Planning Charette at arts council gives locals a look at plans, designs for streets

On Wednesday, members of the North Carolina Arts Council listened to the opinions of the residents on planning and design.

Two days later, the council came back with a blueprint based off local concepts.

On Friday at the Community Council for the Arts, a follow-up to the Corridors of Connectivity meeting where members of the North Carolina Arts Council and other groups presented some of their plans for the design of Queen and Herritage streets.

Landscape Architect Glen Walters gave a presentation based on some of the ideas of the citizens such as vibrant signs and walkways providing information about the African-American Music Trail.

I thought this week was really great and we have a good direction on the priorities of the city, Walters said. In all honesty, we werent as aware of the music history and we felt a lot closer to Kinston through the inspiration of the artists. Its inspired us to bring that in with our designs.

Chris Beachem, senior program director for creative economies at the North Carolina Arts Council, said the ideas were exciting, but implementing them could be a daunting task.

In the big picture, it takes a lot of money and time, so we have to find little side pieces and start on what we can do, Beachem said. I do a lot of work in Durham and people have said theres not much happening here, and then Ill say Were you here 15 years ago? There has been significant growth there and 15 years down the road, it will difficult for someone who hadnt been to Durham in 30 years to identify it because of the tremendous growth.

To a certain extent, I see Kinston moving in the same way. The progress made will be steady and people need to keep pushing and working. I believe in five years there will be significant change to South Queen Street and I would be very disappointed if thats not the case.

Kinston Mayor Pro Tem Joe Tyson attended the meetings and said it will take time for the project to come into fruition and nothing is set in stone.

I thought the meetings were productive, Tyson said. I liked the input from citizens, but everyone has to know this is strictly a plan. Hopefully, we can use this in the future to seek grant money for the future.

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Planning Charette at arts council gives locals a look at plans, designs for streets