The city of Newberry’s Planning and Zoning Board workshopped an initial comprehensive plan update on Monday. The plan includes 11 elements, seven of which have proposed changes.
Newberry hired CHW Consultants to assist with future land use (FLU), housing and traffic circulation plans. City staff has handled the smaller changes for the other elements.
CHW has held two community input open houses, generating about 152 comments, which the company boiled down to 34 points. Ryan Thompson, senior land planning project manager at CHW, provided the board a list of priorities CHW gained from the open houses that include: preserving rural character, encouraging commercial and job growth, encouraging downtown investment, take advantage of planned one-way pair streets, improving downtown walkability, diversifying housing stock type and quality, enhance infrastructure and expand recreation facilities.
Thompson said as CHW tried to hone the list down, the city commission made it clear that the project needed to focus on all eight.
The board spent most of the workshop discussing future land use during CHW’s presentation. Thompson brought three FLU decision points before the board, asking for more direction and definition on the preservation of rural character, fostering downtown growth and encouraging new land development opportunities.
Newberry’s downtown development and “small-town feel” were at the center of discussions. To improve walkability within the town, board members discussed the need for more sidewalks, wider and further from the road. Mayor Jordan Marlowe recommended there should also be landscaping and shade around the sidewalks to make people want to use them.
Several board members said encouraging small businesses in downtown Newberry is difficult right now because there is nowhere to park and it feels dangerous to walk.
The board also talked about the importance of preserving the town’s historic and rural natures, though board member Kathi Thomas said she wanted clarity on what “rural” means in Newberry’s context. Thompson said listening to the board’s discussion was helping him better understand what the town’s character means.
“I’ve heard ‘preserve the rural character’ so many times,” Thompson said. “The reason I’m standing here now is to understand what it means and why. Because to me, the rural character was the agricultural fields and having expansive views as you drive through town. It wasn’t so much the core of town and developments and how developments feel. So it’s a big learning lesson on my part as well.”
Board members told Thompson it was important to them to preserve a sense of history, suggesting historic styles for buildings in certain parts of town. Thompson suggested it might be better to allow the historic buildings to stand for themselves, letting newer buildings be built in different, though complementary, styles.
“Outside, it is what it is, but you want to at least have something where you drive through Newberry, you feel the history of Newberry,” board member Naim Erched said.
Thompson also brought up the idea of introducing more inclusive zoning in Newberry’s downtown, bringing some subtle high-density and multifamily housing to diversify the commercial and low-density zoning currently there.
Marlowe expressed interest in diversifying Newberry’s housing options.
“I don’t want a one size fits all,” Marlowe said. “I want a visionary document that allows for different applications to do different things.”
City staff presented only minor suggested changes for recreation and open space, conservation, intergovernmental coordination and economic development.
The plan would not change capital improvements, public facilities, property rights or sewer, solid waste drainage and water. The board’s main concerns centered around diminishing the open space credit developers get for stormwater basins, and controlling what economic developments are encouraged at the center of town.
The next step for the comprehensive plan will be a city commission workshop on Nov. 28. After that, CHW and staff will work together to create drafts of the plan for the planning and zoning board and city commission to vote on and transmit to the state for review. Staff projects the item will likely come return to the city commission on May 27 for an enactment hearing, to come into effect June 1.
