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#CantonForward: Engaging the Present, Planning for Our Future

The citizens of Canton understood the importance of community participation when it came to coming up with the Downtown Master Plan. They willingly responded, and the Plan is now complete. 

Hopefully, #CantonForward is a familiar name, phrase and tagline to you. It is the formal title given to the Downtown Master Plan and Market Analysis. #CantonForward is Canton’s plan to revitalize, redevelop and rejuvenate downtown and the River Mill District. Revitalization is done by attracting jobs, leveraging history, encouraging appropriate development and creating strategies to better serve the transportation needs of citizens, businesses and visitors.

Additionally, #CantonForward intends to connect Downtown Canton and the Etowah River. Hence the project’s full name, #CantonForward: Etowah to the River.

It has been more than ten years since Canton has undertaken a planning project this extensive specifically for downtown, and there has long been a community preference to connect downtown to our great natural asset — the Etowah River. #CantonForward diagnoses steps we could take to make the dream a reality while further building all the wonderful attributes that are unique to Canton.

Considering present and future development activity, such as the new Northside Hospital-Cherokee facility, new trail extensions and other approved plans being re-visited, the timing for downtown comprehensive planning could not be better. Public input was very critical to the outcomes considered in the study. Plans with community buy-in and trust tend to be more successful than those without it.

Thanks in large part to unprecedented attendance at January’s Community Workshop at City Hall (more than 100 citizens participated) and an Open House in March at Cup Up Coffee Shop (around 90 citizens attended), #CantonForward can more accurately capture the attitudes and desires of those who live, work, visit and do business downtown. The plan is replete with community demographics, infographics, maps and pictures, which make it very easy to read and understand.

Take the time to visit the #CantonForward website (CantonForward.com) and read the plan when you get the chance. There is lots of information that may be of interest to you. There are steps in the plan that will need as much support as possible from the community in order to progress.

TSW, an Atlanta-based planning and architecture firm, led the way for Canton, and the insight and services they provided while conducting studies are greatly appreciated.

It is good to get in front of the growth that is happening now and will continue to come to Downtown Canton by properly planning for what the community wants.

Now that the Master Plan is complete, community work begins. A tangible roadmap is now in place that citizens can embrace in an effort to keep moving #CantonForward.

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