Creating Communities for Aging Boomers

Like it or not, we cannot stop the aging process. With each new year comes another tally added to our age. In cities and in urban planning, we attempt to make our communities places for all ages from 5 year olds up through 95 year olds. But there is a unique situation that is quickly coming upon us – the Baby Boomers (birth years 1946 and 1964). There are so many people in this generation that communities and cities must change how they view aging and the types of services they provide in order to accommodate this aging generation.

We see this in some of the activities and services some of our neighboring cities are doing. Johnson City built a new Senior Center a few years ago to accommodate more people and have focused on building trail systems and walkable areas in their city (data suggests this generation desires walkable communities and trail systems so they can remain independent longer). Kingsport has installed a new downtown passive park with a carousel and has been working to develop additional trail systems and birding tours. Jonesborough has just completed a new senior center to accommodate additional growth.

Today, in Elizabethton, just under 30 percent of the city’s population is over the age of 60. According to recent estimates, just under 40 percent of the city’s population will be over the age of 60 by 2036. This means over 1,400 additional 60+ year olds by 2036 than today or roughly 10 percent more of the city’s population will be over 60. Interestingly, the age group under 40 is projected to remain stable during this same time period.

So how do we deal with and prepare for this age wave? Well, I think one of the first things we must do is ask the boomers themselves! What type of community do they desire? What amenities would they like to have in place as they age? Are there any additional services they would like to have as they age that they do not have now? All of these questions must be asked in order to provide the type of community that Elizabethton Baby Boomers desire.

We can also look to generational research to give us an idea of what type of community this generation wants as they age. The AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) has completed research on what communities need in order to be friendly to retirees and compiled it into an easy to use interface. It’s called the Livability Index and currently Elizabethton is rated 55 out of 100 (Johnson City is a 54, Bristol 50, Jonesborough 50, and Greeneville 48). Using this index and input from citizens, we can work to create a desirable, and livable community to live in not only for our aging population, but everyone. Let’s talk about it!

Elizabethton's Projected Population by Age Percent

Local Festivals Serve As Tourism Tools -- But Must Be Supported

This past weekend I had the pleasure of working the City of Elizabethton/Elizabethton Twins booth at the Covered Bridge Festival. I have worked our booth for the past three years and I must say, this year, the crowds really came out! The booth is a great opportunity to meet with you, our citizens, and find out what your needs and desires are for the future of Elizabethton.

This year, as I talked with passing festival goers, I came across ten different families and couples that were from out of state. It was great talking with them, finding out where they were from, and inviting them back to visit our little city. They came from states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, New York, and Kentucky. With them being from out of state, I took the opportunity to get their opinion about our community and the festival. Comments like, “The mountain are so beautiful!” and, “You have the most quaint downtown.” and, “The festival is great, but I wish it were bigger.” abounded.

Talking with others outside our city, county, and even the region, gives us locals a better idea of what our biggest assets are! Often times, driving by the same mountain, gorge, or downtown everyday desensitizes us to the real uniqueness of those features – the festival included! How many cities have a covered bridge in the middle of their city and, furthermore, have a festival centered around it? While many of the visitors were not staying in Elizabethton or Carter County, they took some time to find out about the festival and come and visit us for a few hours. One couple staying in Bristol even commented, “We’ve been coming to Bristol for years and had no idea this place even existed! We will definitely be staying closer to Elizabethton next year.”

While this small festival doesn’t draw large crowds from outside the area, it does serve as just one more tourism asset for our community and county. Yes, it may have its downfalls and negative aspects, but none-the-less it’s something that this community and county need to continue to support. Think of the snowball effect, the more support our community gives this festival, the more it will grow and develop and the more others will want to attend. It’s easy to complain that it’s no Blue Plum (or what Blue Plum used to be) or substitute any other large festival, but we must support it anyway or it will never become the festival we envision. Purchase a drink from a food vendor, but a small, inexpensive product from a craft vendor, and volunteer to help with the festival next year. It’s important to remember, at one-time Blue Plum was in the same position as the Covered Bridge Festival is today. The difference is, the community supported it. Let’s talk about it!

A Quick Lesson in Historic Preservation

In Elizabethton we have a historic preservation commission. The job of this Commission is to oversee the improvements and development of the historic districts in the city. I am aware of a lot of misinformation that exists about being in a historic district, so today I want to take some time to help you better understand how this process works.

In every request brought before the Historic Zoning Commission there are two major questions they ask about the proposed change. First, does the proposed change affect or impact historic or original materials. Historic or original materials means any type of material that would have been original to the building. Often times this is windows, doors, or exterior materials such as brick.

Once a determination is made, the Commission will move on to a second question – does the project affect or impact the defining characteristics of the building, its site, or the surrounding environment? In this question, defining characteristics include the most noticeable elements of a building, such as the windows or door types, roof line, roof materials, exterior materials, and porches or balconies. I often tell my board imagine driving by the building after the change has been made and ask yourself is it noticeable or does it stick out. If yes, then it’s probably a defining characteristic. Additionally, the Commission also has the authority to review changes to a site or it’s environment such as the installation of fencing or other permanent changes to a site.

If the answer to either of these questions is ‘Yes,’ then the Commission will review the project to ensure that it does not violate nine different historic standards. If the answer to both of these questions is ‘No,’ then the Commission will likely approve the changes or the project.

I frequently hear a rumor that property owners don’t want to be in a historic district because they have the authority to regulate paint color. I am here to tell you this is absolutely not the case! You could paint your house or building hot pink with lime green trim if you want to and there is absolutely nothing the Historic Commission can say or do about it. The one exception is if the building currently has unpainted brick, in which case, the brick cannot be painted, but painted trim can be any color desired.

Lastly, being in the historic district does not mean that you will immediately be required to take your building back to how it looked when it was first constructed. Additionally, since many of the downtown buildings have been revitalized at some point, the Historic Commission will probably not even require any changes you want to make to be 1920’s appropriate so long as the building has had a more recent face-lift completed to it. The Security Federal building is a prime example. The Commission would only require changes to the building to be appropriate to the last major renovation (which would’ve been the 1980’s) and not require the building look like a 1920’s downtown commercial building.

The Historic Commission is a little know body, but it has great powers. I will say, working with our local commission that they desire to work with the applicant to come up with an appropriate solution rather than forcing a drastic change on a property owner. If you are in a historic district, I will be more than happy to visit your building and discuss with you how we can best accommodate your desires while still achieving the goals of the commission. Let’s talk about it.

Bonnie Kate -- A Next Step for Downtown Revitalization

I have only met a few people who have said in their opinion the purchase of the Bonnie Kate Theater by the community foundation was not a good idea. There are many valid reasons for putting the building into private hands – it could generate property taxes, the private sector takes on all of the risk, and, some would argue, the private sector could do a much better job of operating a business in that space.

While all of these benefits of the building being in the private sector may be true, we must equally weigh them against the benefits that the facility would provide when in the public sector hands. Some of these benefits include, bringing a new restaurant downtown, adding just one more destination to downtown, and creating a new asset for our community.

Talking with the foundation and the persons who have supported the preservation of the Bonnie Kate, they have already lined up a restaurateur to come and start a restaurant in the former café and bar spaces. I excited about this prospect because, while we already have many great restaurants downtown, we need more that will be open during evening hours.

The types of uses that have been discussed for the Bonnie Kate will make it another destination to our community and our downtown. This will serve as a revitalization tool to our downtown. One factor that we always consider in downtown revitalization is the number of destinations (think anchor tenants in a mall) in the downtown open during the day and during the evening. If the Bonnie Kate come to full realization, this will be a big addition to evening downtown destination.

Lastly, having the Bonnie Kate in the hands of the Foundation will create one more community asset to our city and county. The Foundation has intentions to bring in theatrical productions, musical concerts, and various other entertainment options. This provides something to this city and county that we have not had in the recent past. Community assets such as this bring people to our community from outside the area (like Johnson City, Bristol, and surrounding areas) and introduces them to our community. It also serves as a recruitment tool for people who are looking to move to East Tennessee and for business and industry.

Yes, the Bonnie Kate in the hands of the private sector could accomplish a lot with potentially similar outcomes. However, I would argue that with the vision and the building in private sector hands, it can become a permanent, historical institution to this community in the decades to come. Let’s talk about it.

The Twins are a Contributer to Elizabethton

Author's Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author's alone and do not represent the views of the City of Elizabethton administration or City Council.

As many of you know, the City of Elizabethton is faced with a dilemma. The Minnesota Twins are requesting a large amount of money be spent to improve the facilities where the Elizabethton Twins play – Joe O'Brien Field. Because of the amount of money that would have to be spent, this puts our elected and appointed officials in a difficult position. Do we spend the money on the Twins facilities and forgo some other improvements for yet another year or spend the money on other community facilities and projects that desperately need to be completed and risk losing the Twins to another community? I vote for the former.
 
Many times we hear government must be run like a business, yet here is a prime example of why a local government cannot be run like a business. The Elizabethton Twins provide more to this community than monetary or economic return alone. The Twins only return about $10,000 per year to the City's General Fund coffers and provide minimal amounts in the form of economic impact, yet the Elizabethton Twins provide something for the entire community to rally around. When we see the Elizabethton Twins featured on the news we are proud to be from Elizabethton. When the Twins yet again win the Appalachian League Championship we are sure to tell others that our hometown team is the most winniest team in the nation. This team fosters much community pride so that we can say we're proud to be from Elizabethton.

The Twins also serve as a destination for our community. You wouldn't believe the number of people who travel from Minnesota or other parts of the county just to sit in a small stadium and watch a good game of baseball. Dedicated baseball fans will travel to watch a game. Using a standard tourism model, we likely attract people from 45 minutes to an hour away from Elizabethton per game to come and watch a game. These are people who may not of otherwise drove to Elizabethton. And, it's likely, they will get gas, eat at one of our restaurants, or just grab a bottle of water from a convenience store while they're here (this is where the small economic impact comes in).

While the Twins alone may not drive tourism in Elizabethton, they do serve as just one more thing to do while you’re visiting, just like the golf course does. Standing alone neither entity may lure people to our community, but when paired with other activities it become a reason to visit. Having these multiple different tourism assets serves as the foundation to a tourism driven economy.

These are many different perspectives both for and against investing in the Twins stadium. But no matter how you feel, be sure to let your elected representatives know! This is a difficult decision for them to make and the more input they have, the easier it will be for them to make the decision that the community supports. Let's talk about it!

The Need for a Comprehensive Plan

Urban planning is centralized on one major tenant – preparing for and helping communities avoid problems. And just like you, city planners must think ahead to the future and calculate what types of problems may occur if different decisions are made. One of the most common ways of doing this is adopting what is called a comprehensive plan.

Comprehensive plans are an important component to running a city and keeping it moving forward. The comprehensive plan serves as the community’s guide to moving the community into the future. Imagine if you built a house without blueprints. We know we need a foundation, but don’t know what type of material to use because we don’t know if the house will have one, two, or three stories. Do we put in a basement, crawlspace, slab, or build the house on stilts? Without that good foundation the rest of the house may be a waste.

The comprehensive plan provides us with the blueprints of how to build the city over the next 10-20 years. Sure, circumstances may change, funding may decrease, or a new major employer may come into the community causing a change in the plan, but this would be no different than asking a contractor to move a wall a few feet or add an additional closet to your blueprint. Tweaks can easily be made along the way. Even with the changes made, in the end you still have a well-laid out and constructed house that thought was put into and wasn’t simply pieced together.

Comprehensive planning also impacts many elements of our community. This type of planning incorporates areas such as historic preservation planning, economic development planning, tourism planning, and land use planning. This encourages an interdisciplinary approach to ensure that all of the different elements of a community are completing one another. Maybe economic development planning has identified we need more business land. The land use planning can then address where new business land can be identified and ultimately rezoning property to create more business land in the community.

Ultimately, a comprehensive plan gets the community to a place they desire to be. The key component in all of this is you, our citizens. Part of our job as appointed officials is to provide you with a community and city services that you desire to have. As we start looking at developing the first components of a comprehensive plan this summer, I encourage you to participate at every opportunity you can. Your input is vital to ensure the house we build is the house this community desires.