Camden City Council will officially consider adopting a vision plan drafted earlier this year by Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ) focusing, primarily on reinventing the downtown business district. Council decided to add consideration of a resolution adopting the plan for Tuesday's agenda during a work session Thursday.
The decision came after a lengthy discussion with DPZ's Tom Low over next steps -- what council and the city should do first to get the ball rolling.
"We received official word from (Camden City Planner) Shawn Putnam regarding your top points," said Low.
That list, as Low said he understood it, focuses on creating a downtown management organization, mixed use development projects, establishing a mix of housing types, re-growing the downtown retail market and establishing a downtown entertainment venue.
I downloaded the entire plan this afternoon, but I haven't yet had a chance to go through it in any depth, but, on first glance, I have some doubts about the feasibility of the recommendations although I support many of the conclusions.
Of course I have few dogs in this hunt, but I do own a bit of property in Camden and I care about the future of the town in which I spent a good portion of my formative years. I have long been dismayed by the loss of the old stores and I could not bring myself to visit Burns Hardware when it was going out of business given my memories of it when I was a kid! I still can vividly picture in my mind how Zemp's Drug Store looked inside with its magazine rack and soda fountain. I had more than my share of cherry cokes in there!
I'll have more thoughts to share on the DPZ Vision plan as soon as I have a chance to digest it.
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