The Town of Garner and the Garner Revitalization Association will host a Downtown Garner Public Planning Workshop on Monday, Oct. 19 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Garner Historic Auditorium. The Garner Historic Auditorium is located at 742 West Garner Road. The public is invited to come out and give their input on the future of the Historic Downtown Garner Area.

“This is the opportunity for everyone who lives in Garner to let us know what they would like to see in their Downtown” said John Hodges, Executive Director of the Garner Revitalization Association.

“Understanding the community’s preferences will be a critical success factor to the Historic Downtown Garner Master Plan that we are developing.”

This workshop is the second phase of a project to create a market-driven redevelopment master plan for the Historic Downtown area.

The project began earlier this year with the hiring of a team of consultants led by the urban design firm Urban Collage. Urban Collage and their partners have completed a market analysis of the area, which ends the first phase of the project.

This analysis has identified the types of retail, residential and commercial products that the community can support and measures their impact as catalysts for other development and investment. The consultants will take this market information, along with community input, and develop potential designs for redevelopment opportunities.

The results of this design process will be presented to the public on Oct. 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Garner Historic Auditorium.

The final phase of this project will be the development of a strategic action plan that identifies and prioritizes activities and investments necessary to make the revitalization plan a reality.