About four years ago, the Planning Department conducted a series of community visioning initiatives. These included public meetings at all the elementary schools and various surveys requesting feedback from the community. All this information was compiled, and a master list of goals were created. The purpose of this initiative was to identify what the citizens and residents of Elizabethton desired in their community and what they wanted their community to look like in 10 to 20 years.
One of the goals that came out of this initiative was to improve building frontages and appearances throughout the city — essentially, people wanted a more attractive city. So, the question becomes how do we do this? How do we make a more attractive city and what will it cost? Well, unfortunately, this is going to be an unpopular answer, but it is through regulation.
It is our citizens, residents, local businesses, and elected officials’ job to determine what we want our city to look and feel like. It is then up to our elected and appointed officials to ensure that we are working to create that look and feel in our community.
Many of the developers and businesses we see come into Elizabethton don’t live here. They come in, want to know the cheapest way they can build what they want to build, build it, then turn around and leave the community having a check from the business or development mailed to them. And, quite frankly, I don’t blame them! That’s part of their goal, to invest as little as possible and maximize how much money they make. But the point is that they don’t have to look at the development daily or live with a negative reputation in the community, because if they receive that check they’re not setting foot in our community.
When I first started there was one statement I made that I thought was extremely pivotal in how we think through a potential development. The statement is, “Do not give in on what your standards are just because you think a business or development won’t build here. The developer will be here today, collect their money, and be gone tomorrow, but you and your fellow citizens will have to live with that decision every day. Make sure it’s something you can live with.”
If we desire a more attractive community, we need to create regulations that require developers to make buildings that are more attractive. Maybe we require them to use traditional Appalachian building materials for the facades to make Elizabethton unique. Maybe we require more trees and less parking spaces. Maybe we require that they install a bike rack and sidewalks so that others without vehicles can easily visit their business, because that’s the type of community we desire. There are many things we can do, but our citizens must support and stand behind elected and appointed officials when we enforce these requirements. They must be willing to say to a developer, “If you don’t want to create something that will make our community attractive, then maybe our community isn’t for your business.” Let’s talk about it!
(Jon Hartman is Director of Planning & Economic Development for the City of Elizabethton. He can be contacted at 542-1503 or by email at: JHartman@CityofElizabethton.org)