Salisbury's Future
Diverse group has differing views of what's in store for Salisbury

BY MARK WINEKA
SALISBURY POST

Before they ever met Wednesday for their first official meeting, members of the Salisbury 2020 Vision committee answered some questions:

- What did they like about Salisbury now?

- What talents did they bring to the table?

- What did they hope would come out of this planning process, geared toward the year 2020?

Councilman Bill Burgin, chairman of the committee, answered that he enjoyed being able to travel from one side of Salisbury to the next in 10 minutes. Karen Alexander said she liked Salisbury's emphasis on neighborhoods.

''Everybody knows everybody,'' Diane Young said of her favorite thing about Salisbury. Eldridge Williams liked living in a small city, near a large city. Mayor Susan Kluttz said she liked the people.

Others on the 15-member board mentioned the greenway, Piedmont Players, the train station and the city's respect for history. The Rev. Clarence Bryan said he liked the efforts to embrace all of Salisbury's citizens. And Deryk Davis, one of two high school students on the board, said he liked the new movie theater.

The Salisbury 2020 Vision Committee offers a diverse group, including a dentist in Dr. Bryant Norman, architects in Burgin and Alexander, an experienced planner in former Councilman Jim Dunn, an environmentalist in John Wear Jr., a designer contractor in Johnny Safrit and lawyer in Steve Fisher and more.

Caroline Vance, the board's other high school student, said she's a good listener.

''I think about what you say and tell you what I think,'' she said.

Inez Joiner said she takes good notes and does ''something good with them.'' Joiner said she hoped the planning for the future would lead to ''happy people - particularly families.''

On his 52nd birthday, a young Steve Fisher said, ''I hope we can pull the plan off the shelf and be proud of what we did at this time.''

Dunn said he would like to witness a balance between conservation and development.

''I hope we'll see that the youth of the city will feel strongly enough in the future to return home or remain home,'' Bryan said.

Kluttz said she wanted Salisburians to have a better life, thanks to the plan. Davis put it more bluntly: ''a nice city, not trashy.''

Over the next few months, the committee plans a ''public education phase'' in which it will hold public presentations on five topics: livable communities, sustainable development and smart growth, preservation, regionalism and public safety.

The educational series kicks off with Charleston, S.C., Mayor Joe Riley's ''livable communities'' presentation at the Meroney Theater Feb. 10. There is no charge, though committee members are handing out tickets to the event as a reminder. It will be held from 6 to 8 p.m.

At their first meeting Wednesday, the committee reviewed some of the city's successes over the past 25 years and the process behind and impact of the Salisbury 2000 growth plan, which has been Salisbury's planning document since its adoption in 1988.

The 2020 Committee plans to adopt its new comprehensive plan for Salisbury's future by September 2000. Besides the educational series, it will conduct regular meetings on the fourth Wednesday of each month.

In coming up with the Salisbury 2000 plan, city officials followed a similar process. It included an 11-member task force, two public forums for citizen input, a consultant and a video. The final document had at least 80 policy statements and a map identifying primary, secondary and rural growth areas.

The video ended, ''Come on, year 2000, we're ready now.''

Now that 2000 is almost here, things have changed. City Manager David Treme recalled that in the late 1980s, the city wasn't seeing new growth and development, especially in homes.

City officials departed from past water-sewer extension policies and developed incentives for expansion based on the growth areas laid out by Salisbury 2000 plan. The change led to roughly 1,000 new home sites in the city, Treme said.

Now development doesn't need as many incentives - the pressure of growth is forcing the city to look at different policies and a new plan, Treme said.

In dealing with zoning cases, Salisbury City Council and the Salisbury Planning Board routinely turned to the Salisbury 2000 plan over the past 12 years.

Citizens and developers also learned to turn to the Salisbury 2000 plan in trying to defend their positions at zoning hearings.

''It has become an increasingly popular tool,'' Planning Board Chairman Jake Alexander said.

Because two sides of an issue have sometimes quoted the same Salisbury 2000 policy as their defense makes him think that the 2020 plan should be more specific in terms of zoning, Alexander said.

The most controversial zoning cases in the past four to five years involved transitional areas with residences and business as competing interests, Alexander noted. He said the city now has three or four corridor areas facing those same questions and expressed concern that the planning board does not have an adequate road map to address them.

Both Alexander and Williams, who is vice chairman of the planning board, pushed for sharper definitions in a new document. Alexander said ''commercial development'' to him means retail, while to someone else it could mean offices.

But overall, Williams praised the Salisbury 2000 document and reiterated how much the planners depended on it for their decisions.

''This has been our bible,'' Williams said.