Smart growth is a return to development patterns that this country saw years ago, said Raphael Bostic, a professor at the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate.
Bostic said the debate is ongoing about what smart growth does and if it serves the preferences of the population, but he said supporters say it will return us to a time when people walked and interacted, which builds a tighter, more vibrant community.
People will get out of their cars because they won't need them to do errands and chores if there is higher-density development with mixed-use projects, he said.
For the Keene family, some of the goals of smart growth and recommendations to the city sound appealing.
Gretchen said she would love more bike trails. Martin said lower speed limits and narrower roads sound good to him but some drivers might not like that change.
Helping cities get there is a part of what the Smart Growth Leadership Institute, a project of Smart Growth America, does.
The Smart Growth Leadership Institute was created by former Maryland governor in an effort to help civic, business and state and local government leaders use smart growth goals in planning.
Under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funded program, the institute offers guidance for implementing smart growth principles, like providing public transportation options, mixing land uses, creating a range of housing opportunities and fostering walkable neighborhoods, to communities across the country.
The institute chose four cities, including Greenville and cities in Georgia, California and Arizona, in the second round of the program.
Deepak Bahl, associate director of the Center for Economic Development at University of Southern California, worked on Greenville's report in conjunction with the Smart Growth Leadership Institute.
The report looks at Greenville's comprehensive plan, proposed land use and development ordinance and possible changes in the engineering manual in relation to smart growth goals.
Bahl said that overall Greenville is doing a good job and the suggestions will help take the efforts to the next step.
Greenville's downtown has the qualities you want to see in smart growth, Bahl said, like higher densities, wider sidewalks, walkable space, good design and mixed use. Similar qualities might improve commercial strips, he said.
"You have beautiful neighborhoods abutting these commercial corridors, but they don't function as neighborhood commercial or retail," Bahl said. "These are primarily designed for the automobile."
And that's one thing the group would like to see change.
To encourage people to walk, the report suggests widening sidewalks, shrinking parking lots and bringing stores closer to the road. Commercial spots should be a part of the residential communities around them, Bahl said, without chain link fences preventing access.
Mixed-use development is one suggestion for transitioning from commercial to residential areas, Bahl said. He said that would keep population in the city, strengthen the tax base and retail profit and improve the job-housing balance so people are living and working in close proximity.
Mayor Knox White said some of the recommendations such as strengthening incentives for mixed-use and putting a priority on street connectivity could be incorporated into the new land use and development ordinance the city is creating.
White said he didn't know what would be accepted but the suggestions would be a good comparison tool as the proposed law, which would be a combination of the zoning ordinance and land use regulations, works through committees.
He said city efforts, like the increase in construction of sidewalks, bicycle trails and walking paths and how those connect, are already helping with smart growth goals.
"On a neighborhood level, we take it quite seriously by connecting neighborhoods with sidewalks," White said. "We'd like to take it to the next step, which is the bike trail and walking trail system along the river and to connect to the neighborhoods."
Gene Berger said he would like to see more bike trails. Berger and his wife, Barbara, moved to their downtown home in the Overbrook community from the suburbs. He said he would like to see the neighborhood connected to the trails.
He said he recognizes how good ideas in concept can be hard in practice on some of the commercial strips leading into downtown.
The couple owns Horizon Records, a store they moved from Pleasantburg Drive to the corner of Stone Avenue and North Main Street.
Barbara said some of their employees and patrons make the trip on foot or on bicycles.
"Walking, bicycling, being close to these amenities makes for a tighter community," she said.
White said the city has started designing safer and more comfortable sidewalks, but he said some suggestions, like bringing buildings closer to the road in commercial areas with smaller parking lots behind the stores, are not as feasible.
You will see roads traditionally lined with fast-food chains, gas stations and stores that are backed away from the curb like Stone Avenue, Augusta Road, Wade Hampton Boulevard and the Western Corridor with wider sidewalks away from the traffic with landscaping between the curb and the sidewalk.
A move that officials hope will bring more walkers to the areas.
"We think our paramount responsibility is to make sure the city grows the right way," White said.
Bahl said Greenville needs to take advantage of the land it already has, filling in where vacancies or misuses are, instead of sprawling out for more development space. That sprawl is one factor in the increasingly long commutes, he said.
Bahl said Greenville should use some kinds of transit options. In the short-term, perhaps some kind of bus system. He said if there is development around the bus stations, people can use that convenient transportation.
Jean Pool, development manager of the economic development department with the city, said that the city doesn't have the density to support urban-type transit areas now. But she said the planners suggested allowing the underutilized commercial corridors have a higher density of residential so that in the future, the areas can support some form of transit.
She said that with the energy crisis and with cities using up more and more land, residents are finding that the quality of life isn't as good with the additional traffic and long commutes.
"People just wanted to get back to some of the ways that they found worked with more connectivity of streets and to make areas more conducive to walking," Pool said.