GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) – The city of Greenville has been conducting an airport district planning study for quite some time. This week they asked the public for feedback.
The downtown airport study area includes the Greenville Convention Center and surrounding areas bordered by Interstate 385, Haywood Road, Laurens Road, and Pleasantburg Drive.
“We are looking at things like land use, transportation improvements, infrastructure capacity improvements,” said Amanda Morrell, project manager for CallisonRTKL. “It all kind of ties together to create a vision for the community.”
Morrell said her team is looking at the potential growth for the next ten years.
She said affordable grocery stores are a need.
The master plan also currently outlines affordable housing, restaurants, hotels, and one more thing Morrell called most important: walkability.
“The number one thing we have been hearing is just being able to safely cross these roads that we just talked about,” Morrell said. “It is a daunting thing to do today. It is really unsafe for folks.”
Others working with the consulting firm said there are challenges in making pedestrian safety a reality on the east side of Greenville.
“One of the big things is that the road character around this area is pretty challenging,” said Beth Hesler, associate principal and urban designer for CallisonRTKL. “There are big roads with a lot of traffic and they are hard to cross. Getting folks into the area we are looking at in particular is a challenge from every side.”
Morrell said the city of Greenville has set a vision and priorities for what they want to see over time. She says her team will create a roadmap of how to make that vision a reality.
“The city is just trying to be really thoughtful about making sure those things are possible in an area that is growing.” Morrell said.
A public presentation will be given in May to receive additional feedback before the city would adopt the plan.
The consulting firm working for the city said this is a 15 year comprehensive strategy plan.
