic development opportunities in North Augusta. The group also advised expanding the North Augusta Greeneway as a single connection through downtown, and creating a place to rent bikes.

“You’ve pioneered the idea of a Greeneway, what you haven’t done is capitalized on it,” Muldrow said.

Jenny Boulware, manager of Main Street South Carolina, said the crux of the program is creating partnerships in the community to develop strategies and brainstorm ideas. Council member Fletcher Dickert said the city should work with North Augusta Forward and North Augusta Chamber of Commerce to implement some of the changes the group proposed.

“Obviously it’s good to have outside perspective and think outside the box but not everything will work for this community,” Dickert said. “But then it’s taking those ideas and then tweaking them to work for us, so it’s exciting.”

Dickert said some ideas, like creating a cohesive brand and banners to be placed downtown, could be done within the next several months. Others, such as improving the streetscape, could take longer.

Financing could also delay certain improvements, though the city already has some money set aside in sales tax funds for streetscape improvement.

“The challenge is going to be all of this takes time and effort and who’s going to lead that charge and how is that going to happen from the city side,” Dickert said.

Randy Wilson, president of Community Design Solutions and a member of the resource team, said another challenge could be persuading the community that the change would be an improvement.

“This place is going to change," Wilson said. "It’s going to change dramatically, but thankfully it looks like it’s changing for the better so you might as well get ahead of it and plan for the change and manage it on your terms so we can maintain the small town quality of life while embracing the benefit the growth generates.”

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