SALISBURY — On a beautiful Saturday morning, the Planning and Neighborhoods Department organized a community walk for its South Main Area Plan where city staff and residents walked together to see what can be done to rehabilitate the space.

On March 16, everyone met at the Jack Kepley Scout Building and then dispersed into groups to walk down from Horah Street to as far as the Mooresville Road intersection.

“This was our kick-off event for the South Main Street Area Plan,” City Planner Emily Vanek said. “We split up into six groups and divided the corridor. We had packets for people to fill out with some discussion questions looking at the conditions of sidewalks, ‘What kind of development would you like to see on the corridor?'”
The packets included questions like, “Would you feel comfortable biking this block?” “Is there anything preventing you from seeing traffic?” and “Is there additional signage that would help in safety or wayfinding?”

“It revealed a lot of details that maybe we don’t see as we’re driving through in regard to improvements we can make for the pedestrian experience, bicyclist experience. Visibly, how do we want to approach making this look like a special corridor?” Mayor Karen Alexander said.

Alexander noted how many people wanted ADA accessibility at crosswalks, safer crosswalks, street trees and upgrades to Fire Station 5. Having walked by Chestnut Hill Cemetery, Alexander wonders how city-owned property and public property can coexist seamlessly.

Alexander also referred to a South Main Street study completed a few years ago with the hopes the city will go back to that as a reference for the current plan. Crystal Jackson, who is a part of Salisbury’s Housing Advocacy Commission, said she came to the walk to “have a voice” and provide her thoughts on how to help South Main Street.

“The main takeaways are making it more compatible to pedestrians, seeing our historical sites vamped up, making an entryway to Salisbury for people who don’t live here making it inviting for them to come in,” Jackson said.

Jackson saw buildings during the walk that she thought could be transformed into affordable housing for seniors and people with disabilities.

“We do have a housing shortage,” Jackson said.

Vanek said the community walk was “the first step in making a community asset map, a visioning map of what kind of developments that people want for the future.”

There is going to be a community meeting scheduled in April for the public to attend to comment on their thoughts on the plan.