WS Chronicle

The East End Master Plan envisions the prosperity of downtown extending to East Winston with Fifth Street playing a major part.

The Winston-Salem City Council on Monday, Nov. 5, unanimously approved the plan, which was created through a partnership of the city, the City-County Planning Department and S.G. Atkins Community Development Corporation. The plan is designed to give a direction for future development in the area and was developed after holding numerous workshops to get public feedback.

Atkins CDC President Carol Davis told the City Council that the plan addresses the biggest concern they heard during those meetings, which was the displacement of existing residents.

“We wanted to focus on strategies to not displace residents by providing a variety of price points for rental and for sale properties and to identify opportunities to build new construction first,” she said.

The East End encompasses numerous major institutions that can act as anchor points for development like downtown, The Innovation Quarter, Career Center, Winston-Salem State University, Forsyth County’s Human Services campus and Union Station, which the city is currently turning into a transportation center.

Fifth Street is a good example of the transformation the plan foresees. Currently, the street includes churches, multifamily housing, the county’s Emergency Services, The Chronicle’s office and the Winston Mutual Building. It’s being envisioned as “a lively new connector between Martin Luther King and downtown” with widened sidewalks and bicycle lanes.

“Having Fifth Street be sort of a Main Street corridor that would be highly walkable and an exciting space with retail level at the street with offices and residential above it,” said Davis.

The plan hopes to address community needs and create destinations that will draw people from all over the city to come and spend money in the East End.

“Basically this area becomes an attraction,” said Davis. “MLK and Fifth Street becomes an attraction where people can come, people within the neighborhood can come, and enjoy some of the things we currently have to go outside the neighborhood to enjoy,”

The plan calls for opportunities in workforce development, adult education, entrepreneurial support and developing new businesses. It also calls for support of existing, locally owned businesses.

For more information about the plan, visit www.eastendconversations.com.