BY MATTHEW WINTER
SALISBURY POST

KANNAPOLIS – ‘‘KID-APOLIS’’ may be more appropriate.

Workers will soon begin a major construction project expected to redesign every aspect of Kannapolis, under the direction of ambitious and imaginative planners recruited by the city – namely school children.

‘‘Kids of all ages are invited to come, and they’re going to build a city out of boxes,’’ said Nancy Fitzer, an urban planner living in Greenville, S.C. Kannapolis officials hired Fitzer to oversee the project. ‘‘They’ll design it and they’ll make decisions about what will go where and when and why. So it will be fun and educational at the same time.’’

Students from throughout the city are expected to ‘‘rebuild’’ the city in miniature during a special, all-day event on May 8, a Saturday. City officials commissioned the project as part of their own strategic planning effort.

Officials such as Mayor Ray Moss and planning coordinator Greg McGinnis say the city must engage as many residents as possible to make the ‘‘visioning process’’ successful.

But getting children involved in such a patently adult issue as urban planning presents a challenge. So the city hired Fitzer to excite the city’s youth.

Her plan: convince city planners and employees to donate their time in late April to visit various grades and classrooms ‘‘to teach lessons about communities and growth and change,’’ Fitzer said. These planners will focus especially on second-graders, she added.

Meanwhile, A.L. Brown High School students working under the direction of art teacher Brenda Hardin will create a 24-by-36-foot ‘‘base map’’ of the city, Fitzer said. Students from other classes will make the basics: ‘‘maybe a couple of farms, a bank and a store – the very beginnings’’ of a city, Fitzer said.

On the big day – May 8 – the city will invite students from throughout Kannapolis to come to the city’s Vision Center at 120 S. Main St. to help build ‘‘Kid-apolis.’’

After an opening ceremony, students will place the ‘‘beginning’’ buildings prepared in advance on the map. Then all the rest of the kids – mostly second-graders – can come in throughout the day and build and place new buildings and facilities.

Fitzer is hoping to amass a cache of salvage roofing shingles, tiles and ‘‘standard materials’’ such as construction paper, crayons and markers for the project.

But it won’t be all arts and crafts.

The children will have to apply for a ‘‘building permit’’ restricting them ‘‘only to what needs to be built,’’ Fitzer said.

‘‘They won’t be able to build things the city is not ready for,’’ she said. For example, when students build and place a certain number of homes, they’ll have to build a fire station or a supermarket.

‘‘So when the population of the city gets big enough, it might be time for a new water plant, for example,’’ Fitzer said.

But since this will be ‘‘Kid-apolis,’’ students will get to use their imaginations.

‘‘The kids are most likely going to put in more parks than there are in real life,’’ Fitzer said. ‘‘They’re most concerned about conserving green space, something we grown-ups don’t always think about.’’

Fitzer is hoping local architects, planners and builders may volunteer their time on May 8 to help teach the students how a community grows. She can be reached by leaving a message at the Kannapolis Vision Center, 938-1940, or at the McGinnis’ email address at cityofkann@ctc.net