WINGATE - Wingate’s 10-year economic development plan needs residents’ input.

“The time is here that we will have our own community, and it’s time to plan for it,” Mayor Bill Braswell said. Braswell listed stumbling blocks to Wingate’s growth, including its proximity to larger municipalities. “We’re just too convenient to Monroe.”

The town kicked off its master plan in December, and will take the next six to eight months to discuss new business, land use, water and sewer, open space, recreational and cultural facilities.

“If you don’t have a plan, growth can be willy nilly and you really don’t know where you’re going,” Carol Taylor, chairwoman of Wingate’s Planning Board, said.

The town partnered with Marshville two years ago to establish a strategic plan addressing economic development.

“For us, the next way to move forward was we needed a comprehensive plan,” Town Administrator Dryw Blanchard said.

With U.S. Highway 74 on one side of Wingate, the future Monroe Parkway on

the other and Main Street to connect them, Taylor said, there’s a chance to start with a “blank slate” and do something “creative and exciting with the town.”

When Taylor moved to Wingate 10 years ago, people told her that “everything happened west of Wingate. ... I’m interested in something happening in Wingate.”

Town officials stress the importance of residents’ advice. The plan isn’t about what planners want, Taylor said, but what residents and students want.

About 4,200 people live in Wingate.

“This is going to be an accessible, participatory and open process for everyone, so everyone can feel a sense of ownership ... in the future of Wingate,” Stan Leinwand, planning consultant for GHD Consulting, said.

“The more people we have, ... the better plan we’ll end up with — one that reflects what the community desires,” Braswell said.

New business

“More choices bring more people,” Leinwand said, not just to visit, but to live and work.

“If a new business were to come here now, we would wish desperately that we had done this (plan) yesterday,” Braswell said.

Having a plan in hand will give Wingate something to show prospective businesses, he said, so they can see which areas to consider settling and the direction the town is going.

New business isn’t meant to bury Wingate’s identity, but enhance it and provide more services, Leinwand said. The goal is to build on what already exists if that’s what residents want.

“We want people to stay here and be attracted here,” Leinwand said.

Downtown

The plan’s No. 1 goal is to cultivate a downtown.

A downtown will emerge if Wingate does nothing, Braswell said, but planning for it gives the town a say in its location and execution.

A downtown gives locals a sense of place, as well as a central location to park, run errands, meet people and hold events, Blanchard said. People already drive to Wingate to walk or visit the park, he said, and a downtown would complement those features.

“There’s already a central core that’s developed,” Leinwand said, but the town can foster its growth or decide where future development goes.

When considering such plans and additions, Blanchard said, the town must also ask if it is doable and if there is a population to warrant it.

Partnership with Wingate University

Wingate University decided last year to build a $16.5 million Health Sciences College in town limits.

“That’s a huge step for our little town,” Taylor said. “It’s a vote of confidence from the university that they believe good things can happen here.”

The college will house the pharmacy and physician assistant programs and is expected to put millions of dollars into the local economy.

Town officials hope students will participate in the economic development plan and share what they would like to see around town. Some students say they have to go to Charlotte or Monroe to find entertainment or some amenities, but planners hope new businesses will encourage them to stick around. Additional services and entertainment may also draw new students, they say.

Leinwand hopes students will consider settling and working in Wingate post-college.

Small town feel

Won’t development quash Wingate’s small town feel? What about residents who move to Wingate for a quiet, simple lifestyle?

“It is absolutely possible to have a sense of community and small town and have all these things,” Leinwand said. “They are not in opposition to each other.”

In fact, Taylor said, development, such as greenways and pedestrian-friendly walkways or a downtown, can foster that sense of community.

If residents want to maintain that small town feel, the town can incorporate that into the plan, Blanchard said.

People will still venture outside of Wingate, Taylor said, but may have more reasons to hang around.

GET INVOLVED

- Wingate’s first public meeting will be held Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. in Wingate University’s LaVerne Banquet Hall.

- Visit www.wingate2020.com for more information on the plan.

- Become a fan of the project on Facebook by searching for “Wingate 2020.”

- Follow updates on Twitter by visiting www.twitter.com/wingate2020.

- A charrette will be held at the end of March. The interactive meeting is open to the public.