Photo by Tiaa Rutherford Richland County Councilman Jim Manning, District 8, holds the Decker Boulevard: Richland County's International Corridor banner. The banners will be hung along Decker Blvd. from Two Notch Rd. to Percival Rd along both sides of the street. What do you do with 180,000 square feet of vacant retail or commercial space?

Planners, concerned citizens, and government

officials hope The Renaissance

Plan will answer that question and many more for the Decker Boulevard corridor.

The Renaissance

Plan is a 58- page report completed in 2007 by a team of experts "to develop a vision for 731 primarily built- out acres along Decker Boulevard and including the Woodfield Park neighborhood area." The area includes properties within 1/4 mile on each side of Decker Boulevard and the greater Woodfield Park neighborhood area.

The area is one of ten priority focal areas identified by Richland County Council for neighbo rhood/community master planning.

The team includes The Lawrence Group, Kimley- Horn and Associates, Rose and Associates, Henson- Harrington, Richland County Council, Richland County Planning Commission, Richland County Staff and concerned residents.

The plan details a conceptual plan focused on four key recommendations: (1) Development of new parks and open spaces, (2) Redevelopment of commercial uses along the corridor, (3) Infill developments resulting in hundreds of new housing units, and (4) Transportation and streetscape enhancements.

Other recommendations include development of a Community Development Corporation to facilitate housing developments, crime reduction initiatives, and the creation of a marketing and branding campaign that

produced Decker Boulevard:

Richland County's International Corridor.

Conceptual development opportunities along Decker Boulevard include 500 net new residential units, 450,000 to 550,000 square feet of net new commercial development, and 80 acres of park and open space.

According to the plan, as much as 42% of the total housing units within one mile of the intersection of Faraway and Decker are renter occupied, which makes them "ripe" for redevelopment.

Specific recommendations in the plan include reclaiming the developed areas of the Jackson Creek flood plain for recreation and conservation, consolidation of properties to create development opportunities, rezoning, mixed- use condominium buildings at the Bi- Lo center.