The Gray Downtown Development Authority listened to a community planner last week with the goal of gathering enough information to begin formulating a community plan.

Allison Moon Duncan said it had been quite a while since she had been in the room now known as the D.V. Childs Civic Center. Duncan was the speaker at the June 8 meeting, which was attended by members of the Infrastructure and Planning Committee of the Jones County PLAN group, in addition to DDA members.

The planner attended Jones County High School and recalled reading her winning DAR essay in the room several years ago. In addition to remembering the room, DDA Chairman Cecil Ethridge was her former teacher.

Duncan worked for Morgan County and the City of Madison for five years and is now employed by a private firm. She was in Gray to lend her expertise to group as they attempt to begin a revitalization effort of downtown Gray.

She began by talking about the difference between a design charrette and a master plan. A charrette is a concept drawing without a great deal of detail, but a master plan, which also contains illustrative drawings, articulates a broad vision for the future of a city or county and directs all development activities. It incorporates land use and can also include capital improvement projects.

Duncan asked about the DDA’s agenda, and Ethridge explained that the members are discussing the possibility of creating a town square and have talked to some business owners. Gray Station Better Hometown Manager Pat Daniels said she would like to see Gray become a destination point rather than a place traveled through to get to a football game.

DDA member Kema Clark said she envisions a development that would have the Jones County Courthouse as a focal point.

“I would like historic development that would continue the theme of the courthouse. I can see professional offices with residential condos above,” Clark said.

Duncan had copies of the master plan for Suwanee and pointed out that the two cities have many similarities with no town square and a railroad running through downtown. Her company recently completed a master plan for the city at a cost of $80,000.

She said a plan for Gray should include a traffic count, places for trails, design characteristics and standards for roads and sidewalks. Duncan said the master plan for Suwanee covered a much larger area than would be needed for Gray, which could reduce the price.

“People come to Jones County looking for your quality of life and pushing out from Macon. You have a unique challenge and opportunity to enhance but protect what is here,” she said.

Duncan said Suwanee has experienced great growth, but it has been at the expense of its historic downtown, and that may be something Gray would want to avoid. She said a plus for downtown Gray is that city and county offices are located in the city.

“First you come up with a plan, and your ordinances are driven by the master plan,” she said.

Duncan said Jones County is a Qualified Local Government, which means it satisfies the state requirements for a comprehensive plan and is eligible for state funds. The next step is to become a Certified Local Government, which opens the door to significantly more funding.

“A master plan is the first step toward requesting funds from numerous agencies,” she said.

Duncan said the USDA and CDBG are good resources for grants. She pointed out that Jones County is either too large or too small for many of the grants from other sources.

“A master plan focuses on a defined scope, and to begin you need to determine how much information you already have. The process is slow and doesn’t happen overnight,” she commented.