Everyday we hear more and more about how American’s are moving to
cities and abandoning rural areas at a record pace; choosing the cities
for their variety of amenities, restaurants, shopping opportunities,
and bike and walk friendly neighborhoods.
Younger generations
desiring to live in low maintenance housing close to a variety of urban
amenities and nightlife. We are now hearing about the desire of
baby-boomers to live in the similar areas with walkable access to
shopping and restaurants as they age. As a professional urban planner, I
hear about this at every conference and training session I go to. The
question I always have is how can Elizabethton fit into these trends?
I see Elizabethton as a tweenage city – we’re not yet a “big” city,
but we’re certainly not a small, rural town anymore. We’re big enough to
offer an urban environment and benefits, but too small to provide “big”
city life and city amenities. This makes fitting Elizabethton nicely
into certain urban policies difficult at times.
Going back to
my question, CAN Elizabethton fit into this trend of high-density
housing with condominiums and walk-up town houses and make it
sustainable?
Right now, the Regional Planning Commission has
set a goal for this coming year to incentivize a high-density
residential district within a three-minute walk time from downtown
Elizabethton. Their ultimate goal is twofold – one, to increase the
number of people within easy walking distance of downtown and, two, to
encourage young families and young professional to live in Elizabethton.
Locating a large number of people near downtown will help
improve the business environment in our downtown. If someone where a
short walking distance from downtown, they would be more likely to
patronize the retail businesses there or eat at the local restaurants
there. Retail business thrives on proximity to population centers.
Encouraging the construction of low maintenance walk-up town houses
or small condominium buildings is a trend that we are seeing
national-wide with the millennial generation. People from this
generation want to be close to restaurants, shopping districts, and
places of employment. Creating such a district in Elizabethton could be a
way to attract this generation to Elizabethton. They may be young
families or young, single professionals, but either way this is a way to
move them to Elizabethton and provide them with opportunities to start a
business or firm.
So what are your thoughts on this? Would
this type of housing arrangement be something you’re interested in?
Let’s talk about it!
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