By Gary Grumbach, Bri McClelland
Discussion of Elon's Master Plan, or the proposed redevelopment of "Downtown Elon," brought Elon business owners, residents and town officials to Town Hall Tuesday evening.
The redevelopment was first discussed in October of 2013, when Elon's Board of Aldermen, alongside redevelopment contractors, published a 79-page proposal that described what they hoped the future Town of Elon would look like.
As Elon Local News reported in February, the plan calls for the creation of a town commons. The proposed location is the area across the street from the townhouses on West College Avenue. The commons would serve as a "central park" of downtown with a large grass area that could be home to events like Alive after Five, where the town provides food and entertainment for its residents.
A residential park is another potential addition. The park would be built where the Phoenix Villas are currently located. The Master Plan calls for the park to be a "communal place of leisure" surrounded by new residences.
There are even plans to create four-story buildings- something the Town of Elon has never seen.
With all the potential development, re-zoning was an issue of concern at Tuesday's meeting. Areas that are currently residential locations, including the apartments along College Avenue, are green spaces or parking lots in the new plan.
Ken Kaufmann, lead consultant of Elon's Master Plan, believes there is a misunderstanding regarding the intent of the plan.
"We simply thought, what could this be, if everything worked out," Kaufmann said. "What we didn't do is go property-by-property making judgments."
Even with the new proposed parking lots, Elon residents were still concerned at Tuesday's meeting with the amount of parking space that would come with the new plan. Right now, with Elon University students looking to park their vehicles close to class and residents wanting to park close to local businesses, space is limited.
When it comes to parking in and around campus, town officials says underground parking is out of the question, and parking decks within the Town of Elon are not financially feasible.
Though town officials began the meeting by calling it a "Master Plan," questions from local business owners and residents prompted the Board of Alderman's Davis Montgomery to use the phrase "Master Vision."
Mike Brown, owner of the Acorn Inn of Elon, said he likes the change from "Master Plan," to "Master Vision."
"A plan seems like a concrete thing that's been done," Brown said. "A vision is a bit more conceptual and it is a bit more goal-oriented...it paints a better picture between the town and the citizens therein."
Elon residents are skeptical about the community's involvement in the decision-making process. Some feel as though they are not being given a chance to fully express their own opinions.
"I don't think you're trying to hide things," says one Town of Elon resident who lives on Manning Avenue. "But I don't think you're searching out the people that it directly affects."
The Town of Elon has not yet officially adopted the Master Plan. There is no official timeline for when the Board of Alderman would vote on the proposal.
Update: Previous comments we had from Joel Brown were misquoted and came from another participate in Town Hall. We apologize for the mistake.