Breakfast with The Mayor addresses growth, tourism and planning for the future

Growth, planning and what's being done to put Columbia on the national map was the focus of Tuesday's Breakfast with The Mayor, presented by the Maury County Chamber and Economic Alliance.

While the Breakfast with the Mayor series typically features a one-on-one Q&A style of presentation. However, as its final breakfast event of the year, the city chose to do things a little differently by including city representatives to discuss tourism and growth.

Tuesday's panel consisted of Mayor Chaz Molder, Director of Development Services Paul Keltner and Columbia Tourism and Marketing Director Kellye Murphy, with Maury Alliance President Wil Evans moderating.

More: Columbia adopts $80 million 2023-2024 fiscal year budget

Opportunities, challenges and future planning

A tradition of each Breakfast with The Mayor begins with the question: What is Columbia's greatest opportunity and greatest challenge moving forward?

One of the top advantages Molder said he sees is the opportunity for Columbia to truly envision its future as a city through its strategic plans, which include potential for future housing, roadway and other associated infrastructure projects, as well as opportunities for small businesses to thrive.

Some of the major projects are also designed in a way to not only benefit Columbia, but the county and region as a whole, such as the long-awaited widening of Bear Creek Pike.

"There are a number of opportunities we have as a city ... infrastructure for example. We are certainly all for the widening of Bear Creek Pike and it's an example of a collaborative project with our state officials, as well as local," Molder said. "There's an opportunity there and we feel well positioned that we are going to obtain the funding for that. We've applied for the funding and are still in it and feel really good about the prospects."

Keltner added that the city is currently seeing an average of 600 building permit approvals per year since 2019-2020, which has not only created a much greater economic growth, but has presented its own share of challenges.

"The market can change much faster than we can change, and admittedly so we'll be behind on a few things, but we now have a lot more staff in our department, added multiple planners, engineers and building inspectors," Keltner said. "We're looking at how to modernize our department more, be more efficient and be more forthcoming in presenting information."

Regarding additional challenges, Molder said maintaining adequate infrastructure to keep up with the city's growth is at the top of the list, among other topics.

"You've always got to think outside of the box, look to other peer communities so you can set a benchmark for yourself and take away some of the good things," Molder said. "Challenges are good, but it's how you deal with those challenges ... if you are being proactive and seeing how other communities are doing it where you get a good trajectory moving forward."

Infrastructure, capital projects and wastewater

The discussion also included talks of what defines a city's infrastructure, and how its leaders are addressing the challenge of keeping up with growth.

Molder said Columbia is not necessarily where it needs to be "right now" in infrastructure but said the city would be as plans continue to move forward.

He emphasized that although almost 15,000 homes are slated to be built, it won't all happen at one time. Some developments take 10 years to build, Keltner added.

In addition to multiple road projects, part of that infrastructure need includes utilities such as wastewater, another top priority which includes plans for a new wastewater facility. Keltner said that project is currently in its design phase.

"We are working on getting the physical design, as well as the zonings in place," Keltner said. "They are capitalizing on having a program or company now that can model that out for them. So, when we say they'll have 200 homes, we can average out the amount of usage in each home and factor that into the draw they have from the Duck River."

More: Columbia receives $4.8 million ARP grant to help fund new wastewater plant

Molder added that wastewater, while not the most exciting topic, is just as vital as other projects associated with growth. After all, it's a system that everyone uses, and having the right capacity for residential homes, businesses and other properties is important.

"That will be the most significant capital improvement project that the city has ever undertaken, and will ensure that we have adequate sewer infrastructure for at least the next 25 years," Molder said. "If we weren't working on that, then in the next 3-5 years we would probably have some issues."

More: City submits funding grant application for Bear Creek widening project

Tourism, small businesses and economic boom

While growth and progress on the local level has been a large part of the story, promoting Columbia as a tourism destination has also played a big role.

This has included establishing the Visit Columbia Welcome Center, which is approaching its second year off North Main Street located next to Columbia Police Department. Tourism has also proven to be a large economic generator for small businesses, particularly in the downtown district.

"Maury County breaks down to about $127 million, and for us that's up $10 million from the previous year," Murphy said. "Tourism is still the No. 2 industry in the state behind agriculture, which is pretty impressive."

According to data from statistical analysis group Placer, the downtown district generated approximately $110 million in 2022.

More: Local tourism increased 16% in 2022, raising $126M and $220M in local sales

"We'll continue to do more events that will impact those numbers," Murphy said. "Our focus isn't just about reaching out and bringing visitors here. It's about destination development as well, how we can help promote that. Whatever we can do to help you do your job better is what we are here to do."

In addition, the city has been awarded several grants and funding opportunities, such as the city's hotel/motel tax, which have helped achieve projects like Ridley Park's expansion, roadway beautification projects in the Columbia Arts District and, most recently, the Polks at Preservation Park sculpture project set to be unveiled Friday across from the James K. Polk Home & Museum.

"The foot traffic downtown has also been really great for our small businesses, and we cannot forget the small businesses of our community as we see this unprecedented growth," Molder said.

"We're seeing new businesses, larger commercial entities that are coming to Columbia, but we have to remember that the true backbone for Columbia is our small business community. It makes me happy seeing our downtown booming on a Saturday morning because I know that as a result of this boom, our small businesses will boom."

Jay Powell is a general reporter for The Daily Herald. Get up-to-date news in your inbox by subscribing to The Daily Herald newsletter at www.ColumbiaDailyHerald.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Breakfast with The Mayor talks growth, tourism and future planning