Growing Greenville: Tracking progress of the 2040 master plan

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Big events like the NCAA tournament play a huge role in shaping the future of Greenville as much of the money generated from food, beverage and hotel taxes goes right back into major capital improvements like those outlined in Greenville 2040.

The 124-page guide outlines how city leader plan to evolve the area over the next two decades.

“It says, ‘This is what we imagine -- this is what we hope -- Greenville will look like 20-some years from now,” said City of Greenville spokesperson Beth Brotherton.

The plan is broken up into three phases. The first one is ending this year, so we decided to check in and see what progress has been made.

Most of phase one is re-writing city code. Brotherton said it’s an 18-month process that will be finalized in December

“The big thing is developing nodes, which is basically like these high density clusters,” Brotherton said.

It’s a concept we heard a lot about when the plan was first passed last year, but we’re getting a better idea what they might look like. Brotherton said to think of Riverplace in downtown along the Reedy River. The development has restaurants and stores on the bottom levels, with housing on top and green space along the edges.

City planners are looking at five study areas to see what node-like techniques would work and wouldn’t.

Those include:

• Augusta-Mauldin-Pleasantburg
• Stone and Main District
• Greater Sullivan Neighborhood
• McAlister Square
• North Laurens Road

The Planning and Development Department is growing to take on the task. In the last year, they’ve added eight positions and increased the budget more than $1 million.

“The city is making a huge investment in having a world class planning team,” Brotherton said.

The skyline will be changing over the next two decades, too. New codes require building up and filling in.

While phase one is all about planning, phase two is about implementing. City officials hope the thousands of visitors in town this weekend see the potential.

“There are still people out there who don’t realize that Greenville is a great place to live, a great place to start a business and we do have space,” Brotherton said.

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