A TR version of 'Falls Park' among initiatives in new downtown plan

Imagine Travelers Rest with its own version of a Falls Park.

Envision a Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail that's widened and swathed in lights at night fall.

Neither of those are fantasies. They're initiatives in Travelers Rest's new downtown master plan.

The plan is an effort to strengthen the downtown as the city's "economic and cultural heart" of the community.

It will serve as a guide for growth and development downtown, and "help the city be more intentional about what we want to come," said Travelers Rest Mayor Brandy Amidon.

The City Council approved the 36-page plan by resolution at its September meeting.

The plan was initiated this past spring as an effort to take a closer look at the city's downtown core and how residents want that area to grow, City Administrator Eric Vinson has said.

Some of the projects in plan are already underway, including beautification and landscaping along edges of the city and plans to  market the city for the first time.

Some initiatives will be done as funding becomes available, Amidon said.

A new city website is among the projects completed.

The new TravelersRestSC.com is the culmination of a months-long a design-build process, and will serve as a focal point to the city’s communications efforts, said a news release announcing the launch of the site.

The projects in it are styled as action plans under the headers of business vitality, promotion and image building, and design.

Underneath the design element, the city addresses a need to develop a parking strategy, a public art master plan, and the re-imagining of Gateway Park as Travelers Rest's Falls Park.

The latter recommends studying the feasibility of developing a central lake in Gateway as a green infrastructure feature for park stormwater management and downtown redevelopment.

Adam Kelley, owner pf Leopard Forest Coffee on North Poinsett Highway in the city,  agrees with the portion of the plan that addresses a strategy for parking.

"Parking in general in Travelers Rest, there just needs to be more," he said. "That's a good problem to have."

'Crazy intersections'

Leopard Forest was once housed on Main Street, near its intersection of North Poinsett Highway and State Park Road.

Kelley said more people started focusing on the coffee shop's new location because it  was no longer near one of the city's "crazy intersections."

He hopes the downtown master plan will focus on pedestrians by improving intersections and driving more traffic away from the trail, which runs alongside Main Street.

A main draw to the city's Main Street is the Swamp Rabbit Trail. It helps give the downtown a unique environment, Vinson said.

Residents deemed the trail as one of the city's top assets during a survey for the master plan, Amidon said. It's currently the asset the city is working hardest on, she said.

"'We're very intentional abut making sure that everything is connected to the trail, that it’s treated as a linear park and that we put money to it," she said.

Connectivity

In addition to creating a plan to widen the trail, a goal is to increase connectivity from the trail to places.

The connectivity piece has been a big comprehensive plan for the city, she said.

The plan also calls for signage to educate trail users on trail etiquette, redoing the road, adding landscape to the edges of the city, she said.

The city's main concern is growth. Growth is happening now and Travelers Rest is targeted for more growth partly because it is listed by the federal government as an opportunity zone for investment.

 The downtown master plan will give city leaders the ability to tell potential developers that whatever it brings into the city will need to be within in the plan.

 More than 2,000 people responded to an online survey soliciting input about the master plan.

 They shared their thoughts on a variety of issues, including the city's most important assets and attributes, the biggest challenges facing the city and, if they could, what changes they would make to positively affect the future of Travelers Rest over the next 10 to 20 years.

What stood out for Amidon was "people care and they want to be involved in what happens in TR."

That (2,200) people took the time to fill out a survey and say what they want and what they think is kind of powerful," she said.