SNOW HILL — Senior undergraduate students at ECU are getting real-world experience by developing comprehensive land use plans for Snow Hill and Grifton.
Jerry Weitz, associate professor and director of ECU’s Urban & Regional Planning Program, said 14 students have been working on the project since the beginning of the semester.
“We have half of my planning studio class working on Snow Hill,” he said. “We have the other half working on Grifton.”
Federal funds of $5,000 for the Snow Hill project comes from the Community Transformation Grant project — Region 10 through Pitt County Health Department.
The money comes through the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kinston has also received CTG funds of $19,500 and is working with Holland Consulting Planners out of Wilmington and Washington, said Allison Swart, CTG coordinator for Pitt, Greene and Beaufort counties.
Grifton is not a recipient of the grant, and costs are being absorbed through the university department’s budget.
While Grifton’s land use plan was developed in 2004, Snow Hill hasn’t updated its plan since 1974.
Town Administrator Dana Hill said not having an updated plan made it difficult for the board when Internet cafés began infiltrating the town.
With tight budgets and budget cuts, paying a consultant to update a plan isn’t likely to be placed at the top of a small town’s priority list.
“Planning is somewhat of a luxury in this economy,” Weitz said, “so (small towns) just simply wouldn’t do (a plan).”
The grant’s goal is not simply for a town to create a land use plan.
“The goal is that they will be creating a comprehensive plan,” Swart said, “and incorporate into the comprehensive plan health considerations.”
Those considerations may involve easy access to healthy foods, grocery stores, surrounding neighborhoods, recreational facilities and tobacco-free places, she said.
Snow Hill’s vision statement includes making the town a “safe, healthy, clean, quiet, peaceful, comfortable, uncongested, inclusive historic community.”
It also states, “The town will strive to grow responsibly by expanding its economy with more jobs, restaurants, grocery stores, and community and commercial services while protecting the natural environment.”
“I’m thinking,” Hill said, “having a formal adopted plan in place will set us up to be able to apply for future funding for some of these projects.”
He said any excess capital funds could also be used for those projects, as well. Some grants require matching funds.
Both towns’ comprehensive plan will consider population characteristics, housing, natural and historic resources, the labor force, economy — or economic development, land use, community facilities and transportation, Weitz said.
With 14 students, Weitz said that is too many to work on one town project. The Grifton project was referred to him by Pitt County Health Department, he said.
“We select a client and work for them,” Weitz said. “These are extra special because we have real clients.”
He said the time spent for the Grifton project is mostly volunteer time “that makes it a little more important when we have something to give from it.”
The grant funds for Snow Hill are used for supplies, printing maps, travel, geographic information support and higher educational technical support, Weitz said.
Snow Hill’s draft plan includes a Greenway drawn up by one of the students.
The Greenway basically encircles the town. The circle and its connectors link to the downtown, Recreation Complex, Kingold Boulevard — a main thoroughfare, the Wildlife Boat Ramp, the Greene County campus of Lenoir Community College, Snow Hill Primary School, Greene County Senior Center and Snow Hill gym and along Contentnea Creek and Poorhouse Run — a tributary of the creek.
“Basically,” Weitz said, “the idea is, you’ll have a multi-use plan.”
Once funded and built, the Greenway would provide for pedestrians, bicycles, skateboards, inline skates and golf carts, he said.
While the students will present their work on Dec. 10, when the semester ends, Weitz said he will likely present the final plan to the towns’ planning boards in January and the commissioners’ boards in February.
The long-range plan will include cost estimates, he said.
“It will be an approved plan, hopefully, in February,” Weitz said. “… Hopefully, it will move from an idea to a reality.”
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.