UPDATE Shallotte residents view preliminary vision plan

SHALLOTTE—A pedestrian-friendly downtown with attractive signs, tree-lined streets and riverfront development including a public riverwalk could be in the town’s future if the vision plan presented Thursday night becomes a reality.

About 30 residents and town officials gathered at Shallotte Middle School to get a glimpse of consultant Allison Platt’s preliminary 10-year vision plan for the town, complete with drawings of an expanded waterfront area off Cheers Street, new streets, a riverwalk and a mix of commercial and residential development.

Platt, who has done numerous other plans for towns in North Carolina and other states, said she’s seen many improvements come to pass when the towns put in basic guidelines and seek out developers interested in investing in the town.

“If the attitude is ‘That will never happen here,’ guess what? It won’t,” Platt said. "If you believe it will happen, it will happen.”

The vision planning process started with a recommendation from Downtown Shallotte Revitalization Committee, which the town aldermen approved.

In January, Platt received input from the public about what they wanted to see in town, and based her plan on the information she received.

For the next step in the process, Platt will prepare a detailed written report to be approved by the board of aldermen. If the plan is adopted, some of the first steps will be for the board to revise its land-use plan and adopt new design guidelines based on the plan’s recommendations.

For a complete story on the plan, see next week’s Brunswick Beacon.