Stewart recently completed a new Comprehensive Plan for the City of Fountain Inn, one of the fastest-growing areas in the Upstate of South Carolina. The population is expected to double in the next 25 years due to a thriving downtown, good schools, cultural assets and a high quality of life. This plan created a strategic framework to deal with the challenges of growth; address infrastructure needs; improve equitable access to open space, parks and opportunity; and define the next chapter of evolution of downtown Fountain Inn.
The INNvision Comprehensive Plan included a visioning process with innovative outreach activities like popup meetings at festivals, stakeholder interviews, focus groups and open houses. Recommendations focus on preparing the City for continued growth and a refinement of policies and development regulations to ensure quality development downtown and in expanding residential areas. A land use suitability analysis informed an updated Future Land Use Map and led to an innovative approach to identifying a Conservation Design Overlay where new residential development is encouraged to employ conservation design principles and cluster development away from sensitive natural resources. The Plan also included a Resiliency element that was recently added to the list of required Comprehensive Plan elements in South Carolina.
Stewart led the process including project management, engagement, GIS mapping, and developing the land use, community facilities, population, housing, infrastructure, natural resources, parks and greenway recommendations.