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GROW
MERIDIAN TEAM
RECOMMENDED
STRATEGIES FOR GROWTH IN MERIDIAN
Introduction
Small cities
across America face the dilemma of declining population. None have found a simple, magic formula to reverse such
trends. Absent a
sudden, significant influx of capital and high-paying jobs,
reversing the downward population drift for the City of Meridian
will take focused, committed action.
The Grow
Meridian Team was tasked with the purpose of identifying
strategies that will increase quality population growth within the
City of Meridian, Mississippi.
The Team was comprised of residents and business persons
from the City of Meridian with diverse experience in economic
development, real estate and mortgage financing, public health,
engineering, employment, manufacturing, tourism, and education. The Grow Meridian Team consisted of the following members:
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Bill
Crawford, Chairman
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Myles
A. Frank
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Larry
Dudley
§
Glenn
Deweese
§
Liz
Dudley
§
Freddie
Hare
§
Cassie
Kauertz
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§
Dr.
Margaret Morrison
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C.
E. Otis, Jr.
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Michele
Thames
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Gloria
Willis
§
Sam
Neal
§
The
Rev. LaMorris Richardson
§
Fred
Wile
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The Grow
Meridian Team was assisted by a faculty support team from
Mississippi State University.
Funding was provided by the
Riley Foundation through a grant to Meridian
Community College. The
MSU support team consisted of:
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Wayne Wilkerson, Landscape Architecture
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Bill Hardin, Finance and Real Estate
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Stephen Taylor, External Dean of
College of Business and Industry
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John Poros, Small Town Center, School
of Architecture
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Judith Phillips, The John C. Stennis
Institute of Government
§
Marty Wiseman, The John C. Stennis
Institute of Government
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Shannon Criss, Small Town Center,
School of Architecture
The team held
meetings every Thursday afternoon from January 4 through April 5,
2001 (except Thursday, March 15).
At the first two meetings, the team reviewed input provided
by citizens and identified a hierarchy of issues to be evaluated.
During the remaining weeks, the team examined each issue in
detail, reviewed reports on specific issues, considered supporting
data, conducted interviews with experts in specific topic areas,
evaluated problem areas, and developed possible strategies.
The strategies recommended in this report are the result of
the research and analysis performed by the Grow Meridian Team.
Strategies Targeting New and Improved Housing.
1.
The
City shall employ a development specialist who will be
entrepreneurial and aggressive in seeking opportunities for
housing development.
His/her
assignment should include seeking innovative funding sources,
developing public/private partnerships, and identifying
rehabilitation opportunities that serve all residents, from
low-income to upper-income citizens.
·
Develop
moderate and upper income subdivisions through a public/private
partnership at Bonita/Long Creek Lakes (in addition to any retirement
development at Bonita/Long Creek Lakes).
Proceeds from land sales will be placed in a special
development revolving fund. These
funds will be used to accumulate other properties within the city
for development, redevelopment, and rehabilitation.
·
Pursue
development of a quality, safe retiree village near the core
downtown area
(in addition to any retirement development at Bonita/Long Creek
Lakes).
Such a village should include walking trails, fitness
complexes, and other amenities attractive to retirees.
A collaborative effort with the medical community, the
City, and hospitals, or a public/private, partnership should be
strongly encouraged.
2.
The City, particularly the
Community Development Department, must adopt and put into practice
new attitudes, incentives, and policies to encourage residential,
commercial, and industrial development.
These
changes should include the following:
·
Initiate
incentives to encourage new subdivision development,
such as
–
eliminate or reduce water and sanitary
sewer connection fees;
–
develop a program
to forgive a proportion of taxes on developed but unsold lots.
·
Provide
frequent review and update of existing ordinances with the goal of
encouraging development.
·
Create
building and zoning policies that are transparent, consistent, and
easily understandable to builders and developers.
·
Implement
high quality employee training programs that have objective
performance measurement criteria (such as Malcolm Baldrige).
3.
Clarify and aggressively support ordinances to provide
for manufactured housing development within the City. This
includes use of manufacturing housing as in-fill and for the
development of manufactured housing subdivisions.
4.
Develop
the capacity in the City for development of housing in hilly
terrain areas.
Such housing development readily occurs in Birmingham and
Nashville. Most of
the available land in the City consists of hilly terrain areas.
The City should develop strong incentives to spur such
development.
5.
Plan
for annexation of undeveloped, buildable land into the City.
Currently, there is a limited amount of land available for
building within the City. Upon
successful development of these areas, the City will need to
consider annexation of developable land.
Strategies Targeting Improved Schools
6.
The
Meridian Public School District shall creatively and aggressively
pursue school-related opportunities to attract new residents to
the City. Early
childhood, pre-school, and school improvement initiatives must
continue, but opportunities with more immediate impact must be
pursued also. These should include:
·
Build
new elementary schools to support neighborhood revitalization and
new, major subdivision development.
For example, build a new school to replace an older
elementary school in conjunction with a housing rehabilitation
project in that area. And
build a new school along with a Bonita/Long Creek Lakes
development.
·
Develop
a high demand magnet school.
The magnet school should function to support job
opportunities from targeted economic growth. For example, a performing arts school should be related to
significant growth in arts oriented jobs; or a health science
school should be related to significant growth in health care
jobs. In both cases, the schools should complement other economic
development activities within the City.
7.
Meridian
Public School District shall aggressively pursue a more positive
public image.
·
Develop
a strong parental, business, and community support group.
Excellent
school systems require an active community support group that
creates support for excellence while promoting positive attitudes
about the public school system.
·
Celebrate
and publicize the good things happening at all City schools.
Many,
many good things happen at our schools that go unnoticed and
unappreciated (such as
the 4-year-old program at Oakland Heights).
The schools need to develop a network or system that is
responsible for working with the media to publicize the “good
news” about students and activities within the school.
Student activities/honors need to be shared with the
community.
8.
Meridian
Public School District shall develop and implement a proactive
strategy that upgrades the physical condition and appearance of
all schools.
Strategies Targeting Quality of Life, Marketing,
and Image
9.
Improve
the gateways to the City to make good first impressions and
consistently clean-up and beautify the City.
First
impressions make a difference. Develop a unifying theme for the
City’s gateways that will attract visitors to explore the City.
10.
Provide
unique incentives to residents such as free home access to the
Internet for Meridian Public School District students.
The City and School District together can provide students
free access to the Internet via a wireless, dial-up, or cable
system. These
connections should be screened through the school’s Internet
system to insure educational usage.
Develop an ongoing process to identify other such
incentives.
11.
Provide
and/or initiate programs and/or partnerships to enhance the
quality of life for children. Expanded
after-school activities, academic/club programs, athletic
excellence, and child-care are good examples.
Strategies Targeting Economic Development
12.
The
City will take better advantage of opportunities to attract
retirees by developing a strong retiree recruitment program that
works in coordination with area medical facilities and new
retirement housing developments.
13.
Recruit
more high paying jobs to attract new residents. Ultimately, growth is dependent upon
new jobs and new opportunities. Health
related jobs are projected to be among the fastest growing sectors
in the national economy. Performing
arts jobs should increase as the Grand Opera House renovation and
Southern Arts and Entertainment Center become realities.
Attention should be paid to growing these areas as well as
the manufacturing area. Magnet
school development could help support job growth in either or both
of these areas.
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