Blueprints: Hogansville Corridors
Beginning in 2017, the Georgia Conservancy’s Blueprints for Successful Communities began work with the City of Hogansville, a community of 3100 in Troup County, to develop a downtown master plan in an effort to revitalize the city’s historic commercial corridor. The plan was introduced and adopted by the Hogansville City Council in the fall of 2018, and it played a critical role in downtown Hogansville receiving a Rural Zone Designation by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. As part of a multi-faceted vision for community revitalization and sustainable land-use, the Georgia Conservancy again worked with city leadership, stakeholders and citizens to examine assets located along and within Hogansville’s major corridors and to explore opportunities for improvement.
The Corridors Redevelopment Plan is intended as a complementary document to the 2018 Hogansville Downtown Master Plan. By examining assets (both natural and man-made) outside of the historic downtown area and connections between those assets and downtown, the project team aimed to create a set of improvement recommendations that link with ones contained in the Downtown Master Plan, generating a citywide set of aligned priorities that advance civic pride, further investment in neighborhoods and businesses, and strengthen the identity of Hogansville.
Hogansville’s downtown is an anchor, serving but mutually served by, recreation, historical, and cultural assets elsewhere in the city that reinforce the community’s character. Recognition of this relationship between downtown and community assets elsewhere through active investment of funds, planning priorities and marketing is critical to continue retaining residents and businesses, while attracting new residents, businesses and visitors. Accordingly, this plan utilizes the concept of corridors to both describe and present the importance of recommendations for strengthening the mutual benefits of downtown to assets outside of downtown.
The opportunities for Hogansville to distinguish itself with exemplary small town appeal include small scale investments of effort that could be achieved by volunteers or the private sector as well as larger investments appropriate for public sector. In summarizing this plan’s recommendations, it is important to note again that Hogansville has been found through a market analysis to have a unique geographic opportunity to establish economic opportunity and residential quality of life by becoming a destination. Protection of what already exists as community character is a first line of economic development; then enhancing that attractiveness through additional actions and investments comes next. Lastly, residential opportunities near downtown should be supported, as neighbors activate downtown streets and are potential customers of downtown businesses, not to mention the lifeblood of any town.
To learn more about our Hogansville Blueprints studios, please contact Georgia Conservancy Senior Planner Nick Johnson at njohnson@gaconservancy.org
