Panel to present recommendations to city after Thursday 'visioning session'
By TIM GULLA Ledger Staff Writer tim@gaffneyledger.com

Mary Beth Branham, vice president and managing principal of Columbia-based LS3P Associates, listens to audience suggestions Thursday at the Capri Theatre on how Gaffney can attract more people to live within city borders and downtown. Branham is a member of an eight-member group of volunteers that is volunteering its time and expertise to help communities like Gaffney tackle tough economic development questions.

Gaffney could change dramatically if many of the ideas proposed at a Thursday afternoon meeting of area business owners, residents and town officials ever come to fruition.

There could be more strict ordinances requiring downtown property owners to fix up their properties, a first-class eatery on Limestone Street open after dark and high-quality housing above every business lining the downtown's historic main street.

No one knows if these ideas will ever become reality at this point, but for a group of outside volunteers the ideas were exactly what they wanted to hear.

Members from the South Carolina Urban Land Institute's Sustainable Leadership program were assigned to communities across South Carolina to tackle planning and development issues facing the state's communities.

Gaffney is one of six communities chosen for the volunteer help this year. A group of eight professionals from varied backgrounds in planning, development and architecture was assigned to help the city answer a basic question: How do you get more people to live in Gaffney, particularly the downtown area.

A "visioning session" was held at the Capri Theatre on North Limestone Street in which the volunteer panel sought opinions from town residents, business owners and anyone else who could offer an idea. About 30 people attended the 3-hour session.

Panel members from the Sustainable Leadership Institute will present their recommendations today at 1 p.m. at the movie theater.

Some ideas and the questions they spawned aren't always easy to resolve.

More businesses in the downtown would generate more foot traffic and people interested in living here, most attendees agreed. Yet businesses won't make investments in new locations without the foot traffic from the start.

Downtown business owner Gayle White was one of many who'd like to see a nice coffee shop downtown.

Others thought high-quality restaurants, outdoor cafes, boutiques or specialty stores, nightclubs and comedy clubs would be great additions to the business mix as well.

Some attendees wondered if the city could do more to promote business development and the rehabilitation of the downtown, such as by forgiving taxes on startup businesses or providing other incentives for existing businesses to remodel.

Some businesses owners, like Darren Mason, wanted to see how real estate agents could become a bigger part of the solution by working with business owners to promote downtown properties.

Mason, the owner of Dee- Tee's and Uptown Party Events, has created several condominiums on Limestone Street that he's been renting to companies whose executives or employees visit Gaffney for extended periods. He's completed two units so far and is in the process of completing three more.

"They stay rented 100 percent of the time," he said.

If he had the money, Mason said he'd create 25 similar units in Gaffney because there is a need and willing market. "I took the risk," he said. "Why is nobody else doing it?"

Panel members like Fred Delk, who is the executive director of the Columbia Development Corporation, said Gaffney has a lot going for it and is very attractive to outsiders.

It has a unique position in the Interstate 85 corridor and is situated between some of the highest-growth areas of the Carolinas.

He sees opportunities for retirees to move here and for college students to become a thriving part of downtown life. He and other panel members said they also were "astounded" by the reasonable prices for housing, particularly in the city's historic district.

Gaffney isn't without problems, though. While not indicative of the entire city, Delk said he saw far too many boardedup windows, buildings that could use some paint, and "way too many" signs that read "for sale, for rent, or going out of business."

Mason wasn't sure what the panel will recommend today but planned on coming back to hear what they have to say.

"If we can take just one thing that was positive today and go forward with it, it was worth it," he said of the process.