Wherever you go in Greensboro these days, there is a lot going on.
Houses going up all around, way too many cars on the streets – streets which are sometimes closed due to a large number of road and water pipe projects constantly taking place.
There’s also general construction all around and an influx of people coming to Greensboro and Guilford County for all the new job offerings.
That kind of growth – in order not to turn disastrous – requires planning and efficient coordination by city leaders, community leaders, and churches and non-profits along with individual residents living in certain key communities.
In order to see that Greensboro grows in the correct manner in the coming years, and see that it turns out to be a place that will attract businesses, travelers, more occupants and greater national attention, city leaders have been working on a long-term plan to guide the process.
This week, the City of Greensboro Planning Department released the new quarterly newsletter regarding the implementation of the city’s long-term comprehensive plan – GSO2040 – and put the plan online.
The plan is meant as a cohesive effort to make the city into a better place to live in many regards through a series of collective citywide efforts over the next decade and a half.
The city’s early December newsletter highlights several ways that Greensboro is implementing that long-term plan. One move includes the Greensboro City Council’s adopted Randleman Road Corridor Plan Phase 2 – which calls for implementing strategies meant to attract more investment to the area, which has been historically underserved in that regard. That effort is focused on “revitalizing the area without displacing residents.”
Another big hope for improving the city of Greensboro rests in a huge new community center that the city enticed the Guilford County commissioners to contribute $15 million dollars of county money for the roughly $70 million it’s costing to build the 65,000-square-foot Windsor Chavis Nocho Community Complex.
Not only will it be a place where kids and adults play and hang out, take classes and engage in yoga and other exercises; it will also be a central place where Guilford County Health and Human Services Department workers will meet with clients and provide outreach services and conduct business that’s usually done at the county’s crowded Maple Street building in Greensboro.
Community leaders and others broke ground on the Windsor Chavis Nocho Community Complex earlier this year.
The facility will offer various resources to residents including a public recreation center, library, swimming pools and park facilities.
In furtherance of the City of Greensboro’s grand plan, city planners are holding public workshops focused on outreach for the South Greensboro planning process.
In addition, The Lofts at Elmsley Crossing opened in order to provide affordable housing in the city, which is badly needed to accommodate Greensboro and Guilford County’s continued growth.
Interested residents can learn more about GSO2040’s implementation, and the plan as a whole, online at the city’s website. They can also sign up to receive reports on the plan’s implementation on the city’s e-Notify page. (Select “GSO2040” in the News section to subscribe to updates.)
The City of Greensboro is in the fourth year of implementing its long-term comprehensive plan. This latest fourth quarter December newsletter of 2024 offers highlights of the work Greensboro is now doing “to bring the goals and vision of GSO2040 to life.”
According to Greensboro City Manager Trey Davis, some of the desired long-term priorities include:
- Having an abundance of attainable housing
- Creating an extremely safe city
- Making Greensboro a very easy place to do business
- Making Greensboro the most “connected city” it can be
- Developing the highest-skilled workforce around
- Turning Greensboro into a “youth sports capital.”
These priorities, Davis said in a public statement, together with the goals and strategies put forth in the national award-winning Comprehensive Plan GSO2040, demonstrate the city’s commitment of holding true to the community values that were established during the comprehensive planning process:
Notably, he added, that Greensboro should be a welcoming, vibrant, and connected city that celebrates “our heritage, our cultures, and each other.”
The website with more information can be found at https://www.greensboro-nc.gov/?splash=https%3a%2f%2fonline.encodeplus.com%2fregs%2fgreensboro-nc-comp%2fpage%2fimplementation&____isexternal=true
I worked on the Comp Plan as a member of the Planning Board, now nonexistent as it was done away with by Council. I am a planner with over 35 years of experience. I know that Comprehensive Plans must have measurable goals and objectives. While the Plan has won awards, I’m still trying to figure out what measurable objectives there are to the “Big Ideas.” I seem to be the only person that is asking this question. Also, the Planning Department has been working more on the east and south sides of the City of Greensboro. Everyone thinks rich people live in the west and north sides. NOT TRUE! Especially now. I live in a middle income subdivision and many of us are struggling month to month. There are no plans for affordable housing. No plans for a nice recreational facility like the east side. We have one or two and they are years old in desperate need of upgrades. We are now the forgotten people of the City. We need affordable housing. We need better schools. We need creative solutions. Never assume! We are struggling as well.
When did John Hammer return to the Rhino payroll? Not complaining, would be happy if it’s true.
Sorry Alan, just a mistake!
Dies anyone believe GSO will become car optional. The GSO transit system is costing the taxpayer millions of dollars per year with a small percentage ridership. Greensboro as reported by several studies will NEVER be car optional. We need to get back to basics and stop these progressive programa that the taxpayer can ill afford. As Hightower has stated, the privileged in west Greensboro Should pay more for services and of course they are paying for many of these progressive programs.
Privilege isn`t confined to those who have money or are a certain race. Privilege can be found in all segments of the city, and it is defined by those who are getting what they always desire at the expense of the greater good. As a resident near Guilford College I can tell you Vaughn and Co. are no friends of ours, nor do any of my fellow residents in West Greensboro experiencing any “privilege” when it comes to how this city is run (or ruined).
Greensboro City Manager Trey Davis’ long-term priority goals are merely words. Without a mechanism to measure progress and success toward achieving the goals, the goals will be lost to time. Having an abundance of attainable housing, how will the City be able to achieve this goal; selling city property to developers along with giving tax breaks to the developers as an enticement? Greensboro residents don’t know. Creating an extremely safe city; what constitutes an extremely safe city? How will anyone know when Greensboro is an extremely safe city? Does making Greensboro a very easy place to do business mean that new ordinances will be passed? Making Greensboro the most “connected city” it can be, seems to mean better transportation without the use of cars. How is Greensboro and Guilford County planning to develop the highest-skilled workforce around when schools here are subpar while homeowners are facing higher and higher taxes to pay for these subpar schools? As far as turning Greensboro into a “youth sports capital,” this is a vanity goal of politicians that does not directly help Greensboro’s residents. Youth sports is a niche endeavor that may or may not pay its own way. There is a lot of expense to the game of competing to bring sporting events to an area, which could result in a liability to the taxpayers. And speaking of the taxpayers, other than perhaps tax revenue, what other benefit is there to becoming a “youth sports capital?”
Lol, more hokus pokus from the city. Read these same words over the years in this and other publications. Based on this article, it is not very hard to see where the city priorities are headed and for whom.
The plan is another very loosely worded guide for devopment and future growth that can be easily changed. Using variances and adjustments planning boards and councils can justify their next greatest projects “for the community” that arise which over time makes the plan worthless.
What Greensboro wants is more affordable housing for the illegals that they want in the city. And that is their workforce. And then you going to build a rec center with a Mexican name on it. The Greensboro police are scared to go on the Southeast side and do anything about the legals that are breaking and entering into people’s home and destroying their property. So much for a safer City when the North Carolina department of safety refuses to prosecute gang members. That’s why I left Greensboro it has become the cesspool in North Carolina. They want to become the connected City yeah connected to the cartels in Mexico. As far as elmsley is concerned Walmart has been robbed so much on elmsley that it’s almost out of business. As long as it has the city council and the leadership that is in Greensboro it will always be a s*** hole
Fitting timing since like the Spirit in “The Christmas Carol”, Vaughn and co. have turned this city being the focus of Want and Ignorance. They are ignorant of the wants of the citizens to have basic services, such as leaf pickup, recycling centers which are convenient since not all complexes have bins, apartments built from old hotels to house the veterans who are homeless as well as American citizens down on their luck rather than more facilities to house those who are here illegally, lowering taxes rather than financing more incentives for industries who will leave after the incentives run out, better financing for events downtown (Fun Fourth was a shadow of itself in years` past and City/Stage is nonexistent), the expectation of citizens not to lose that which has had its roots in the city and is an economic boon (ACC going to Charlotte), and the realization that the citizens know you do not deserve a raise and should put all extra money towards the betterment of the city, such as less retail and more open spaces and neighborhoods, and the fire and police to service them!
This agenda can be better attained thru private enterprise. Name something our govt does well.