In January, we attended a presentation about #Canton Forward: Etowah to the Loop, where a major redevelopment of downtown Canton was formulated with citizen input. As Canton residents, we took the opportunity to voice our opinions.
According to the website, #CantonForward: Etowah to the Loop is about creating a vision for the future of Downtown Canton (the Loop) and the area along the Etowah River. This vision will leverage the history, attract jobs, encourage appropriate development, make walking and biking easier, and revitalize the core of the city.
Since that meeting, there have been other community input sessions. The final draft plan is being presented to the City Council on Thursday, June 2 at 6pm at the Canton City Hall. This meeting is open to the public so there is still time to make edits before City Council votes to adopt the plan on June 16.
Here is the final draft in full — it is proposed to be completed in a ten year building cycle as they have realistically outlined the proposal from vision to reality.
The following projects are the highest priority and are on the list for first implementation.
- Main Street & North Streets two-way conversion
- New riverfront park
- Adopt Historic District guidelines
- River Mill adaptive reuse/ redevelopment
- Redevelopment near Historic Canton Elementary School
- Jones Building reuse
It’s a partnership between the private and public sector to make the funding a reality. If you build living spaces, the businesses will come. If you build the retail and restaurants, the people will come. But first, a solid infrastructure needs to be in place before you can add the bells and whistles. It appears they have a plan to do it all over time and we hope the vote is approved to make Canton, GA the OTP (and Atlanta) major destination for both residents and visitors.
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