Morrisville Town Center Plan - 2007

Introduction

The Planning Process To help the community pursue this goal, the Town of Morrisville conducted a special planning process to share information, solicit public input, and craft a Town Center Plan. This work was led by the Morrisville Planning and Zoning Board, with staff support from the Morrisville Planning Department. The process began with a series of background meetings held in early 2006 to review historic resources, transportation facilities, greenways, and civic facilities in the Town Center area. These meetings provided an opportunity for the Planning Team to share background information on the project, and for residents and other stakeholders to share their ideas for the future Town Center.

100 people attended the workshop and provided their input. The Design Team then took these comments and used them to help prepare a draft design. The Planning Team held an additional public meeting in August to discuss implementation strategies and receive input. Town staff then drafted this written plan that incorporated the physical design prepared by the Design Team, and brought it to the Planning and Zoning Board (PZB) for review and revision. The PZB recommended the plan to the Board of Commissioners, who reviewed it and adopted it on January 22, 2007.

In June of 2006, the Planning Team toured Morrisville’s historic crossroads in order to develop a better understanding of the existing conditions in the project area. In early July, the team visited other town centers in the region to gather ideas and benefit from lessons learned in these places. In mid-July, the Planning Team hosted a three-day design workshop with the help of a professional Design Team in order to gather additional community input and prepare a draft design for the Morrisville Town Center. More than In addition to the original depot village, Morrisville has long been home to the Shiloh Community founded by free African Americans and slaves in the early 19th cen- tury. (Photo: Ben Hitchings, Town of Morrisville)

This plan provides a rare opportunity for Morrisville to create a focal point that honors the town’s past and serves as a vibrant center of community in the years ahead. By working together to implement the plan, the Town and the community can help protect and enhance Morrisville’s place as the small town in the heart of the Triangle. Morrisville was the site of one of the last engagements of the Civil War, as General Sherman’s Union troops pursued General Johnston’s Confederate soldiers west out of Raleigh. This photo depicts Francis and Peter Redding of McLaughlin’s Ohio Squadron of Union Cavalry, which fought in Morrisville on April 13, 1865. (Photo: www.ohiocivilwar.com/mclaughl.html maintained by Larry Stevens)

│ Town Center Plan

January 2007