COMMUNITY VISIONS

BUILDING BLOCKS FOR 21STCENTURY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

As noted earlier, highlighting a place’s unique characteristics is essential to place-based 21-century economic development. Historic downtowns across the rural South offer great opportunities to capitalize on this growing development trend. Steeped in local culture and history, they are increasingly destinations for young families deterred by congestion and home prices in more urban areas, those who want a slower pace of life, and visitors looking to experience something unique, authentic, and local.

Downtown redevelopment that fosters local creativity and businesses is the best way to promote growth and prosperity for Georgia’s rural areas. Planning for future economic growth centered on these historic downtowns encourages these communities to build on their best and most distinctive assets. Additionally, this type of growth values the landscape and natural resources crucial to this region.

Emphasizing historic downtown development accentuates the distinctive and marketable assets of these rural Southern communities. This type of growth also allows these communities to preserve the character and qualities that make them special and worthy of saving in the first place. Safeguarding local spirit was the first concern of the steering committees and most residents who engaged in this process. Many other models of economic development focus on attracting large employers whose presence forever changes the local landscape and creates a new urban or suburban-style community, which would dramatically change the area’s rural character.

Fortunately, the desire expressed by residents throughout the public engagement portions of this project aligns with Fort Moore’s interest in seeing concentrated development. This approach to development preserves the landscape, natural resources, and other environmental features that are critical to sustaining operations at Fort Moore. As part of this process, the RVCCD planning team worked with leaders in the rural downtowns to identify opportunities to make these areas more attractive to residents and visitors.

The following sections highlight some of these opportunities in downtowns across the River Valley Region. For some of these designs, such as those in Buena Vista and Lumpkin, initial funding has already been secured for implementation. While these designs focus on the visible and seemingly superficial elements of the downtowns, the implementation strategies that accompany them recognize the importance of tying these renovations to the expansion or redevelopment of core infrastructure, such as water, sewer, and broadband. A great deal of work remains to be done to ensure these communities can support the type of growth they need.