Here’s a quote from Smoky Mountain News:

 

The main goal of the plan — established through the community input process — is to preserve Waynesville’s character by supporting economic development while still protecting the environment in accordance with so-called “smart growth” principles centering on land use and development. Those principles tout mixing land uses, promoting compact building design, creating a range of housing opportunities, and encouraging walkable neighborhoods that imbue a sense of place. Farmland, critical environmental areas, and open space should be preserved, per the plan, and development should be directed towards existing communities rather than sprawling exurbs. Watershed and slope protection are also important because the regional tourism economy depends on their vitality. However, future development must also encourage a diversified economy that realizes the benefit of robust health care, education, manufacturing, and small business sectors. Recommendations included in the draft center on two concepts: land development, and infill. On the development side, nodal development around intersections is to be encouraged, as opposed to linear development between nodes. Development should also be restricted in rural areas, especially rural areas with important natural resources. To that end, a new “residential conservation” designation will limit housing in such zones to two per acre. Medium and high-density development will be directed toward major thoroughfares. Infill development — which focuses on vacant or underutilized parcels within areas that have already been developed — is to be encouraged adjacent to the GSME and in regional center districts through more flexible zoning. Redevelopment of rail corridors will continue to encourage industrial uses, but will also allow for mixed-use, including residential. Downtown Waynesville’s unique aesthetics are a result of many years of effort both by the town and by the organization that manages the town’s municipal service district, the Downtown Waynesville Association. Preserving the look and feel of the central business district — again, a major hub of Haywood County’s thriving tourism economy — means that new development or redevelopment must remain compatible with the existing character of the area, including the use of appropriate design standards. Updated land development standards, including historic guidelines for frontages, should place special focus on the “maker economy” — arts, crafts, food, and brewing. Just as the plan recognizes and celebrates downtown Waynesville, it will also attempt to bolster development in the town’s two other urban cores — Frog Level, and Hazelwood. Frog Level, just a short walk from Waynesville’s trendy Main Street, is a National Register historic district and has an industrial character that features several historic structures. Currently, according to the plan, Frog Level is undergoing an “entrepreneurial resurgence,” that should be fostered through strategic infill and streetscaping improvements.