Forest Acres Aims to Lure Small Businesses and Ease Traffic: Strategies Revealed

It's a question at the heart of many discussions about Forest Acres' future:

"Do residents want Forest Drive to move people through the City or do they want Forest Drive to be a part of the community?"

The question was posed this particular time by a 2015 traffic study. Fast forward to 2025, and the city near downtown Columbia seems to have a better idea of what it wants from the busy street that runs through the heart of the municipality.

City Councilman Haskell Kibler told The State last year the goal is to make the corridor an integral, walkable part of the community. And the city is making some strides toward that goal. The previously mentioned traffic study was commissioned as the city started looking at redeveloping the now-defunct Richland Mall . That centerpiece is in the midst of being torn down to be replaced with a Kroger , more than 500 apartments, restaurants, other retail and more paired with a new city park .

Now, the city is considering new moves to build on this momentum, as it pushes toward implementing updates to its zoning ordinances that leaders have been working on for three years. Leaders want to add a "Main Street" or arts district, and re-evaluate parking rules to support local businesses and encourage developers to incorporate trees and open spaces when building in Forest Acres.

"Those are things that really affect the key identity of a city as it's growing," City Administrator Shaun Greenwood told The State.

Zoning changes

The city council is finalizing a plan to make it easier for potential developers and existing business owners to take advantage of opportunities available for growth over the coming decades. It's what leaders hope to accomplish with a simplified document that combines Forest Acres' zoning and land regulation ordinances into a single Unified District Ordinance.

The city's zoning rules haven't seen a change since the early '90s, Greenwood said. The council met with the city's planning commission to discuss revisions on May 20. If all goes to plan, the new document would be given final approval in September.

The city administrator said they want the city to be as business- and foot traffic-friendly as possible while still protecting the character of Forest Acres' neighborhoods.

"The zoning ordinance is really the backbone of the built environment of the city," Greenwood said. "To ensure that what will be built over the next 10 years is going to reflect that vision, you have to put these rules into place."

The city's focus is on redeveloping existing land, as it lacks room to expand outward, being just a few miles from downtown Columbia. The council wants to ensure existing properties are being used to their full potential. It also wants to implement things residents have been asking for in focus groups that were conducted several years ago.

"They want premier shopping, they want premier dining," Greenwood said. "They want to be the neighborhood that everyone wants to live in downtown, so [we want to] continue to build on the success we have right now."

Support local businesses, ease traffic

The city will likely add provisions to provide some relief to mom-and-pop shops that have had difficulty adhering to dated development rules. Smaller lots around Forest Drive could be exempt from some parking requirements in exchange for low-impact development features, allowing more room for trees and outdoor amenities. The details of these plans are still being considered.

The new regulations may also prohibit the development of businesses along the main Forest Drive corridor that aren't compatible with the walkable environment people are asking for, such as gas stations, drive-thrus, warehouses and pick-up windows. Those bans could help prevent traffic from backing up on Forest Drive, something Mayor Thomas Andrews said he'd like to put an end to.

Lessening traffic on Forest Drive and better incorporating it into the community have been longtime goals for the city. Leaders hope to use the updated regulations to encourage businesses to connect their parking lots, keeping drivers from having to get back on Forest Drive to visit another business. That was one of the recommendations from the 2015 study.

"We don't want to penalize people, we want to incentivize them to do that," Greenwood said, adding that the intention is to make it "voluntary, so it's not an overly burdensome regulation, but creating enough incentive that people should be willing to take advantage of it."

Greenwood said the city spends a lot of effort trying to connect with its business community and recruit niche, small restaurants and retail whenever possible, because that's what leaders find resonates with the community.

For business owners with existing property in Forest Acres, no immediate changes will be needed once the new regulations are approved. It only comes into effect if significant changes are being made to a property, in which case redevelopment efforts must comply with the new rules.

Adding an arts district?

The Covenant Crossing area that sits back from the main Forest Drive corridor was identified by the council as "ripe for redevelopment." It's small and in the middle of residential neighborhoods along Covenant Road, so its development would require the support of the community with the addition of mom-and-pop shops, Greenwood said.

Plans have been in the works for years to establish a "Main Street" in the area. The council hopes to bring in smaller, boutique-type retail. They'd also like to see a restaurant in the area, based on public input.

"There's a lot of opportunity there, and we just have to figure out how to maximize it," Greenwood said.

Designating Covenant Crossing as Forest Acres' arts district was discussed by city council last month, including permission for artists to paint murals to create a sense of place and identity.

Painted murals and wall art are not yet being considered for the entire city, and it's not certain whether they will be permitted in Covenant Crossing. Laws make it difficult to regulate murals on a wider scale, council members said, but choosing a small district to designate as an arts district is likely to spur redevelopment.

"One of the things that has happened all over the country is arts districts have been a very good mechanism to develop a brand identity and increase the kind of traffic they need to sustain a healthy, small commercial corridor in the middle of a residential area," Greenwood said.