City looking to become more 'student-friendly,' improve relations
Even though six percent of downtown Mount Pleasant properties are vacant, Michelle Sponseller, downtown development director, has big ideas of what the city has the opportunity to be.
The goal of Sponseller and Bill Mrdeza, community services and economic development director, is to keep the downtown aesthetic familiar for alumni and community members. They also are attempting to entice newer, trendier businesses to move to the area.
“The downtown will always have that homey feel, but what’s going to be changing is the interior,” she said.
Sponseller has served as the downtown development director for the city of Mount Pleasant for the past 12 years.
During this time, she said she’s seen the community relationship between students and residential businesses grow from being apathetic and resentful to mutually beneficial.
Businesses rely on student patronage during the school year, as Mount Pleasant’s population nearly doubles when students come back in the fall. Because of this, Sponseller said she and Mrdeza are working to try and increase the amount of downtown traffic.
Their goal is to make student-community relations improve by bringing in businesses that students would be more likely to frequent.
This, Mrdeza said, will be made possible through a form-based code, where buildings must have the uniform zoning code exterior, but inside usage is decided by community interest.
He said because most zoning ordinances are use based, codes dictate where housing and stores can be built. Most of the time, the two don’t intersect.
With this rewrite, taking a zoning ordinance code from the 1980’s, new business owners would be encouraged to experiment with a building that has both a work space on some floors and housing on others.
“We’re pretty excited for the rewrite of zoning ordinance,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is make sure our zoning ordinance requires, not just suggests, that a new building be built in a similar manner to its neighbor. We want to be able to cater to younger folks coming in or new trends, what the public is really looking for. Moving to a form based code will get us those types of developments.”
Unlike the traditional code, which regulates how a building is used internally, form-based code regulates a building’s external form and how the building appears on the street in relation to its surroundings.
Sponseller described the code as a way for the downtown to keep the old-style feel alumni are familiar with while hosting businesses younger students are interested in. The code has not been placed into effect yet and will take nearly 18 months to see fruition, Mrdeza said.
Nevertheless, close to a dozen individuals have already asked for information on purchasing vacant locations, said Mount Pleasant Vice Mayor Allison Quast-Lents.
“It hopefully made people look at the empty spaces as assets, where potential development may occur,” she said. “I haven’t heard of anyone making an offer on any of the locations. It’s still a little early to determine if something will come from that event.”
There’s more to a successful downtown than just shops, however. Former Mount Pleasant Mayor Jim Holton said more downtown living also helps to increase foot traffic and patronage to the area.
More quality housing in the Central Business District and apartments located above street-level storefronts that house retail businesses and restaurants are essential components of bringing the town back to life, he said.
Holton, who is also the owner of Mountain Town Station, said he’s met students on tours of his restaurant who were not even aware of the businesses and shops available in the downtown area.
“We made it so students can bike and walk from downtown safely with more lighting and biking lanes. We’re making progress,” Holton said. “The heart of any great community is their downtown. It starts there and then expands out. You’ll have your Mission-style streets, but you get the personality in (your) downtown (area).”
