When 47 civic and business leaders took a three-day visit to Greenville, S.C., one person not on the trip, but watching closely, was Akron mayor-elect Dan Horrigan.
Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Dan Colantone had said it was decided after some discussion to invite current leaders on the trip, which was designed to see how the South Carolina town redeveloped its downtown, among other things.
But Horrigan followed the trip, which was chronicled on Twitter and in the Beacon Journal, and spoke to many participants after the trip.
The Greenville trip was the third chamber-organized trip since 2011, which included visits to Milwaukee and Omaha.
“A lot of them came away saying it was the most beneficial trip,” said Horrigan in a recent interview. And though Akron’s first mayor in 28 years was not yet elected during the October Greenville trip, the new administration was referenced a lot by trip-goers, saying the next moves for redevelopment would need the new mayor’s input.
After returning from Greenville, and seeing how the city’s master plan that insisted on mixed-use for all new projects transformed the community, the group of CEOs and community and government leaders set several key takeaways. They included developing or dusting off a master plan for the downtown area, building on successful education and workforce training ideas seen in Greenville, continuing to look for entrepreneurship/co-location centers and looking for one “catalytic” or “transformative” project that sparks downtown development.
New plan for Akron
Horrigan said he also wants to find a single project for Akron to rally around, possibly redeveloping the Innerbelt to include a water feature of some sort. Horrigan said many trip participants told him how impressed they were with the redevelopment in Greenville around an uncovered waterfall that was highlighted after an underutilized bridge was torn down.
But before a single project can be done, Horrigan agrees that a master plan has to be updated.
“We’re going to move quickly to put together a group of people, whether it’s to dust off an old UPA [University Park Alliance] plan or do another one with someone locally,” said Horrigan, referring to a master plan developed in 2011 by an international architectural and planning firm. The activities of UPA, whose members were among the top leaders in Akron’s government, civic and business organizations, came to a halt amid leadership turmoil and controversy in 2013.
The new master plan, which Horrigan said he wants done in less than six months, “has to be a living document,” and one that has the input from all players, including businesses, organizations and residents.
“We have to continue to develop where the neighborhoods are. We want them all to be connected in some way, and a more walkable, more liveable vibrant community,” he said.
Similarly, amenities like restaurants and retail need to be planned near housing, Horrigan said.
Welty Building Co. CEO Donzell Taylor, who is chair-elect of the chamber board, said the master plan will then need to be used to activate others like the banking community, which can finance projects and developers.
“If we’re going to compete and have the best and brightest come to work in Akron, we have to create the environment,” said Taylor, who also said the chamber is at a crossroads to decide its role in moving development forward.
“There’s a lot going on beneath the surface that you can’t really see. Our problem has been we are not communicating it,” he said.
Master takes priority
Colantone said the master plan will be a high priority and the chamber wants to help develop one to two high-impact projects for downtown. Colantone said he thinks those projects will come from leaders who went on the trip and who are involved in many other leadership efforts in town, including Horrigan’s 15-member Blue Ribbon Taskforce.
Current Chamber Board Chair Jeff Walters, managing director of CBIZ Mayer Hoffman McCann, said many meetings have already taken place around different subjects from those on the trip. Recently, for instance, business and civic leaders met with area college and university officials to discuss workforce development around the need for people trained in Internet technology.
Walters said the trips have also quickly built camaraderie among leaders to come together for strategic planning and projects to benefit the region.
“A lot of communities don’t take these kinds of trips,” he said. “ A lot of places have to pay outside consultants to do that. We actually go out and see it in person and talk about it and try to move it forward.”
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty