DOWNTOWN EAST MASTER PLANGastonia NCCity of GastoniaLocated along Franklin Blvd, between Broad St and Belvedere Ave, theDowntown East Master Plan spans approximately 96 acres. Metrocology wastasked to illustrate how changes to the City’s Development Ordinance wouldimpact redevelopment of the seven-block stretch running directly east ofdowntown. Using the existing block structure and refurbishing a handful ofsignificant buildings including the shuttered Avon Mill, the Master Plansought to create a mixed use, walkable, “Main Street”.

To do so, Metrocology revised the existing zoning to permit mixed usebuildings, allow for reduced/shared parking standards, eliminate buffersbetween different uses, change signage standards to encourage pedestrianscaled advertising, and permit zero lot line building placement. To takeadvantage of the existing block structure the plan identified three nodesequally spaced along the three-quarter mile stretch to encourage pedestrianactivity and to program the various developments proposed similarly to howshopping mall developers tenant shop space.

Each of the two segments are the length of a traditional shopping mall, withthe repurposed Avon Mill serving as the focal point, between an urban plazaproposed for the western end of the plan, and an urban park on the easternend. An abandoned rail spur would be turned into a pedestrian promenadeconnecting the nodes via an internal mid-block passage. The promenadewould connect to the City’s and County’s regional greenway/trail systemoffering non-automotive options for people in surrounding communities toaccess the “Main Street”.