Morristown continues prep for growing population with downtown survey

MORRISTOWN, Tenn. (WATE) — Main Street America and Morristown partnering up for the survey about the future of its downtown area.

“It’s a neat opportunity because it will provide us resources and tools that otherwise we may not have access to or the funds to afford,” Natasha Morrison the director of downtown development in Morristown said.

Ericka Goode is the owner of the East Tennessee Diamond Company in downtown Morristown. She hopes the survey will encourage some revitalization to the downtown area, specifically to the vacant buildings.

“Hopefully that bringing to light to business owners or the building owners that do own them who they are vacant to start to allowing some renovations and some new businesses to come downtown,” Goode said.

The purpose of this survey to prepare for the much-anticipated growth as well as learn what improvements people hope to see in the future.

“Our hope for Main Street is to preserve the qualities and the uniqueness you just described while positioning the anticipated growth, preparing to house more residential,” Morrison said.

Goode told 6 News she has taken the survey and urges folks to do the same. The survey should take only 10 minutes to complete.

“Take it. I don’t know what the results are going to yield. However, if we don’t come together as a community, and say this is what needs to happen, nothing may ever get done,” Goode said.

The survey is open until midnight on July 28th. We’re told once the survey closes, Main Street America will review the results.

Morristown has seen a lot of growth in the past five years. Mayor Gary Chesney shared in March that the city’s population has grown by about 3,000 people in the last five years with another 3,000 people projected to move to the area in the next five years.

To help keep up with the growth, the city broke ground on a new fire station in March and conducted a new transportation survey to help determine what types of projects should be prioritized over the next 25 years .

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