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The
Southside neighborhood won the U.S. EPA’s “Smart Growth for
Built Projects” award in 2004. |
By Caroline Wells and Sue Schwartz
The Southside neighborhood of Greensboro, North Carolina, located just south
of downtown along the railroad tracks, remained largely forgotten by the city
for decades. Between 1880 and 1910, Southside housed some of Greensboro’s
most prominent professionals, who displayed their newfound wealth by erecting
large Queen Anne homes and smaller, stylish bungalows.
In the last half of the 1900s, many of these homes were subdivided into apartments or boarding houses, or even demolished for commercial businesses. This trend, combined with the widening of an adjacent street, led to a sharp decline in the condition of Southside’s historic homes and the neighborhood’s appearance in general. Bordering on a formal industrial area, Southside slid into poorly maintained rentals with rampant prostitution and drug dealing.
In 1989, when local activists worked to revitalize Greensboro’s downtown, Southside’s assets were rediscovered — its historic architecture, narrow streets and alleys, proximity to downtown shops and a magnificent view of the downtown skyline. The neighborhood clearly had “good bones” for revitalized downtown residences and businesses.
Gathering Support
for a Neighborhood Plan
In 1990, Greensboro voters approved a $5 million local redevelopment bond to
revive the area. An additional $1.3 million was approved in 2000. The city established
the Southside Area Redevelopment Advisory Committee in 1993 to initiate a two-year
planning process that included five neighborhoods, the historic preservation
community, downtown activists, Norfolk-Southern railroad, businesses and politicians.
Although now the standard planning method, in the early 1990s the Southside planning process was unusual in that the advisory committee actually ran design workshops, community forums, open houses and working meetings. The advisory team recruited and publicized the meetings and workshops and delivered presentations at public hearings.
This intense planning effort resulted in the adoption of the Southside Development Plan in 1995, which specified goals for blight removal, historic preservation and new residential and commercial construction based on the new urbanist principles of walkability and diverse, integrated land uses. This plan, also known as a traditional neighborhood plan, became Greensboro’s first infill development utilizing smart growth values.