A new group seeks to promote civic engagement in Greenwood.
Strong Towns Greenwood aims to “advocate for the city to be safe, livable and inviting, along with working to elevate residents, business owners, local leaders and government to a high level of collaboration to better the city.” The group will, among other items, look at the design of the city to see how it will be improved to create a stronger city. It is nonpartisan and is not government-affiliated; instead it is an off-shoot of the national group with a similar mission: Strong Towns.
“We’re just aiming to make it a stronger place, mostly from the problems arising from infrastructure and in different community layouts that we have,” said JC English, the founder of the local group and a Greenwood resident.
With Strong Towns Greenwood, English hopes to start a conversation about the city’s development. He also hopes to get more people engaged and thinking critically about how development designs might impact them, along with organizing residents to attend meetings, he said.
“If we organize, we can have a stronger voice at different things like hearings and board meetings,” English said.
Another key goal for the group is ensuring the city’s new comprehensive plan stays at the forefront for development. Specifically, the group wants to make sure the plan, which was made with community input, is implemented, he said.
Strong Towns Greenwood also wants to do case studies on certain areas for how to improve them, along with traffic studies. Reducing traffic fatalities and giving residents alternative transportation options are examples of what could result from these, English said.
The group has already posted one case study about the Emerson Avenue and Main Street intersection, focusing on improving pedestrian infrastructure. They’re also planning one for the Greenwood Village South area, he said.
Other efforts would look at identifying different opportunities for in-fill development in Greenwood, English said. In-fill development encourages the development of underused or vacant land in existing urban areas to increase density and place new development near existing resources and infrastructure.
Strong Towns Greenwood wants to work cooperatively with the city on all of these efforts, English said.
English says there’s a need for a group like Strong Towns in Greenwood. Over the last 10 to 15 years, the city has grown significantly both in population and in geographic size.
“We have a very low density in Greenwood,” English said. “So if we’re going to continue to develop as an urban center — which, like it or not, Greenwood is an urban center even though we have commuters — … that means there’s gonna be more people, there’s gonna be more businesses and with that we need a better way to organize these businesses and residents or we are going to continue to see worse traffic, more [traffic] fatalities, more congestion and just an overall lack of cohesion, lack of community.”
The reason for Strong Towns is to get ahead of issues for the developments the city could have in its future, but also to advocate for repurposing and reorganizing the development the city has already seen. The city will eventually not be able to grow by only expanding geographically, he said.
“It’s hard to continue to grow that way, so we have to do that in-fill development on the small-scale side,” English said. He added if infill development doesn’t happen, then empty lots will continue to sit unused and things will start looking rundown.
For Strong Towns Greenwood in the short term, English is looking to spread the word about it and to actively grow the group. There is a Facebook page, facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573452537458, along with a Facebook group, facebook.com/groups/515490224936286.
“Just knowing there is a Strong Towns group in Greenwood is a big thing because we’ve already had people reach out and say, ‘You know, I didn’t know Greenwood had a Strong Towns,’” English said. “So I know that there are people that are receptive to the message, it’s just a matter of trying to get them involved.”
Building up the following will not only help with spreading the word of the group, but also will help when the time comes for residents and group members to advocate at city meetings. There’s strength in numbers, he said.
As it grows, English hopes to have citizens looking out for information on upcoming projects and sharing it with other residents. He also hopes for Strong Towns Greenwood and other residents to have input as the city updates its Unified Development Ordinance this year, which is expected to have public input.
For people looking for more information about the group, they can follow the Strong Towns Greenwood Facebook page or join the Facebook group. They can also go to the national Strong Town website, strongtowns.org, to look at resources and educational materials, including those for developers interested in more small-scale, infill developments, English said.