Garner residents met at the Garner Historic Auditorium Oct. 19 to discuss the future of Garner, giving their input about what is most important to revitalizing the downtown area.

The meeting was the second part in a three-step plan. After commissioning a market analysis, the Garner Revitalization Association needed to get residents’ input and a strategic plan of action will be delivered.

GRA Executive Director John Hodges said the decisions about Garner’s future would be made as a community.

Eric Bosman from Urban Collage, Inc. agreed, saying he wanted to find out what residents’ vision was for the project.

“You all are the ones that are going to make this happen or not happen,” he said.

Bosman took residents through a presentation on trends of what downtowns are looking like both locally and nationally to offer some ideas as well as explaining challenges of the downtown project.

He said Main Street lacks visibility from commuters on Hwy 70 or much through traffic. He also said the railroad would be a permanent hurdle to jump for Garner’s project.

In order to fix those issues, he said Garner could bring in an anchor, like a major retailer or a community center, and the Town could improve existing significant sports and recreation locations to bring more people to downtown.

Residents had the chance to say what’s important to them by choosing what kind of anchor would work best in downtown.

They chose from a Town Hall, County Office Building, Library, YMCA, Community Center or a Transit Station.

Town Council candidate Mona Parks said she would like to see a community center as the anchor for downtown Garner because she wants something Garner doesn’t already have.

Parks said a community center would be a great place for businesses to meet, creating a revenue generator. Residents also looked at photos of various downtown ideas and put green dot stickers on those they liked. Using red dot stickers, workshop attendees pointed out parts of downtown that need the most attention. They also wrote out words and phrases they believed the future Garner downtown should embody.

Maggie Collister with the Little John Group said she saw a lot of words focused on maintaining Garner’s close-knit community like “cozy” and “friendly” with an emphasis on local businesses.

“I definitely think we can have an identity,” Town Council candidate Amaka Flynn said.

The initial results of the meeting will be available soon, Hodges said, and a follow-up meeting is planned for Oct. 28 at 6:30 p.m. the Garner Historic Auditorium.